What a wonderful day this is! I listened to the radio broadcast of the inauguration at my son’s preschool this morning, surrounded by his friends and teachers. My son, who just turned four in December, sat on my lap, listening intently, clapping when he heard the applause of the audience on the radio. It felt like the right place to be. This morning, we made cinnamon rolls in the shape of the letter O to share with his class. He may not understand a lot about this day, but he does understand that it’s a celebration. And one day he will understand the immense significance of the fact that he was born at a time in America when a black man could finally become president.
WHERE WERE YOU DURING THE INAUGURATION? Please leave a comment below.
Who would have thought that, just eight years ago, the man who today became the 44th president of the United States suffered a crisis of confidence. In the prologue to his second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, Obama describes his feelings in late September of 2001, when he was a member of the Illinois state senate, wondering whether he should continue to pursue politics as a career:
I began to harbor doubts about the path I had chosen; I began feeling the way I imagine an actor or athelete must feel when, after years of commitment to a particular dream after years of waiting tables between auditions or scratching out hits in the minor leagues, he realizes he’s gone just about as far as talent or fortune will take him. The dream will not happen, and now he faces the choice of accepting this fact like a grown-up and moving on to more sensible pursuits, or refusing the truth and ending up bitter, quarrelsome, and slightly pathetic.
Fortunately for all of us, he decided to run for the United States Senate. Then he gave that tremendous speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, the one that made everyone take notice and ask, “Who’s this Barack Obama character?” And we all know what happened next.
Below, a photo of me and Oscar on Ocean Beach yesterday, taken by Mike Monley, our friendly neighbor on the right-hand arm of the gigantic Y. About the event: participants lay down on the sand to spell out the word YES in giant letters, as a photographer flew overhead in a helicopter.
Where were Erin and I? About 50 yards west of the Capitol reflecting pool, towards the north side, freezing our asses off with happy tears in our eyes. 😉
Chet, that’s so cool! How did you find a hotel room? You must have been planning this long before the election, eh?
We got lucky. My brother-in-law (which is to say Erin’s sister’s husband) grew up in Chevy Chase. We stayed with his mom, about a mile from the Bethesda Red Line stop.
It was Erin’s work with the campaign locally that got us actual inauguration tix, though.