the Mark Pike
“They said… this day… would never come.”
It happened. Barack Obama is our President. I saw it happen with my own eyes. I watched the coming out party on TV, with so many others, when he instilled a sense of Hope from the Boston podium in 2004. I was there in DC, whispers all around about a change coming to town, a new man in the Senate chambers with an honest voice. I was there in Iowa; saw the people he brought into the political process. I was there in Virginia; saw the largest crowd ever assembled for a Democrat in town. I was there on election day; saw the turnout, the optimism, the understanding.
And, I was there when he took the oath. It was beautiful.
We could see the Presidential podium and people in the crowd, but they were in the distance, dwarfed by the magnitude of history. For a better view, we watched a television from the roof of a building just Northwest of the Capitol. It was somewhat surreal to watch the TV and hear the chants and cheers, somewhat ethereal to observe from above and yet feel completely within the moment.
Afterwards, Bush’s helicopter flew overhead. Just like that, he was gone.
While leaving the building we saw New York Gov. Patterson and I gave a head-nod and then said “hello”. In fact, for the entirety of the trip, I kept seeing celebrities and politicians all around town. For once, DC was actually a place where people wanted to be and be seen. On my first night in town, we saw Sen. John Kerry (who did not recognize me from that time we high-fived at a rally in Norfolk, VA in 2004), Marisa Tomei, Spike Lee, Matthew Modine, Star Jones, Tim Daly, and many others as we had coincidentally made dinner reservations at the same exact spot as the Creative Coalition’s pre-Inaugural party.
Throughout the celebration, everybody took to the streets. Large crowds and security checkpoints are an equalizing force. It was such a pleasure to strike up conversations with strangers and to bump into friends knowing that you were sharing a little slice of history. Vendors everywhere were hawking goods to commemorate the occasion, some tacky and some powerful.
After dancing in the streets for the parade, I took a quick nap to prepare for the Inaugural Balls. Ticket in hand, I headed to the Youth Ball only to be stuck in line for a long time. It was such a big ticket that everybody wanted to be there, but the fire marshall wouldn’t allow that to happen. Because of this, I missed Kanye West’s performance and the Obamas cameo. However, it was still fun to mingle with more celebs (Usher, Kanye, Fall Out Boy, Ashton and Demi, etc.). Next, I took a taxi with a friend to Google’s party and got acquainted with the dancefloor. Many more celebs were in the building rubbing elbows with Silicon Valleys brightest minds and DC’s new policy-makers. A collective sense of optimism all-around.
Another world is possible. We made it.
