Subscribe free to our daily email newsletterThe Inaugural View From Our Fair City
Jan 20, 2009 13:39 - 1 Comment
This afternoon >Barack Obama was inaugurated 44th President of the United States. The leaders of Our Fair City were kind enough to make the Mayor and Council chambers available to watch the ceremony for those who could not make the trip into DC. (The Lincoln Park Community Center and the Rockville Senior Center also hosted similar gatherings.)
I attended with my family and enjoyed myself thoroughly — it was a wonderful feeling to watch our nation’s orderly transfer of power with my fellow citizens.
The mayor and council chambers were reconfigured to make it more theater-style, and the seats were mostly filled by 10:30. In a darkened room, there was a constant buzz of conversation. Even here, at this remote location, people brought cameras and flashes popped, people capturing the event.
While the crowd held a tinge of partisanship, it was much more about the ceremony. Amidst the chit chat, there was a solemn tone to the room. Coffee brought in shortly before eleven, and a line formed immediately, chatter and jostling. It was a capacity crowd, with citizens even sitting at the normally reserved chairs for the City Manager.
I saw city council members Piotr Gajewski and Phyllis Marcuccio, as well as city manager Scott Ullery. There may have been other notables, but those are the ones I saw.
Obama and Bush appeared together, and the room erupted in applause as they approached the limo. Each time he appeared, a woman behind me told her toddler children, “There’s Barack Obama! See, look!” It’s not every day we treat presidents (or presidents-elect) as the celebrities they truly are. To a civic geek such as myself, it warmed my heart.
A cheer and then a hush — and then finally another resounding cheer — filled the room as Barack Obama took the oath of office. You can see the scene by clicking on the YouTube video link:
“We have chosen hope over fear,” said President Obama. “The time has come to choose our better history.” I am proud to have as president an orator who is up to the weight of his words — and who is unafraid to raise his rhetoric so high.
And I am proud to live in a town that embodies the “spirit of service and responsibility to one another” that President Obama called us to in his inaugural speech.
Now, as a city, as neighbors, as individuals: What will we do to make real this call to step forward? What will you do?
I was there and loved it. I am very grateful to the City leaders who made the gathering and collective viewing possible. It was an even greater occasion because I was able to experience it in the fellowship of my community.