Eileen Levandoski of VBDems and I left Monday morning for Washington D.C. Eileen had been selected to receive tickets from Glenn Nye, Representative of the 2nd District and we had to pick them up on Monday afternoon.
We drove from Virginia Beach to Arlington and parked. We were coming back for the Netroots Nation YES WE CAN Party, so we left my car there and traveled by metro to Washington. Travel by both road and metro were smooth on Monday. Though it was obvious that a majority of the people walking around Capitol Hill were there to celebrate Obama's upcoming inauguration, movement through the area was pretty easy.
We had to pick up the tickets from Nye's office by 2:00 PM. We arrived at the Cannon Building at about 1:20 and were greeted by long lines of others waiting to pick up their tickets from the offices of their representatives.
We became worried that the cutoff time would be enforced, and that we would miss out on picking up our tickets. I wanted to check if this would be the case, so I called Nye's office and explained that we were in line, but were doubtful that we would be able to get through the line and to the office by 2:00 PM to pick up the tickets. The staffer immediately said that they'd run the tickets down and deliver them to us. Five minutes later, the staffer appeared, handed us the packet with our tickets, and we were on our way.
After retrieving our tickets, we took the metro out to a meeting at the Greenpeace office where we took part (well, Eileen took part and I observed) in a climate bloggers meeting, where upcoming legislation and online strategy to focus on environmental issues was discussed. This was interesting to listen to this discussion, especially issues relating to Obama's economic recovery plan and how it links to environmental issues.
After the meeting at Greenpeace, we took the metro back to Arlington, grabbed a couple of beers, and got ready for the Netroots Nation YES WE CAN Party. The party was wonderfully organized, and very well attended. If I remember correctly, about one thousand tickets had been sold and people came and went throughout the evening. The food was excellent. Of course, it's easy for me to have been pleased due to the continual flow of sushi throughout the evening.
Howard Dean, outgoing Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, spoke passionately to the crowd about the election of Barack Obama, what his election means to the nation, and the work left to be done. He spoke of how the political atmosphere of the 60's that shaped him and his generation politically led to a period of apathy after the success of ending the Vietnam War and expanding civil rights. While comparing that generation to the current generation that has been politically electrified by the War in Iraq, global warming, health care, and current civil rights issues, he warned that the long-term success of progressive government can only be achieved if this generation does not go into a period of apathy and non-involvement.
The next morning, the day of the inauguration, Eileen and I arrived at the metro station to travel into the city. Since we were getting to the city from the Kensington area, which is a good distance away from Washington, the station wasn't crowded in the least. We easily got on the train, and began our journey into the city. As we stopped at each station along the way, the platform was filled with more and more people, and our train was quickly filled to capacity. From what I saw, I can't guarantee that those people on the platforms were ever able to board trains.
Our arrival in Washington via Union Station was less of an ordeal than I thought it would be. We easily exited the station to ground level. It seemed that the foot traffic outside of the station was heavier on Monday than it was Tuesday morning. I took a picture of Capitol Hill as we walked toward the area our tickets were for, the blue area. Getting there from Union Station wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do, as the surging crowds toward and into the 3rd St. tunnel was bottlenecked due to poor positioning of barricades and vehicles and the intersecting of lines of solidly packed people. Landscaping along this route became pathways as people climbed over gates and pushed through bushes in an attempt to get around the wall of humanity. Then, as quickly as we found ourselves in this slow moving mass, we found ourselves walking freely again, wondering what the issue really was.
We made our way to and through the 3rd St. tunnel crossing to the side where our blue tickets would allow us access to the ceremony. While I've heard reports from many people detailing how they found themselves trapped for hours inside this tunnel, we luckily were able to move through at a good pace. Once we cleared the tunnel, we moved toward the Capitol to find the line for those with blue tickets.
Eventually we found the line, and then continued in search of the end of that line. It wasn't easy to determine which line was which. There seemed to be two or three lines filled with people who had a blue ticket. We found an end to one of these lines and it looked as though our line was the second half of an adjacent line, which we would loop back into. There were no barricades or officials on the ground directing this, but it seemed to be the case. We waited, and waited, and moved very little. Then, suddenly, I looked up to find that everyone in the line in front of me were now facing me! These people had turned around to merge with the line that we thought we would loop into. So now, instead of the line being five people wide, it was ten. This continued again, and again, and again, until there wasn't an identifiable line anymore, just a road filled with people.
This line inched along, and I could hear people saying to themselves and to others that there had to be plenty of time for everyone to get through. As time passed on, based on our moving about two steps every ten to fifteen minutes, I began to doubt that we would make it where we needed to be.
Somewhere along the way, the line divided, and we found ourselves walking freely again. I knew this wasn't good. We were no longer in any kind of line. It seemed as though everyone rushed to the gate, creating a massive bottleneck. Eventually, we made out way to the center of this group, and felt like we were moving in the right direction again. Although the prospects of our actually making it in on time were grim, everyone held on to a thread of hope. Surely they would open up more gates and security machines. Surely they had planned for the number of tickets they had issues. We wouldn't be left behind, would we?
No additional gates opened. No additional security machines were used. They hadn't planned and prepared adequately. We had been left behind, and we knew it when they started closing the gate that we, by that time, were about twenty-five yards from. We had almost made it, but it was too late. The system failed, and we were left outside of the ceremony. The crowed chanted "Let us in! Let us in!" These chants were ignored. Upset people argued and yelled at the guards who had closed the gate. I feared that this chaotic scene could turn to rioting.
Eileen and I quickly left when the gates were closed, and we made our way along the side of the mall. After about five minutes, we heard the cannon fire and the band play the intro to Hail to the Chief. We knew that we had missed our opportunity to witness history, and the moment was greeted by mixed emotions. We were thrilled to have a new president, and proud of what we had accomplished, but were bitter at having been left behind along with thousands of others who held tickets in their hands.
We were eventually able to get to a location where we could see the Capitol, but couldn't see what was happening. President Obama was giving his inaugural address, but all we could really hear was his voice echoing around. We stayed there for a bit, taking in the scene. We had been there for the inauguration, even if we weren't where we thought we would be. Washington was, as a whole, celebratory.
I've been able to catch President Obama's inaugural address since leaving Washington, and I believe that he has set the tone for his administration and the nation. I trust that we've elected the right leader for this period of time. While I'm not happy with the failures on Tuesday which kept me from being a full witness to history, I couldn't be happier with the direction our nation should be heading with Obama at the helm.
The issues I faced have been acknowledge by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies in an online apology.
