Today, January 20, 2009, was the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States of America. I was lucky enough to be able to attend his inauguration today, and it was absolutely amazing.

The inauguration ceremony began at 11:30am EST, but I was there on the National Mall at around 8:30am. It was surprisingly easy to get to the National Mall, even though I had to get up at 3:00am to walk to the closest Metrorail station, and then walk from the station to the Mall, stopping to get breakfast along the way from one of the few places that were open. It was completely dark outside, and the sun only began to rise once I got the Washington Monument, and when I arrived on the Mall it had fully risen. Still, sun or no sun, it was still freezing cold – I was wearing three shirts, my warmest sweatshirt, leggings, jeans, boots, two pairs of socks, a beanie, a scarf, gloves, as well as a hood, and I couldn’t feel my feet due to the numbness for most of the day. I had brought a bottle of water with me, and when I opened it to take a sip the water had frozen into ice!

I had about three hours of waiting time for the ceremony to begin once I found a spot on the Mall, and I spent it trying to conserve heat as well as watching the replay of the Inauguration Concert that took place on Sunday (which I was also lucky enough to attend!) The people that were sitting around me were really nice and the atmosphere was truly amazing – everyone was happy, excited, as well as a little anxious for Obama’s inauguration. Before setting out to attend the inauguration, I was a little worried about how the estimated 1.5 million people in attendance would be and whether or not fights and such would break out, but everyone was cooperating and were extremely friendly, making the long wait for the ceremony a lot easier!

The ceremony began promptly, and I watched from one of the many Jumbotrons placed throughout the Mall as the dignitaries arrived. Officials, Senators, Representatives, former Presidents made their entrance, and it was interesting to note the different reactions each dignitary elicited from the crowd. Al Gore as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton were applauded, while George W. Bush was booed incessantly. When the screen showed an image of Obama and Bush walking side by side, there was a rapid-fire chant that went, “Boo-yay-boo-yay!” to show the crowd’s love for Obama and displeasure for Bush. I was rather amused by that; as sad as it is that Bush has gotten himself to a point where he’s repeatedly mocked by his fellow citizens, honestly all the boos in the crowd couldn’t have come as a surprise.

I was very impressed by Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” as well as the John Williams’ composition of “Air and Simple Gifts” performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill. And considering the stir Rick Warren caused when it was announced he would be giving the invocation at the inauguration, I thought his speech was brilliant. I’m not a super religious person or anything, but he spoke very well.

Joe Biden was sworn in before Obama, and when he took the oath, the crowd went wild. There was applause, American flags were waved, and people took photos to commemorate the moment. It was nothing compared to when Obama was sworn in though; once he had been sworn in as the 44th president the crowd absolutely exploded with joy. The applause was thunderous, people were shouting “Yes we can!”, and everyone was whooping and hollering in their excitement and happiness. People were brought to tears – I know I was close to crying! It was an incredible moment, and certainly one I’ll never forget.

Obama’s first speech as the President of the United States was superb. I’ve always thought that he was an excellent speaker who knew how to use rhetoric in order to emphasize the major points he wanted to bring across in any speech, but what I really liked about this particular speech was that he was addressing not only the citizens of the United States, but the citizens of the world. The president is not only the leader of the US; the president is also the leader of the free world, and I thought it was very appropriate that Obama talked about global matters as well as domestic matters in his speech. He knows the world is in trouble, and he knows that we are counting on him to fix it – but he is also counting on us, as global citizens, to do our part in changing the world as well. The era of change has now officially arrived, and it’s time to act accordingly. :)

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