Matt's Inauguration re-cap

Fourteen days.

I suppose I shouldn’t brag about the fact that it took me about as long as President Obama has now been in office to return home from my recent Inaugural road trip, but here I sit – at the L.C.C. computer lab in Eugene, Oregon – scribing Inaugural details and waxing patriotic.

Thanks to the diligence of our Oregon delegation executives, I was one of the lucky few thousand who scored a “silver ticket” to the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony. Indeed, from my vantage point near the Capitol Reflection Pool, President Obama looked like a far-off miniature Lego figure, but oh well. (The Western Ball, an official Presidential Inaugural gala later that evening, provided a much more intimate moment of First Lady and 44^th President magic.) Still, nothing compares to post swearing-in bliss of the hundred or so folks skating, literally, on thin ice of the Capitol Reflection Pool chanting, “Yes, we did!”

Inaugural consensus: controlled chaos, spontaneous jubilation and serious economic stimulus from the 2,000,000 visitors who, like me, descended on D.C. for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration (though, I doubt not many found regular solace sipping pastis at the Old Ebbit Grill across from the Treasury Department).

In regards to the controlled chaos at our National Mall, I’m proud to report there were no serious injuries, deaths, or arrests made as a result of Inaugural madness. However, a couple million of us are hopeful that 2013 will be far more organized than was witnessed on January 21, 2009.

I’d call the fact that we came out of the Inauguration relatively unscathed “luck” – but as old Obi-Wan Kenobi once noted, “In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.”

Perhaps the Force was simply with all 2,000,000 of us. Considering the amount of snafus, near fiascoes and potential disasters we avoided, it had to be.

What Inaugural snafus did we experience? Tons – times ten .

The Metro – a terribly antiquated transit system that’s antithetical to the smooth system witnessed in Denver for the DNC – packed sardine-like Inaugural travelers in a two-hour, ten mile journey to the Nation’s Capitol. (Imagine the entire population of Orange County descending on Disneyland at the same time.) People who rushed barricades were somehow rewarded and though nobody had any clue as to where to go, families who were respectful and waited in an eternal line to nowhere were sadly left out in the cold. Seriously overloaded security systems, incredibly poor signage, lack of volunteers helping answer directional questions, mobs clambering atop patrol cars and spectators scaling not-so-small trees at the National Mall all added to the insanity.

I hope the above-described snafus simply represent the last Federal Government mishap of a failed Bush administration on its final day. After all, we found it ironic that the most well organized campaign in the history of American politics suffered a set-back on Day One because of a most disorganized Inaugural system and a rather haphazard security scene.

Radio-trained in the ways of maneuvering through such nuttiness, I was happy to have my laptop with me and my wits about me (video available at www.youtube.com/mkeating2008).

Had 2,000,000 people convened in D.C. for any other reason besides the Inauguration of President Barack H. Obama, I may not have fared so well . . .

Thankfully, the overwhelming sense of community from folks on the Mall who saw themselves as participants rather than spectators helped keep heads cool and the Inaugural mood celebratory. The realization of witnessing history-in-the-making elevated Obama’s Inaugural event from a peaceful transfer of power to a collective consciousness coming together for a common, positive cause: In regards to race – a true transcendence of our People.

The morning of Tuesday, January 21, on the tundra-like National Mall, we celebrated American democracy, our “patchwork heritage” and what President Obama’s Administration represents on a global scale. With the world watching, America announced it is back: “The beacon,” as the BBC reported, “is once again lit.”

Let’s hope, though, for safety’s sake, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (coupled with the Federal Government) get their act together for 2013. Because if my prediction is accurate and if President Obama’s first four years are as engaging as these past fourteen days, D.C. can expect a couple million to descend, yet again, on our National Mall . . . .

And yes, in four years, we will arrive even earlier.

-Matt Keating

Matt Keating is a National Delegate for Barack Obama (OR-4) and regularly documents his self-produced political video at www.youtube.com/mkeating2008.