SUPPLEMENTAL INAUGURAL SPACKLE

January 20th, 2009, 8:20 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Lehr

Read eyewitness accounts from NewsChannel9ers who were there, as well as listen to some tunes that capture the patriotic spirit of the day, after the jump.

Welcome to Inauguration Day!

This post is meant as a supplement, rather than a primary source, of your inauguration viewing. I’ll be adding pictures & (what I think are appropriate) songs to this post throughout the day (with the newest at the top). If you want to leave a comment with your thoughts about today, feel free to do that, too.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Brightcove video.

You can watch the inauguration live on the web here.

You can see the inaugural speeches of every past president in our nation’s history here.

I hope you enjoy it. Today is truly an historic day for the United States of America.

UPDATE: Just heard from Calvin on the phone. here’s his (mostly verbatim) remarks:

“this is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. to go to barack obama’s inauguration. it was so cool.
we were close enough that I could have thrown a rock and hit the rostrum.
but i couldn’t see him that well, because of the tall people.
we had a jumbotron in front of us, so I was able to watch it there.
the roar from the mall was amazing. we could hear the roar from down there & that would start us roaring up close to the building.
i got here a little before 5 o’clock this morning.
stood three hours in line. they let us in early, at about 8:30.
the invocation - everybody went into it with a kind of a hestitant ‘what’s he going to say.’ but he did really good. he invoked the gospel & that’s what needed to happen. no matter what you think of his political leanings, when it comes to the gospel, there’s only one way to preach it.
when roberts flubbed the oath, everyone looked around like ‘what did he say?” & everyone started laughing.
any time he talked about us being the greatest country in the world the people around us - including me - just went ballistic & cheered. everyone hooped & hollered. everyone had their mittens on, so when they applauded, it sounded muffled.
colin powell got a huge round of applause.
It was special because all of us were mindful of those who fought so we could live to this day, & who couldn’t be here.”

Here’s a link to Calvin’s personal website with lots of photos from his experience.

Above: 2 shots from NewsChannel9 director Tom Logan.

Update: photo sent to me from Amanda Shropshire.

Look who’s in the thick of it on the Capitol Mall! This was taken yesterday.

Tanya Mendis calls at 9:05am (reminder: she’s NOT working, just there on her own volition). She says she’s “…standing on the west side of the capitol. we got up at 3am to begin our journey & waited - we had no problem getting to the train station, but once we got there a 25-minute trip took us an hour and a half. The trains are literally a sea of people & there’s excitement in the air. Rndom cheers are popping up everywhere & strangers are becoming best friends. We stood in line for about 2 housr. By the time we got in position for our tickets, we had to wait two hours .. and it took us 30-45 minutes to get to our position. I’m literally standing directly in front of where the swearing in ceremony is. I’m about three people back from the seated section. I’m going to have an unfettered view. The mall is incredible - it makes you want to cry, the sheer numbers of people is in-credible. & they’re just cheering in the back. In-credible. Yesterday I saw Leamon Pierce, Greg Mack, Warren Mackey (all Chattanooga city council members). Getting in this morning we were in the front 20% of the line. About half of the people who are coming here have not filed in yet. But it’s going to be pretty tight. I am cold, very cold. They’re selling hand warmers out here, 2 for $5, they’re normally 0.99 cents.”

Inaugural lines, e-mailed to me at 9:25am by WTVC director Tom Logan.

Woody Guthrie, “This Land Is Your Land”

“Our mental furniture is being rearranged. The advent of Obama’s presidency brings the African American experience to center stage but does so in a way that allows society to congratulate itself on having come so far. The implications for black Americans are even more profound, because seeing Obama in the White House obliterates any logic behind self-imposed limits on imagination and ambition. These are huge impacts — making it ironic that, in the end, race is likely to be secondary in defining Obama’s place in history.” - Eugene Robinson

Excerpts from Eisenhower’s & Lincoln’s inaugural addresses.

Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Charles Ives, “Variations on America”

“Most interesting and exciting inauguration since Reagan’s first in 1981. I may actually watch this one (I think the last one I watched was Bush I in 1989). And for my fellow Republicans who are bent out of shape, get over it. Face it: we’re just jealous we don’t have a guy with his particular skill set right now. Same way the Democrats were a little jealous of Ronald Reagan way back then. And if your problem is that the mainstream media’s ridiculous heavy-handed fawning over the new president makes you physically ill, well, that’s what Fox News is for. Avoid Chris Matthews like the plague. And most of the others as well.” - A Fish in the Percolator

Elton John, “Philadelphia Freedom“

Jay & the Americans, “Only in America”

“What Obama understands - and it’s worth reiterating - is that his presidency is a unique combination of one man and one very specific moment in time. We are witnessing the collapse of an old ideological order, the end of the 1960s, and the implosion of conservatism as an intellectually coherent governing philosophy. Into this wasteland, created by some hideous combination of evil enemies abroad and clueless leaders at home, this man arrives. Without the events of 2003 - 2006, Obama would not be president. And after the Bush catastrophe, we are immensely lucky he is. Alone, he is impressive - and would have made a good president at any time in the next few decades. But now, in this moment, with this set of gargantuan problems, at a time when Americans need desperately to believe again in their country and their constitution and theor president … well.

I don’t really believe in any grand idea of providence, and don’t believe that America is somehow more blessed by the divine than any other (that notion is absurd to my Catholic mind). But this week is testing my agnosticism.” - Andrew Sullivan