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In the Midst of a Million Obamaniacs

By: Editor | January 19, 2009 | Category: Fun

Today, Obama got partial credit. Yes, he was a primary draw for the hundreds of thousands of people who filled the National Mall this Sunday, but the Prez-to-be shared the spotlight with a veritable United Nations of Stardom—U2, Garth Brooks, Tiger Woods, even folk legend Pete Seeger, who seemingly came straight from a retirement home to rock the Lincoln Pete Seeger singing with Bruce Springsteen Memorial for this historic inauguration. Because even though Obama is a celebrity who seems to speak to young people, his seemingly limitless coolness is completely eclipsed by the power of Beyonce.

Circling the frozen Reflecting Pool was an equally frozen mass of humanity, huddled closely together to breathe… each other’s exhalations. It was packed. Some people put out blankets to mark their territory, which provided the people climbing over you an excellent place to wipe their feet when they went through. The area started filling up from the back, and soon you hit a wall of chilly humans and had to find another way—most likely trampling someone’s fallen lawn chair or stepping over their toddler.

It felt more like a concert than anything Presidential, which was the point. I asked a group of teens who they were here for. “Will.i.am!” they shouted as one. Then one of the boys looked over his shoulder to see his mother glaring at him. “Oh… I mean Obama,” he said.

Some people were drawn by neither Barack nor his celebrity troubadours. I spoke to a couple who had voted Republican in 2008. They said they were there to see what the winning side looked like. A group of protesters felt that Obama had been elected by some shadowy powers who were using him to placate the angered masses. The only change Obama brought, they said, was a change in skin color. Most people, however, were far more hopeful. Hopeful enough to stay in 30-degree cold for six hours in the hope of seeing someone famous on a Jumbotron.

Looking east along the Reflecting Pool at the audience

In the center of the crush, Melodie Thompson was all smiles, even as she was sandwiched next to a tree by the crowd. An endless stream of people stepped carefully around her blanketed form. “We did not come knowing that this was a concert,” said Thompson, who said she was “representing” Rhode Island along with her teenage daughter Shemaiah.

“I've been an Obama backer for a a long time,” she said. “I really saw him as the change that was needed… it can’t start with legislation and then us getting on board… it has to start with us being Americans and us believing that we can do this. Inspiration—that’s what makes people tick.”

And throughout, people were startlingly polite. There was almost no shoving or swearing, especially in the press section, where manners are frequently nonexistent. Jamie Foxx, standing on the podium with the Lincoln Memorial majestically behind him, told the audience that they had come from all over the United States to be in DC this night. “Tonight,” he said, “you have come home.”

Faced with the cold, the lines, and the claustrophobia, for the thousands in attendance today, it really was good to be home.