Get a Life!: Where were you?

I was there.  With 15 good friends, I watched and celebrated the swearing-in of President Barack Obama close up on television in my living room. 

OK, I wasn’t on the Mall with some 1.8 million others or with a special ticket.  But I was moved and elated nevertheless.  I marveled at the specter of the massive crowd and felt that I had a wide-lens view of history.  I shared the view with retired federal IT professionals from the Defense Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission and with a few current workers from SEC and the National Science Foundation.

Even though we did not really know how the new president would affect the various agencies, everyone had positive feelings and toasted the occasion. 

We wondered how Chief Justice John Roberts could manage to mess up the oath of office. Oh well, everyone makes mistakes, and the Constitution states that the president is the president at noon, even without an oath. Constitutional scholars are debating whether saying the words exactly will require his taking another oath of office, perhaps in private.

Others have different stories to tell from this Inauguration. A friend traveled by bus from Philadelphia in the early hours to join the crush.  A neighbor rode his bike on the C&O Canal to a bike valet and walked from there to the Mall.  Other friends walked from Georgetown to the Mall.  The stories will be told for generations.

Where were you when Obama became president of the United States?