Opinion: So many decide to share Obama’s inaugural day -- and the hopes

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

In his third spoken sentence as president of the United States, Barack Obama made his first mistake.

He said 44 Americans had taken the oath of office as chief executive. It is, in fact, 43 (Grover Cleveland had two separate presidencies), a sloppy editing error sort of corrected on the White House website, now in the hands of the Obama administration. (Video below.)

But who cares about the mistake on this day? The reality is that on Jan. 20, 2009, words, which Obama is so good at uttering, mattered little. His speech, shorter than many, will not become famous for its soaring rhetoric or phrases, as did the remarks of John F. Kennedy, the last sitting senator of only three in U.S. history to enter the White House. From a written point of view, Obama’s remarks were somber, ordinary, many of them familiar and recycled from countless campaign incantations.

Other bloggers found them dissatisfying.

But who cares? It was the masses of people, crammed into the National Mall as far as the eye could see, and observing at home unseen, who made the moment so extraordinary.

Their hopes were almost palpable, their hopes for new, fresh change and renewal. People wanted to see extraordinary. They saw extraordinary. And so it was extraordinary.

As Brookyln’s Phyllis Ligon huddled in the chill Capitol air put it to our colleague Jim Puzaanghera,’I am warm, physically and spiritually. It’s time for a change. It’s a beautiful day.’

And so it was.

Today was really about images -- blue skies, ruddy cheeks in the cold, masses of smiling faces nowhere near the action but just wanting to be there, to share with others, known and unknown to them, spontaneous chants, almost visible hope.

It is a country just weeks ago torn by bitter partisan divisions proceeding, for all the world and its own diverse peoples to see, now changing political hands orderly through a peaceful hand-over of power from one man who came to town promising to change the way business is done there to another who has promised the same and quite bitterly denounced his predecessor in order to get there and to the hooting delight and chanting joy of his supporting masses.

All part of the cyclical democratic cleansings taken so for granted in this country and marveled at in so many other places.

Today, Obama talks about an end to partisan divisions and a new era, as almost every new president does. Today, was very reminiscent of the youthful hope and energy erupting...

...in January of 1961 by the arrival of the Kennedys and to a lesser extent by Jimmy Carter’s inauguration as an outsider in 1977, who actually rejected his limo to walk the entire 1.5 mile parade route with his wife.

Sure enough, both Obamas got out of their new armored Cadillac and walked, waving and smiling, to the immense crowds’ delight.

And so today there were the two men walking out of the White House together, smiling according to our political protocol, and after the change of power even embracing. Michelle Obama brought a thoughtful gift for Laura Bush, a journal to help with the now former first lady with her book writing.

And talk about the year’s ultimate image of change: A biracial man, the son of an African immigrant and single mom so recently voting ‘Present’ as a Democratic state legislator, taking the oath of office on the same Bible as the very first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, who could at first from his White House window look out on an active slave market.

You need not be a history major to grasp the emotional impact of that on so many Americans today just down the street. Obama takes office, along with Lincoln and George Washington, as one of the tallest presidents. He’s the 22d ex-state legislator to become president. The third in a row to win the White House on his first try.

And he’s also the fourth of the last five commanders-in-chief to be left-handed. His transition actions and remarks, as late as last night hailing his vanquished GOP presidential foe, John McCain, has talked of using both hands actually, reaching out in bipartisanship to address the universally-acknowledged challenges confronting the country at the moment.

The historical record in the former Maryland swamp that became Washington would suggest that the challenges of change will prove not only more difficult to accomplish but much different than anticipated on the first day, as sunny, exciting and hopeful as this Tuesday truly was.

--Andrew Malcolm

And The Ticket will be here to tell the stories of the new administration and Congress. Don’t miss any. Register here for cellphone alerts on each new Ticket item. RSS feeds are also available here. And we’re now on Amazon’s Kindle as well.

Photo credits: top photo by Pablo Monsivais / Associated Press, bottom photo by Carolyn Cole / LA Times