Dispatch from DC: Barack Obama’s Inauguration

WASHINGTON – Decider got turned down for formal press credentials (we're offended), but that didn’t stop us from joining the nearly 2 million basically insane people who stood in the freezing cold Tuesday morning to watch Barack Obama’s inauguration, in order to file this minute-by-minute report (all times EST). And to witness the historic event.

6:40am: Vendors near the Gallery Place Metro station hawk endless arrays of buttons and shirts. One guy was selling Obama air fresheners: “Smell the change!”

7:27am: Hundreds of people try to get out of the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station on the south side of the Mall, but are held up as one person after another feels the need to stop walking up the escalator, turn around, and take a picture of the crowd behind them. 

7:41am: So many people are passing in between Smithsonian buildings to get to the Mall that the sheer volume of people finally spills over from the paved path onto what remains of the dead grass. A security guard issues an futile order to, “stay off the grass.” Everyone pretends not to hear him. This guy knows what the guard's talking about:

Peter Sachs

7:50am: The A.V. Club has a spot in the center of the mall about three-quarters of a mile from the Capitol Dome, as far forward as is possible right now. A man in the crowd says into his phone, “Wow, there’s a lot of people here.”

7:56am: The Jumbotrons lining the Mall start showing Sunday’s concert, at the Lincoln Memorial, causing confusion among some people in the crowd. (“Wait, is that now?”)

9:04am: Sunday’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial continues to play on the Jumbotrons lining the Mall. The crowd sings along to Garth Brooks’ rendition of Don McLean’s “American Pie,” doing a decent job on the vocals given the early hour.

9:22am: Plans of beating through a 100,000 people at the end of the swearing-in to snag a view of the parade are dashed by the U.S. Secret Service: The Jumbotrons cut off the recording of Bono’s performance to tell everyone that the parade route is already full of spectators, and that no one else will be allowed through security checkpoints to see the parade. Bummer.

9:45am: The Jumbotrons show views of the swelling crowd, which now stretches almost all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, two miles from the Capitol Dome.

9:53am: The first bad news of the morning: According to an e-mail alert on one person’s Blackberry, a 68-year-old woman fell on the tracks at a downtown Metro station, shutting down service on one line for the rest of the morning. The woman was injured but was not struck by a train and will survive, according to later media reports.

9:56am: In arguably worse news, The A.V. Club misses out on hot chocolate, as the massive machine at one of the refreshment tents broke down after we waited in line for more than an hour.

10:00am: The crowd is getting giddy with anticipation. A woman stands on a man’s shoulders and keeps shrieking Obama’s name.

10:14am: Dustin Hoffman appears on the Jumbotrons, apparently talking to someone, but no one can tell what he’s saying. Other celebrity sightings on the Jumbotrons include Steven Spielberg, Beyoncé, Oprah, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gets lots of cheers. See, the crowd doesn’t hate all Republicans.

10:27am: U.S. Representatives, governors (nope, no Blagojevich), Senators, and other dignitaries begin filing into their seats on the inaugural stage, a process that drags on for 30 minutes.

10:45am: In an informal experiment, The A.V. Club determines that chanting “McCain ’08” elicits lots of baffled looks and laughter from people standing nearby.

10:46am: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., gets a healthy dose of boos from the crowd as he comes onto the stage. He won't be the last.

10:58am: As Obama’s limo pulls up to the Capitol, the crowd eerily goes silent.

11:00am: At the end of the procession, there are flurries of cheers as Obama, his wife Michelle, Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing President George W. Bush walk down a hallway inside the Capitol. Think Bush assumes those cheers are for him?

11:13am: The crowd scoffs as the announcer tells everyone to “please be seated.” The 1.9 million people without seats keep standing.

11:20am: Former president Jimmy Carter gets cheered, while the crowd can muster only some tepid chuckles for Bush Senior, who enters with the help of a cane.

11:36am: The crowd has so much against Bush 43 that the deafening chorus of boos drowns out the announcement of his entrance on the stage. There is singing and heckling, too. One man keeps chanting, “Go back, go back, go back to the ’hood.” What? Texas has ’hoods?

11:43am: Rick Warren, the controversial evangelical preacher, begins his prayer. He gets a warm reaction as he speaks to the need for Americans to unify together regardless of religious beliefs. He steers clear of mentioning any hot-button issues.

11:50am: Aretha Franklin sings “My Country ’Tis Of Thee” as prelude to Biden taking the oath of office a few minutes later.

11:58am: The musical interlude, played by world-class musicians Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill, feels a little bit like the awkward last song of the opener before a U2 concert. Good music and all, but come on, let’s get on with it already.

12:06pm: Obama is formally sworn in. Fun fact: The Constitution says Obama is to become president at noon. So was he president six minutes earlier? Or does he get an extra six minutes tacked on to the end of his term to make up for it? These are the issues, people.

12:43pm: After Obama's rousing speech, The A.V. Club starts a not-so-rousing slog down the length of the Mall to get out. Most streets to the north are closed off, but no one seems to know where to go. Imagine 2 million lemmings the size of, well, people, all walking in very large circles, penned in only by waist-high metal fences and occasional cement barricades. Everyone gets out to continue on home, but it takes a long, long time, and it’s only then that everyone recuperates and warms up enough to grasp the morning's significance.