Record editor Brian Kelly is in Washington, D.C. with others from the Evergreen State for the inauguration of Barack Obama. He will file regular reports through Inauguration Day.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – They cheered for Denzel Washington. They shouted out for Garth Brooks. But the biggest screams came for Barack Obama.
On the steps of the marble temple built to honor the Great Emancipator, an impressive roster of the country’s biggest celebrities came to speak and sing in celebration of Obama’s inauguration as the next president.
But the biggest star was Obama, who energized the crowd with a sober yet uplifting speech of the challenges he’ll face when he assumes the presidency next week.
People started lining up for the free concert early Sunday. An hour before the show started, an enormous crowd had filled the National Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial, a half mile away.
And by the time the “We Are One” opening celebration for the Obama inauguration began at 2:30 p.m., the crowd stretched past the Washington Monument.
Michael Poffenberger stood just east of the mall’s Reflecting Pool, watching a JumboTron as Bruce Springsteen sang “The Rising” in front of a choir that filled the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The former Puyallup resident said he came for Obama, and not a star-studded musical line-up that included Beyonce, U2, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Usher and others.
“He’s an incredibly smart and effective policy maker,” Poffenberger said of the incoming president.
Obama’s vision for the country, Poffenberger added, “gives him the power to help us all have a collective moment, to help us face the very serious challenges that face our country today, and help us remember that better is possible.”
Poffenberger, who now lives in Washington, D.C. and works as the executive director of Resolve Uganda, an organization dedicated to ending the war in Uganda, worked as a volunteer on Obama’s campaign for the Illinois Senate and also canvassed for the presidential candidate in Virginia.
Obama’s election as president is still somewhat unbelievable, he said.
“I don’t believe it’s happening yet,” Poffenberger said.
Still, he’s getting there. Poffenberger said the unveiling of Obama’s presidential portrait last week helped.
“It was the first moment when I realized this is actually happening,” he said.
On that point, Poffenberger may have been alone in the concert crowd of roughly half a million.
At every mention of Obama’s name, a roar cascaded through the overflow audience, a mob so extensive it spilled onto Constitution and Independence avenues and other streets leading to the mall. Many streets leading surrounding the National Mall were closed to traffic, as were two bridges across the Potomac River to the west.
And when the cameras turned to Obama and showed him bobbing along with Mary J. Blige as she sang “Lean on Me,” laughter bubbled across the mall, followed by another tremendous cheer.
The audience filled the mall as far as the eye could see; some people climbed trees for a better view, ignoring the warnings from Capitol Police. Others scaled lampposts, or stood atop large utility boxes or statues along the edge of the Constitutional Gardens.
The throng was in high spirits throughout the two-hour concert. They sang along loudly during “Lean on Me,” with John Mellencamp on “Pink Houses,” with Herbie Hancock, will.i.am and Sheryl Crow on “One Love,” and danced during Brooks’ segue into “Shout.”
Comedian Jamie Foxx elicited hearty howls of laughter with his spot-on impersonation of the 44th president, and when Vice President-elect Joe Biden spoke to the audience, his voice booming louder than many of the performers, someone shouted: “FYI, Joe! You’ve got a microphone!”
And when 15 Canadian geese flew over the crowd while Queen Latifah spoke, another yelled, “There’s our flyover!”
Several performers noted that many had come from afar to take part in the inauguration celebration.
“Chi-Town stand up! Chi-Town stand up!” Foxx pleaded.
“I got one question: Anyone here from out of town?” asked comedian George Lopez. “Well, you’re all home now.”
The celebration included some of America’s biggest stars – Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson and others – who paid tribute to leaders of the past, including President Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history,” Hanks said, quoting the words of Lincoln. “We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. We hold the power, and bear the responsibility,” he said.
Despite the star power onstage, the loudest cheers came for the country’s next Commander in Chief.
“I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds, traveling in some cases thousands of miles to join us here today,” Obama said. “Welcome to this celebration of American renewal.”
Only a handful of generations have seen challenges as serious as the ones facing the country today, he said.
“Our nation is at war, our economy is in crisis, millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes,” Obama said. “They’re wondering how they will afford college for their kids, or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen tables. Most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future.
“I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy,” he said, noting that it will likely take many years.
“Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts,” Obama said.
“Despite the enormity of the tasks that lie ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever, that the United States of America will endure. That it will prevail. That the dream of our founders will live on in our time.
“There is no doubt that our road will be long, that our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard,” he said.
Obama will take the oath of office on Tuesday, in front of an audience expected to dwarf Sunday’s crowd. At the low end of estimates, more than a million are expected to again jam the National Mall.
Poffenberger, the former Puyallup resident, said he didn’t have tickets but he would come, anyway.
“It may be kind of a stressful experience, but nothing can compare to what I’m sure it will be like to be here in person and celebrate such an important moment in American history,” he said.
“It’s one important day in what’s bound to be an important journey,” Poffenberger added. “When the excitement from his taking office is done, then it’s back to the hard work of making our country a better place.”
