The Inauguration

Well..we, here at the Expat, are late again with this post, but better late than never.  So, yes I did indeed take part in the inaugural hoopla here in the District, which was awesome.  I'd be surprised if I ever saw that many people in one place again in my life.  The streets of Washington definitely looked like one giant pilgrimage on the morning of January 20th. 

Quite a few locals went down to the Mall and a new class system has now developed.  Everytime you run into someone and ask if they went down for the inauguration, it usually goes like this:

District Resident A:

Did you go down to the mall for the inauguration?

District Resident B:

Yea, I sure did.  But, what time did you go? [enter status assertion]

District Resident A:

Ummm...well...you see.  We MEANT to leave at 5 a.m., but got lazy and did brunch instead.  So, we really didn't get down there until about 8.  But, we still got a really great spot right on the west side of the Washington Monument hill.

District Resident B:

Oh....wow.  Uh....that's great.  But...could ya see way out there?  My friends and I left at 3 a.m. Yea, we were practically touching the reflecting pond in front of the captiol. 

Or...here's another of my favorites....

District Resident C:

Yea, I made it out to the inauguration. Actually....you see...I had tickets [1st status assertion].  Yea...that's right, TWO of them [2nd status assertion]...in the yellow section [3rd status assertion...oy vey!].

So, for an "inauguration for the people," it sure as hell put all of us into a pecking order.  I was waiting for all the people in the ticketed section to start throwing chicken bones down on us while wearing white wigs!

Other than the one-upmanship going on around the Beltway, the other real doozie during the inauguration was the MERCHANDISE!  Oh yes...if you can think of a product that could POSSIBLY be made for our new president's inuguration, it was being sold on the streets of Washington that day!  Here's a few of the most notable:

(1) The official Certificate of Attendance.  There was a gentlemen at Virginia and 18th who was selling official certificates of attendance for both the inauguration itself and the big concert on Sunday.  God only knows what certifying authority he represented.  I can't believe I didn't get one!  Strangely enough, the concept was so campy, that he was doing quite a business at $5/pop.

(2) The "Hello My Fellow American, My Name Is:" name tag.  These were just a hoot!  So many people had them.

(3) The Michelle and Barack Wedding Album (wha?!):  For every 3 kooky items, there was a creepy one.  The Michelle and Barack wedding album was definitely one of them.  Basically, it was a really cheap photo album with a strange adhesive-applied wedding photo of our new First couple.  So, I guess you were supposed to put your own wedding photos into this book and look lovingly upon our new President and First Lady.  Weird.  The only thing it reminded me of were my strangely Anglo-obsessed friends in Canada who keep a picture of the Queena and Queen mum above their toilets.  Also weird.

(4) The Inaugural Commemorative Travel Tissue Pack.  Now, this is just brilliant.  Knowing how many people were going to be pulling an Oprah during the inaugural ceremony, someone devised an inaugural tissue pack.

All in all, it was just so uplifting to see all these entrepreneurs out on the streets of Washington in the middle of a recession.  And, it was just so American to see the kind of crap we were willing to buy at such an historical moment.  If you saw any other notable inaugural crip-crap, please let us know here at the Expat!