The patch on the back of his vest is small, but those behind him have zeroed in on it since the moment he stepped off the GUTS bus.
“Oh my God, does he have to wear that today?” a woman whispers from under her cowboy hat and star-spangled scarf as she waits behind him on the Metro escalator. She sighs.
A few others murmur indignantly as he passes, others smile and nod. If he notices, he says nothing. But the black-and-white lettering on his back is doing the talking for him this morning: “STOP BUSH.”
Outside, he disappears into the growing crowd downtown near the Labor Department. But the sentiment of his small label is echoed louder here, where hundreds have already gathered to shuffle through security on their way to the Inaugural Parade route. Most at this checkpoint are here for the protests in John Marshall Park along Pennsylvania Avenue.
As their numbers swell, arms begin to reach for the sky, brandishing posters and hand-made signs with slogans like “Impeach Bush!” and “Liar, Liar, Iraq’s on Fire” painted over pictures of President Bush. Three girls jump out of the crowd onto the sidewalk, shouting “Yay Democrats!” and passing out blue rubber wristbands to the masses. Just as quickly as they appeared, they are swallowed back up by the crowd of young proto-hippies, North Face-clad college students, uniformed war veterans, parents and children.
In frosty wind and below-freezing temperatures, Democrats and Bush opponents braced Thursday for the moment they once hoped would never arrive: Inauguration Day, or as they were calling it, “the Coronation.” Facing a city full of Republican jubilation, they searched for different ways to mark the start of Bush’s second term.
“Make Sure Bush Hears Us”
Along the parade route, Farrah Farley (SFS ’06) is waiting.
The Georgetown junior is standing along the parade route, and the president’s motorcade is expected to come by any minute now. Farley, a member of GU Peace Action, has been marching through the streets for much of the morning with D.C. Anti-War Nation and the D.C. Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency. The masses are composed of staunch anti-Bush activists, but the mood is far from despondent.
“It’s all really energetic, we’re trying to spread positive energy” Farley says. “We’re not happy, but we see this as a chance to let the Bush administration and those who voted for him know there are a lot of people out here who disagree with his policies.”
The range of policies with which they disagree are exemplified by their myriad posters, on every topic from abortion rights to the war in Iraq. They have reached their final destination after several hours of carrying mock coffins and chanting peace slogans.
Farley is waiting now, and listening for the sound of her friend’s whistle. As the president’s limousine approaches, she hears it: three sharp tweets. On the third she turns around, as do most of the people around her. Along the parade route, hundreds of others have done the same – part of the “Turn Your Back on Bush” effort. The protesters boo and look away, a symbolic show of disunity with the administration’s policy. But the moment is short-lived, and after a few seconds many turn back around, eagerly looking for a reaction and flashing their signs and flipping their fingers. Farley turns around too.
Frontlines of History
At the capitol, Angela Maly (COL ’05) is doing her best to be inconspicuous.
“I’m trying not to let anyone know I’m a Democrat, it’s scary,” she says, only half kidding. Amid the tumult of Republicans and supporters crowding through snake-like security lines into the yellow-ticket section, the Kerry voter is out of place. But she got up just after dawn and waited hours in line to be here. Maly isn’t happy about Bush’s re-election, but she wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see the inauguration process up close.
“Just because I’m a Democrat doesn’t mean I don’t respect my country and who heads it. Not that I support [Bush],” she quickly clarifies, “But I want to experience some of the mechanisms of the presidency up close.”
She knows she should be more upset. Mostly she’s concerned about how cold it is, watching from the standing-room-only section of the festivities. She will join the anti-Bush activists later, just to see what is going on, but she’s out today simply to see the ceremony.
“This is my last year in D.C., I won’t get another shot at this,” she says. “What else am I going to do anyway, sleep?”
Keeping a Low Profile
Burlieth – Sleep is just what Dana Arakawa (SFS ’05) did for much of the morning. Having the day off from classes was nice, but after a few segments on cable news, she had had enough of the inauguration. The campaign season was stressful for her, an avid Bush opponent who fretted constantly about what would happen if he was re-elected and hopefully cast her vote for Kerry.
“I watched for a little while, but I couldn’t bear to see most of it. Even on TV it was too depressing to watch,” Arakawa laments.
After some time on the couch with her roommates, she gave up and went to do some homework, trying to make the most of an otherwise depressing day. She wonders what else she could have done and thinks about plans she had to go help the Democrats in Florida.
“It’s a little depressing to think how many people voted for him and how little my individual efforts would have changed things,” she says. She’s going out later to take her mind off things.
Twilight
At Georgetown, the mood is quiet. Students – Republicans, Democrats and undecideds alike – have skipped campus or stayed in on Inauguration Day. A number of inaugural and counter-inaugural events are being celebrated across the city tonight, parties and balls and general festivities celebrating or bemoaning the significance of the day. Farley, Maly and Arakawa are all thinking about going out tonight – to movies, to the Tombs, to official protest concerts. It’s been a long day and they’re all pretty exhausted after a day of disappointment.
