Richard and I lived in Annapolis, Maryland, 15 years ago. If you’ve not visited the historic city, I encourage you to put it on your list. It’s a 45-60-minute drive to D.C. surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay.
There will always be a piece of our hearts there, not only because of the charming brick streets and the boutique restaurants downtown or that it is called the ‘sailing capital of the world,’ but also because of the dear friends we made and the life we began together 25 years ago.
Local news radio stations were abuzz leading up to Barack Obama's inauguration, the first Black man to lead the United States of America. The planners of the events around the inauguration expected one of the largest crowds in history to come to Washington for the celebration.
The Metrorail service set a record, as 1.12 million trips were made that day, a number that had not topped 1 million before.
Extensive road closures and traffic restrictions were implemented in Washington, D.C., to manage the massive influx of visitors and ensure security. Key bridges and streets were closed or limited to authorized vehicles, significantly impacting traffic flow into the city. For instance, the 14th Street Bridge was restricted to buses and authorized vehicles only, while the Memorial Bridge was open solely to pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
On January 20, 2009, during President Obama's first inauguration, the weather in Washington, D.C., was notably cold and blustery. At noon, the temperature at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, approximately 3.1 miles from the Capitol, was 28, with wind gusts reaching 23 mph.
My son and I braved the challenges of getting into the city by car. Highway 50 leading into D.C. is usually clogged with traffic, but not that day. It was eerie how empty the major artery was on that inauguration day. I scored a parking space in the northwest part of the city. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial, which held special significance because when he was a little guy, he’d lost a beloved stuffed dog when we visited there years before. It took hours to retrace our steps until we found ‘Sally’ in the souvenir stand at the foot of the memorial.
What was it like that day of the Obama inauguration?
Love. Joy. Hugging strangers. Tears. Hope. I don’t remember the weather.
I’d been to our Nation’s Capital to take a stand against something plenty of times.
That day, we were there to demonstrate our collective wish to be for something, a people that had come together to celebrate the first Black American to be sworn in as president. I naively thought this event marked the end of racism.
My son and I sat halfway up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and had that expansive view of the Washington Mall, packed with humanity. Jumbo TV screens broadcast the speeches that were held on the west steps of the Capitol.
To my right was a man who sat quietly, taking in the scene. He’d traveled from South Carolina, then added he’d been there the day Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, when these words were spoken:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
On January 20th, 2009, I felt I had lived to see King’s vision realized, and that character does, or did, count.
Today
As I type this, on the morning of another inauguration, one that was moved inside the Capitol ‘because of the cold,’ according to my WeatherBug app, the temperature is 23 degrees, with an expected high of 25.
At this hour on the day of Obama’s inauguration, the temperature was 19 degrees.
Why does this matter?
I do not care where this inauguration is held. The ocean of lies and distortions that have brought us to this day of infamy seems so vast it’s tempting to succumb to a new normal.
Cable news ratings have plummeted because folks like me do not want to hear another word about the man whose very name brought in ratings so high it was narcotic—and ignoring real stories about an administration doing the best it could after taking over a crippled economy, distrust from abroad, and battling inflation that can be traced to the impact of the Covid pandemic and corporate consolidation and greed that resulted. Those stories were boring.
And here we are.
Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025.
Zoom today
I don’t have a guest, so we’ll talk among ourselves today. Join us in real-time at noon central:
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Thank you, Julie. I, too, thought Obama's victory would be the beginning of the end of racism. We had Hope and what could be better than that? At the time we did not know of the republican cabal that met in McConnell's office that evening to plot how to make President Obama a one-term president. Racism did not end because republicans needed to whip it up in order to win. And look where we are now...........................
Thanks for sharing this bit of personal history. Such a life of vast and interesting and significant experiences you have had!