January 20, 2009

It was cold, so cold.

It was busy, so busy.

And public transportation was restricted from the entire portion of the event and then some (including the security parameter).

But it was good.

It was Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The day President Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.

It was real. It was inspiring.

Dave and I braved the freezing weather and the (literally) millions of people to see what we could see of the Inauguration ceremony and the parade. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Did I mention that we walked? All over the city. From 2nd street and Constitution Avenue to 19th and H streets. We walked around the White House. We tried to see through the fencing, hoping, just hoping to catch a glimpse of the man that has lifted the spirits and hopes of so many people throughout America, to catch a glimpse of he who has promised so much and so many people are relying on to bring change to the United States. I snapped a picture of his limo as it drove by surrounded by Secret Service on foot, in SUVs, and hanging on to the outside of the SUVs. The closest we were able to get to actually seeing President Obama was a little TV in a shop window somewhere between Chinatown and Metro Center (parts of DC).

On November 4, 2008, my vote meant something. I'd moved from one state where Republicans held the majority to another state in the same situation. But on that day, MY VOTE helped change Virginia to BLUE for the first time in a long time. Oh it was so amazing. I had chills watching the states be, one after another, declared for Barack Obama. What a night.

We're living in history. I have to admit I didn't support him at first. So little experience, such a big voice. I had my hopes set on Hillary. The first female president? For myself, a feminist at heart, that would have been the ultimate achievement. So I was weary of him. What did he know? He hadn't been involved in politics for that long, considering. But he could speak. And people were listening. Listening hard. and so I started to pay closer attention.

Dave supported his campaign, giving a little here and there. When he asked me to write him a paragraph about what this inauguration meant to him, I just said ok. This is what I came up with. While the details are for Dave, they're the same for me. As a minority on several different counts, this election has meant so much to me. As a woman, as a hispanic woman, as a diabetic hispanic woman I have hope for the future. With someone like Obama leading us, with the idea that government is for the people and that WE ARE ONE, how could we not look up for the better?

Here's Dave's paragraph:

Hope. Change. New Beginnings. An end to terror. These are all words and expressions that this Inauguration mean to me. My name is David Ermer and I am a supporter of Barack Obama. The past eight years have been especially difficult for me to continue to stand behind my country. I am a Veteran of the United States Air Force and have been proud to be a part of the Armed Forces, proud to be an American. Watching how the terror on Americans has been handled has not only disappointed me, but saddened me. Poor management has brought our country to a recession and I have been unemployed for the last six months, waking up every day to continue to search for a job, hoping my savings will stretch just one more month because today might be my lucky day. But January 20th, 2009. That will be my lucky day, as a man, as an American. Because that is the day that Barack Obama is to be Inaugurated as the 44th President of our strong, hard-working country. That is the day hope and change become reality.

While I'm not what I would define as a faithful or religious person, the past few months have given me hope. I know the economy is in a recession, one of the worst in the recent past. I know that times will be hard for a long time coming. But he's already started to make changes.

Take yesterday, his first official day in office. He froze the high salaries of government workers in his cabinet. What a way to start, what an example. If everyone else is tightening their belts, well, so should Washington!




It's about damn time.