Why Am I Not Going To The Inauguration?

It's an historic moment, I don't have a job, I've got some money, and similar people with no tickets, no housing, no idea of where to go or what to do and have this need to be in Washington to see Obama get sworn in are going. Why not me?

Huh. When I saw Charlie Gibson of ABC News, at a little before 9 o'clock on Election Night, fold his arms in front of himself, put his elbows on his desk and smile an impish smile, I knew It was coming. Obama had just won Pennsylvania and Ohio. At the top of the hour the West Coast states would be closing its polls, meaning networks would feel free to call races. Obama was going to win California, Oregon and Washington ... which meant that Gibson knew well before the top of the hour that he was going to announce that the nation would have a minority president for the first time in its long, glorious, tortured history.

So why not be a part of that? Hmmm ... that's a good question. The main thing is, I just didn't think of it at the time. I should've prepared for it right after Election Day, but I didn't think, "Man, I gotta go!" No, I didn't get that feeling till this weekend. I hate myself for wanting to do things when it's too late for them.

I have rationalizations too; wanna hear them? I voted for Obama, but I didn't actively campaign or canvas for him, and I thought the Inauguration should only be for those who truly believed. I don't think that's the case now, of course; I'm guessing there are a lot of people in my position who are going to be there, and many others who are not inspired by him but know history when they see it and are going. Also, it's going to be a lot of money; by Election Day I reckon that hotels were charging an arm and a leg for their rooms. I didn't have anybody to go with, though I'm sure there are a lot of singles making the pilgrimage anyway.

Worst of all, I guess I didn't want to see the reaction by my parents. I think they voted for Obama; they hated Bush. But to go out of your way to go to the Nation's Capital to pay hundreds of dollars for a room, walk several miles in the cold, get jostled by two million people and felt up by security, and hear the new President speak from several more miles away through a giant speaker? You're crazy, they would tell me. And I don't need that grief.

But putting that grief aside, it would've been something worth doing. Christ, why am I not going to the Inauguration?