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Inauguration day snapshot: A San Franciscan Twitters Obama’s speech

By Maria L. La GangaStaff Writer 
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SAN FRANCISCO -- First, the woman in an ‘Obama-Biden’ T-shirt shouted ‘Evil! Evil!’ when Dick Cheney was wheeled out on stage in advance of President Obama’s inauguration.

Then she sent her daughter a text message from the crowded lawn at San Francisco City Hall, where she had joined hundreds of revelers this morning in front of a giant outdoor screen, watching as the first African American president was sworn in.

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Finally, Nancy Frishberg Twittered the world.

‘Congratulations America on a hope-inspiring new administration,’ the 60-year-old San Franciscan typed into her iPhone, with its sleek pink skin.

‘Then I showed a picture of this scene,’ Frishberg said, holding out the device and pointing to her entry. ‘I’m nancyf. I’m using Twitterific. And see, my friend Heather responded.’

Frishberg paused. She scrolled. She pointed again, this time to Heather’s brief, exultant posting about Obama’s inaugural address: ‘He said digital! First 3 minutes!’

(The line she was referring to: ‘We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.’ You can read the full text of Obama’s speech at The Top of the Ticket blog.)

-- Maria L. La Ganga

Technology Blog
Maria L. La Ganga

Maria L. La Ganga is the deputy managing editor for California and Metro, overseeing the Los Angeles Times’ largest editorial department. She joined The Times in 1981 as an academic intern, splitting her time between the former Metro section and National Dragster, the official publication of the National Hot Rod Assn. She has served as Seattle bureau chief, San Francisco bureau chief, edited in the Business section and pitched in on six presidential elections, five for The Times and one for the Guardian. La Ganga left The Times in 2015 and returned in 2018 after a brief hiatus during which she wrote for the Guardian and the Idaho Statesman. She was named city editor in 2022 and promoted to her current role in 2024. La Ganga graduated from Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley and Cal State Northridge, where she studied English literature and journalism.

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