I survived frostbitten toes, clueless cops and mobs obamamaniacs yesterday to cover the Inauguration for my paper yesterday. You can get a sense of where I sat from my photo album. I took a few pictures of the city, the atmosphere and the event itself. Click here.
You'll see that a few celebrities were around. You'd think that such wealthy and powerful men as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg could manage to get a better seat than me, but you would be sadly and utterly wrong. Bloomberg was about five rows behind me.
Of course the price I paid was waiting outside for three hours in 20 degree to 30 degree weather. Which was fine, except that I no longer have fingers or toes. I know I'm not exactly an ice road trucker, but typing into a blackberry at 20 degrees is less fun than it seems
The atmosphere during the speech was fun. People's shouts included "Respect!" and "Go on now, Big O!" And obviously there were a few "Obama" chants.
The most memorable image to me was just looking back at the National Mall and seeing the masses and masses of people stretched back to the Lincoln Memorial and the thousands of flags like red white and blue waves of grain. Is that metaphor too cheesy? Probably.
Did anyone watch the TV coverage? Did Chris Matthews' head explode from an enthusiasm overload? What was the worst line by Wolf Blitzer? OK, this is the best political team on the Web, signing off.
You were there? Very cool...
Posted by: Abe | January 25, 2009 at 09:13 PM