It rained Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001 (or on this day eight years ago). The streets were slicked. Umbrellas canopied the sidewalk. A parade moved slowly down Pennsylvania Avenue, followed, finally, by a cavalcade of hearse-like Cadillacs, in one of which rode the almost-president.
Against the gray sky, the Capitol building looked as if it were carved from ivory. The red-white-and-blueness of the set, the way five large American flags hung horizontally across the Capitol's pillars, had a hawkish, Riefenstahlian effect.
The crowd was thick and deep, almost to the Washington monument. Chief Justice William Rehnquist said just 47 words, practically in iambic pentameter. Thirty-five of those words were echoed back to him, fast, and he stepped away from the podium and the future of the world fell into the hands of George Walker Bush.
Everyone clapped. Cameras flashed. The president cleared his throat. He said, Thank you all. Chief Justice Rehnquist. President Carter. President Bush
and the crowd laughed, then cheered. The president's father blinked several times, his arms crossed, holding one wrist and looking directly into the jade-colored suit jacket worn by the woman who sat in front of him. The president's mother wore a clear poncho. She clapped, generally looking exactly like the Halloween mask version of herself for sale in some high-end costume stores.
The president continued: President Clit'in. The former president was slouched in his chair, looking down at his shoes; his lips curled and his cheeks puffed out. The crowd went silent. The former president tapped his feet. He looked either incredibly bashful or indignant.
President Bush had brown, dead-grass color in his hair then. He thanked the loser, Al Gore, who sat behind him, next to Former President Clit'in, for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.
We have a place. All of us. And a long story. A story we continue but whose end we will not see. Wasn't that the truth! His voice was deep and not as shaky and southern as it is now. He held the ends of words, Americanse. He sounded back then almost exactly like the actor Matthew McConaughey. He used the back-bottom of his throat and spoke as if he at least understood that the words he had memorized were strung together purposely and were supposed to mean something. He used a lot of alliteration.
When President Bush said, We will build our defenses beyond challenge lest weakness invite challenge
Jenna turned to Barbara and clearly said, What?
At exactly 8:28 of the speech, the president snorted.
The President of All Mankind said things like, We are guided by a power larger than ourselves
and If America does not lead the cause of freedom
the cause will not be lead. He alluded to Thomas Jefferson. He said, And some needs and hurts are so deep they will not respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer. If only he had known.
In the end, after God Bless You All, and God Bless America, the applause was not earth shattering. It was not Hope channeled through the hands of average Americans. They clapped, but worriedly and with xenophobic expressions on their faces. They clapped the way parents clap at the end of a third grade school play their kid was in.
Exactly eight years later, with things the way they are, I wonder if President-Elect Barack Obama, the Hope for us in life post-Bush/Cheney, will arrive at his inauguration in an armored Toyota.
The forecast for Tuesday is either partly cloudy
or mostly sunny. It just depends how you see it.
Andrew Eisenman is a senior studying journalism and the editor of Backdrop magazine.
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Opinion
