This CNN article tells about the enormous influx of people into Washington DC and how it is affecting transportation, security, restaurants, lodging, etc. Very interesting. Must be a mess.
Another article tells about the brisk business by DC tattoo parlors, as people want a tattoo of the Obama logo, the word "hope," or the red-and-blue Obama hope poster. The article adds, "None of the shop owners reported any history of George W. Bush tattoos." Imagine that.
The two million people expected to come to Washington DC for the inauguration compares to:
- 1.2 million who came to
JFK'sLBJ's inauguration in19641965 (the current record). - 800,000 who came to Clinton's inauguration.
- 300,000 who came to George Bush's inauguration.
There is definitely a Cult of Personality thing going on. But it is, indeed, a historic event, installing our first black president. How successfully Obama actually governs will determine just how historic today will be.
So today is, indeed, a day of success for our country, in that it shows how far we've come in racial matters. That makes me proud as an American and as a Christian. But in terms of the Obama presidency and actually governing, it is a day of mere hope and promise, of unrealized potential.
Now the fun begins.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
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