A Presidential Inauguration to Remember

As much as we expected the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States to be an historic one, there were several things that will make it particularly memorable.

Although the National Parks Service no longer estimates crowd sizes (after the Million Man March), but most accounts seemed to hover around the 1.5 million mark for those attending the inauguration which would be a record.

I was at work during the Inauguration, but that didn't stop me from joining over 20 million other people around the world from watching a live streaming video on the CNN.com website. In addition to live video and audio, CNN joined forces with Facebook.com and let people comment on what they were seeing. It was fascinating to see people from around the world connecting to CNN and watching history. It was particularly interesting to see how people were reacting to different things.

Some memorable sounds and images:

Let's start with a lasting image of the departure of the Bush/Cheney regime. Apparently, Dick Cheney hurt himself cleaning out his office (that was the official story provided) and was relegated to a wheelchair during the ceremonies. The amazing irony was how much he looked like Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life".

Also memorable was the Benediction given by Joseph Lowery that concluded:

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen! Say Amen! And Amen!

Some took it as racist or angry. I guess I was more like those in attendance who seemed to take it as a humorous poke at tired, old racial stereotypes. Maybe you just have to be confident that you are in a new beginning to realize when someone is making fun of the past.

When Barack and Michelle Obama got out of their new Presidential State Car (twice), the Facebook members went crazy. There was a great deal of unease around the world during those moments and it made the stroll seem even more daring and unleashed, even though every President since Jimmy Carter had walked part of the parade route. Most comments were "Get back into the car!" and there was a collective 'e-sigh' of relief when Barack and Michelle got back into the car. At one point we got to see how incredible thick the doors are on this amazing car.

Other comments from around the net:

Joe Biden was right, his wife Jill is a "knockout" and she also looks great in boots (comments were mixed on wearing them to an inauguration, generally split along gender lines).

Patti Labelle wore the largest hat ever worn to an Inauguration.

If you want to learn more about this historic day, go to Wikipedia's page on The Inauguration.