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| Inauguration leaves lasting legacy |
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| Written by John Cleek, Special to the Herald | |||
| Wednesday, 28 January 2009 09:00 | |||
 My son, Josh, and I left Louisburg very early on the morning of Jan. 19. We flew from Kansas City International Airport to Midway Airport in Chicago where we joined a charter group for what turned out to be a 19-hour bus ride.We arrived in Washington about 6:45 a.m. and were joined just northwest of DuPont Circle by a volunteer who boarded our bus and helped us park the bus just a couple of blocks south of the Circle and only one block north of The Mayflower Hotel. (Our first but not our last evidence of how well the city had prepared for the massive influx of people.) This solved all problems regarding how we would get to the Mall since we were now within walking distance. (We were expecting to park at RFK field a couple of miles east of the Capitol.) We had already organized our gear and clothing as we came into the district, so we were ready to start moving toward the Mall immediately. We headed toward 18th Street and started walking south toward Constitution Avenue. It was only 7 a.m. but the crowd had already overflowed the sidewalks and traffic had been diverted to make the street a pedestrian mall. By the time we got to Constitution Avenue it was clear that a massive crowd was forming. As we turned the corner to head southeast we spotted the Washington Monument that we used as our navigational target. Our original plan was to move as far east as possible to be closer to the Capitol, but when we got to the Washington Monument and looked to the east, it became clear the best vantage point was on the hill near the monument. We picked a spot about 25 yards east and slightly south of the monument. We were still almost on top of the hill. We stayed in this same spot for the six hours. By 9 a.m. we thought the area around us was surely at capacity but the people kept coming and people kept moving closer together. No one seemed to mind giving up a portion of their space. We had never seen this many people in one place in our lives and hardly knew where to start in estimating the size of the crowd. We were guessing well in excess of one million by the time the programs got underway. Strangers treated each other as old friends. Looking around we were surrounded by diversity and it felt good. The first couple of hours we watched a replay of the Sunday afternoon concert held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was as inspiring the second time as it had been the first. The seating of special platform guests began around 11 a.m. and continued until time to start the program. Diane Feinstein introduced the Rev. Rick Warren promptly at 11:30 for the opening prayer. His selection had not been universally applauded due to his well-known differences with the president-elect on social issues. I was relieved when his introduction was not accompanied by booing. To the surprise of some, Rev. Warren’s prayer was not only free of any mention of the divisive social issues, it was in fact an eloquent and uplifting prayer that drew praise from all quarters. The response was not merely polite but seemed warm and genuine. The amazing musical performance by four world-class musicians, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, Yo-Yo Ma, and Anthony McGill, was a moving experience and one that I will not soon forget. John Williams arrangement of Air and Simple Gifts left me in tears. And then it was time for the oath of office to be administered by Chief Justice Roberts. Whether the Chief Justice was nervous or simply guilty of being human, he blew his lines resulting in a minor glitch. But that was soon forgotten when the 44th president of the United States began his first speech as president. My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. It seemed as though the crowd wanted to cheer every phrase and the president seemed a little rushed at the beginning but quickly fell into his normal pattern of almost impeccable timing and phrasing. But it was not his timing or his delivery that made this speech so notable. It was the content that will be remembered as one of the best ever. All around me hope, pride, and optimism graced the faces of young and old alike. Tears of joy were appearing — A young woman in front of me turned to her friend, tears streaming down her cheeks and said, “I’m so happy!” She was not the only one.  The president continued,That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. ... Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. ... Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met. The sustained applause was interrupted only by shouts of affirmation, flag-waving and jumping for joy.The crowd loved it, and they loved their new president. For many it was their first time to be excited about politics and they were enjoying it immensely. As President Obama neared the conclusion of his address, he called upon the words of our first president in one of the darkest hours of the Revolutionary War, Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]. And then he issued the challenge, America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. As the speech ended I embraced my son and told him that sharing this experience with him was one of the proudest days of my life. A day that I never dreamed I would live to see. Fifty years before I had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I had conducted the first integrated vacation bible school in the state of Kentucky in 1959, I had worked hard to bring about true equality and mutual respect and now I was watching as nearly two million people were weathering the bitter cold for hours in order to be a part of this historic event. It all seems so right! We began to quietly move with the flow of the crowd around us in the general direction of 18th Street and Constitution Avenue as we heard the voice of the Reverend Joseph Lowery and were immediately struck by the timbre of his voice and the graceful flow of his words. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand — true to thee, O God, and true to our native land. I said to my son, he’s the best poet here today. The crowd was continuing to move as Rev. Lowery neared the end of his stirring prayer, Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen. And the crowd responded: Amen! And Rev. Lowery said: Say amen! And again the crowd responded, this time with a louder and more robust Amen! Finally Rev. Lowery for the third time said: Say amen. To which the crowd responded as one with a shout of AMEN coupled with enormous cheers and applause. The final Amen was not only a fitting conclusion to Rev. Lowery’s prayer; it was a resounding endorsement of the entire day. As we continued moving in the direction of 18th and Constitution, the size of this historic crowd was even more apparent. As far as the eye could see in every direction every inch of ground not covered by buildings or other physical objects was an uninterrupted sea of humanity, young and old, black and white and all shades in between. We moved as one, ebbing and flowing in a generally northwesterly direction. We finally arrived at 18th Street only to find the street was a continuation of the polite and orderly stampede of humanity seeking to reach a place where they could move about freely. As we passed Constitution Hall we thought of the DAR’s refusal to allow Marion Anderson to perform in the Hall because of the color of her skin. Later we heard an almost unbelievable statistic. In spite of the massive size of the crowd, the District of Columbia Police reported that there were no arrests during the entire day of any participant in the Inaugural program. Somewhere around H Street the crowd began to disperse and we were able to move in a direction of our own choosing for the first time in nearly an hour. By this time we were also beginning to feel the impact of a 19-hour bus ride followed by seven hours of standing in the cold and at least 10 miles of walking. We found a place to have lunch and then decided it was time to make our way back to our bus and rest a bit. Along the way we slipped into a small deli and were delighted to see Michelle and Barack Obama walking along Pennsylvania in front of the Navy Memorial to the obvious delight of the crowd. So, was it really different being here on the National Mall and watching the events on a Jumbotron than it would have been to watch in the warmth and comfort of home on a large screen TV? Absolutely! Aside from the obvious difference in temperature and comfort, the main difference was the indescribable but very real contagious enthusiasm and emotion that rippled though the crowd throughout the day and the feeling that all humanity shared your excitement about the future. My son’s assessment was very simply, Being here today was worth whatever inconvenience involved in getting here. How do you account for a shift from cynicism and pessimism to hope and optimism? It is so much easier to feel hopeful with two million others all around you that are also hopeful. The challenge is to keep this hope alive in the presence of such powerful currents of hate; to keep hope alive when the enemies of hope are not about to retire from the arena. Only history can judge the long term impact of the election of Barack Obama as president, but for now at least he has an opportunity to be one of our half dozen greatest leaders. But I also know that leaders are only as good as their followers allow them to be. If we expect Obama to achieve his promises by himself, we are expecting the impossible. Finally I recalled the words of Thomas Wolf that have been a part of my personal philosophy for decades: So then to everyone their chance, to everyone, regardless of their birth, their shining golden opportunity. The right to love, to live, to work, to become whatever their vision and humanity combine to make them, This, Seeker, is the Promise of America.
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