Any Forumites attending the Inauguration of Obama

[Smiley]

Washington DC will be full of people, Americans wishing the new guy much success. Who's planning on attending cause maybe we just have a impromtu PARTY here.

[navclbiker]

I will be Marching down Pennsylvania Avenue dressed in black and white with a clarinet in my hand. :D

[kgreene10]

We'll be there, full of exuberance and pride.

[erector]

A bunch of teachers (of which I am one) and I are taking about 30 kids to the inauguration, and then sight seeing afterwards. It'll be interesting with the 5 million projected to be there, we'll see how things shape up. I may not be able to party too much, but we'll see what happens.

[sevencyclist]

Got two tickets to the inauguration. Will be traveling from California to be there. Wanted to show my kids that it is possible to succeed even as minority in this great society.

[Ray]

There's a part of me that would love to be at the inauguration (and at any party Smiley and Karen throw!) but there's a bigger part of me that doesn't want to be anywhere NEAR throngs and crowds of people like those that will be in DC that weekend. Jeez, people are finding hotels in PHILLY and driving down each day or taking the train. I live closer than that and I'm going to avoid DC like the plague. I'll have to get my kicks on TV I guess - better view of the inaugural address anyway. I'm impressed with anyone who's willing to deal with the hassles to be there - enjoy being present for history!

-Ray

[Climb01742]

i'm waiting for the first 100 days. day 1 will be cake. the next 99...tough, and getting tougher by the minute. folks like ray and me, we put so much faith in this election. now, the rubber meets the road. i'm hoping...but my eyes are open. for all our sakes, i hope BO is the real deal.

[zap]

Much depends on how much work I have that day, but I plan on riding down unless there is 7" or more snow on the ground.

I just want to see the mass of humanity. I have no interest walking into the crowd with a bike so won't be close to the route.

The rest we'll see on tv at :) 's. :banana:

[mschol17]

We've got two tickets!

[Ray]

i'm waiting for the first 100 days. day 1 will be cake. the next 99...tough, and getting tougher by the minute. folks like ray and me, we put so much faith in this election. now, the rubber meets the road. i'm hoping...but my eyes are open. for all our sakes, i hope BO is the real deal.
I'm waiting for the first year. Or two. I don't think 100 days means much in times like this. Although how he handles the auto companies will be interesting. But I'm not looking for miracles - I never had that kind of "faith" in Obama or anyone else. I'm just hoping for rational and competent decision making after several years of what I don't think met either criteria (I realize opinions will differ on this). And I hope he governs with the relatively centrist bent he's shown thus far in the transition. Although in days of $700 billion bailouts and nearly nationalizing the banks, I'm not sure how to define centrist anymore, at least on economic measures.

But for that one day, I'm gonna forget all that and just celebrate a huge step that we took as a country (albeit from a distance and through the tube). Whether he turns out to be a great president, a terrible one, or something in between, I'm still hugely proud that his race did not prevent him getting elected - there are not any or many other places where such a thing would be possible. I didn't believe that was possible in this country either and I'm incredibly pleased and proud to be proven wrong. I've pretty much absorbed that this has happened and he's been elected, but every now and then I still see a picture or a quick clip on TV and I'm caught off-guard again and some mixture of pride and elation starts welling up in my gut. It's a good thing. And soon I'll be able to totally take it for granted and totally forget about his race and that will be a good thing too.

-Ray

[Climb01742]

ray, i agree. we won't see "results" for a year or two. but his actions in the first few months will be telling, i think. first and foremost, how he deals with the big 3; the final shape of his stimulus package; and what sort of relief he proposes for homeowners/mortgages and regulatory reform for wall street.

[Viper]

The first one hundred days are counted by the media, a measurement of time in which they believe will outline or frame the picture for the next one thousand days. I disagree with my friend across the aisle, Ray. I believe the first few months will in fact be extremely important not only for the success of the Obama Presidency, but for America; our ship has hit a sandbar and the captain needs to take immediate action.

The first 100 days for President Obama equate to the first mountain stage of Le Tour, ya gotta show up. The team he's put in place, they aren't there to learn-on-the-job, walk-through sessions, no, these folks need to hit the pavement stretching the elastic. The American people are Phil, Paul and Bobke, if you have a strong first day time trial and show up at the first mountain stage like Franklin D. Roosevelt, we're watching (and rooting) closely. Stage 7 of this year's Tour brings the first mountains, the Pyrenees and the mountain top finish which separates the men from the boys.

Irony this year's Tour de France begins with a TT on July 4th, perhaps. President Obama ought to clip-in on day one and have his game face, we need watts, not words.

Here:

http://uanews.ua.edu/anews2008/guess09/100days.htm

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:1kd35b-C7-AJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal+presidency+the+first+100+days&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/us/100/etape_par_etape.html

[mike p]

Pres. Bush had a great first hundred days and after 9/11 his approval rating was in the 80% range, so I'm not sure you can place alot of credence in that 100 day theory.
I'm surprised with as much as Obama criticized the Bush admn. for not being transparent. He's starting off by stonewalling reporters on the goings on in Chicago. While I didn't vote for Obama he is our pres. and I'm 100% behind him and I surely hope he can turn this mess around.

mike

[Viper]

Pres. Bush had a great first hundred days and after 9/11 his approval rating was in the 80% range, so I'm not sure you can place alot of credence in that 100 day theory.
I'm surprised with as much as Obama criticized the Bush admn. for not being transparent. He's starting off by stonewalling reporters on the goings on in Chicago. While I didn't vote for Obama he is our pres. and I'm 100% behind him and I surely hope he can turn this mess around.

mike

GWB didn't inherit a complete and utter mess like Franklin D. Roosevelt did and Barack Obama is about to. Day one matters, the first thirty, sixty and one hundred days are crucial. FDR coined the term, first one hundred days as he met with Congress for one hundred days in a row. It's very cold and the lion faces winter.

Prince Geoffrey: My you chivalric fool... as if the way one fell down mattered.
Prince Richard: When the fall is all there is, it matters.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:J85bxnY0UeAJ:westwing.bewarne.com/overlaps/sports_misc2.html+when+all+that%27s+left+is+the+fa ll+it+matters+the+west+wing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

It matters a great deal, Obama's intervention of our falling.

[Pete Serotta]

Where are the directions and will you have RED


Washington DC will be full of people, Americans wishing the new guy much success. Who's planning on attending cause maybe we just have a impromtu PARTY here.

[Ray]

The first 100 days for President Obama equate to the first mountain stage of Le Tour, ya gotta show up. The team he's put in place, they aren't there to learn-on-the-job, walk-through sessions, no, these folks need to hit the pavement stretching the elastic. The American people are Phil, Paul and Bobke, if you have a strong first day time trial and show up at the first mountain stage like Franklin D. Roosevelt, we're watching (and rooting) closely. Stage 7 of this year's Tour brings the first mountains, the Pyrenees and the mountain top finish which separates the men from the boys.

I absolutely agree he's gotta show up and show up right away. If he should somehow be sworn in and spend the first 100 days sitting on his hands, he'll be judged harshly for it and should be. I don't think there's any risk of that - he'll have a huge stimulus package ready to go and I'd bet the congress will pass it, or something similar, pretty quickly. Health care and energy legislation will probably either be part of that stimulus or follow very quickly on its heels.

But I don't think we're gonna be able to judge the RESULTS of all of that action in 100 days or six months or even a year. I fully expect things to get worse before they get better - the only question is how much worse and for how long. So I think he'll be judged somewhat in the congressional elections in 2010 and in his all but certain re-election campaign in 2012 not on whether things are better and whether the economy is booming again, but on whether the stuff he's trying to do seems to be starting to work. Even if things are still terrible, even worse than today, I think people will judge him based on whether or not they sense that we've hit bottom and have turned around and are at least moving in the right direction, even if we haven't gone far in that direction yet.

He's coming into a brutal situation - I don't know if any president can really fix what ails us. I'm personally glad we'll have him taking the first crack at it though and I obviously wish him, and all of us, a lot of luck.

-Ray

[rounder]

I am not going to the inauguration and, hopefully, i won't even have to work on that day...mainly because of the traffic...otherwise i think it would be great to be there and see all that is going on. I was working a few blocks from the Capitol on inauguration day 1996 after Clinton won reelection. A co-worker and i bought carryout and walked over to the front of the Capitol lawn for lunch. There were a lot of people there...nothing like this time. You really coldn't see or hear very much, but it was still fun being there. Bought a lot of inauguration buttons from vendors and gave them to my wife, who was a Clinton fan.