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My First 12 Hours with President Obama |
Seacoast History Blog #28
January 21, 2009
Never in recent memory have I heard so many people use the word "history". IN interview after interview – in every media -- those who attended the inauguration of President Barack Obama said they wanted to be part of an historic event. It isn’t often that we can anticipate and participate in something so big that it is guaranteed a place in the history books. The million and a half who braved the mall in Washington DC are now part of this moment, frozen in time. But the billion of us who only watched it on TV could certainly feel their joy. It was written on their faces in every camera close-up. (Continued below)
The boot, the chair, and the Oval Office
Do you remember where you were when the first African American became president of the United States? I was sprawled out in my den under a blanket eating Kellogg’s K. Twelve hours later, as the Obama’s moved on to their umpteenth inaugural ball, I dragged myself from the TV to the computer. My legs were numb. My eyes ached. But I had done my bit for America.
I not only watched every moment of this historic event, but I chattered all the way through. I see now that it was just nervous tension that kept me blathering a constant color commentary at the Tube. As much as I wanted to watch, I wanted it to be over. When Barack and Michele stepped out of their bombproof limo with the USA1 license plates and began walking along the parade route from the Capitol to the White House – I begged them to get back in. When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court fumbled the oath of office, I hollered out the proper lines. I critiqued the First Lady’s dress, Aretha Franklin’s hat, the Lenox Crystal bowls, the Abraham Lincoln dinner.
My best line came when the Obamas walked the Bushes out the back of the Capitol and into their waiting helicopter. Vice President Dick Cheney, suffering from a sprained back, left in a wheelchair. The unrepentant architect of the last eight years, Cheney defiantly wore his black cowboy hat all through the inauguration ceremonies and could barely disguise his disdain for the new direction America has taken. But the audience was no less rude, and booed when the departing VP was wheeled out onto the Capitol stage.
"They gave Bush the boot," I said, remembering the Iraqi journalist who threw two shoes at the president recently, "and now they’re giving Cheney the chair."
That exit, which appeared to be so polite and neighborly, was, in fact, the ultimate metaphor for the day. Obama certainly knew how the imagery would play on CNN as he watched his predecessor’s helicopter grow smaller and smaller before it disappeared into the Universe like the Incredible Shrinking Man. The world was celebrating the end of a nightmare almost as much as the beginning of a dream. This was not just a transitional day, as the pundits kept reminding us, but a transformational one. For the first time in my life, I am older than the President. For the first time in my life, I am a different color. Some of us were giddy when Bill Clinton got elected, but he broke our hearts. It has taken us a long time to love again, and unable to fully deal with the explosive joy welling up inside, I yammered on.
It is midnight as I write this. Barack Obama has been president for exactly 12 hours and already he has made history. And he has already changed the world. Countries that doubted our national sanity are now awed by the power and flexibility of the way we govern ourselves. Kids who have never seen a black face on a $19.95 inaugural dinner plate watched the rules change before their eyes. The world, if only for a moment, is brimful of hope and promise.
And to be honest, we have George Bush and Dick Cheney to thank. Had they not stolen the Florida election back in 2000, or taken us into war without cause, or toppled the world’s economy, this historic day would likely not have come. For that, if little else, they deserve to be proud. And there were moments, as the outgoing leader of the free world sat listening to President Obama’s stinging inaugural address, that he appeared to take it all in. He had to wonder, even for a moment, why there had not been a million and a half Americans happily freezing their buns off at either of his two inaugurations. This was more than a racial milestone and more than the last hurrah of the Boomer generation, or a well-spoken man replacing a verbally challenged one. Bush was lucky enough to have a front row seat at what appears to be an ideological transplant. Pretty much what the American presidency stood for yesterday has been flipped upside down.
The Obamas are still dancing at this hour. The new president, we’re told, will be on the job first thing in the morning. I may sleep in. I’m exhausted just watching them on TV, and overjoyed, and still too nervous to pinch myself for fear I’m only dreaming.
(c) Copyright 2009 by J. Dennis Robinson at SeacoastNH.com. All rights reserved.
PS. Photographer Tim Llewellan was Barack Obama’s official photographer while he was on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. Listen to his moving tribute and see a slide show of his fantastic photos at the YANKEE magazine web site.
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