What are the interns thinking? The "Chat about Obama" Podcast

And we're back! After the inauguration hoopla, illness, and some icey days, Maggie and I have returned on the mic to chat with Stephen and Christine about the inauguration, Barack Obama, and torture. Enjoy!

Also - Here is my nomination for best op-ed of the month. It follows on the tails of my "ode to D.C." post.

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Stumbling forward - An ode to D.C.

Whew. Well, it's been a week. I finally feel like I've recovered from the inauguration. Now I feel as though the city is lurching forward, shaking off all those people and all that garbage on the mall and settling into normalcy again.

Except… normal feels a bit different than it did before. Why? Part of it is that now when I walk by the White House I feel pride that the people who live and work there view torture as unacceptable and share my views on a myriad other issues. One in particular, about which I won't go into detail here, makes me want to skip down the mall and turn cartwheels on the ellipse.

This shift was expected and is great. But I also wonder when the honeymoon will fade away, and we all realize that President Obama can't change the economy overnight (or even over a number of years).

So is there a more resilient shift happening in the city? I think that there is. I have always liked Washington D.C., even before I lived here. As a nerdy child I loved the museums all in one place, all of them free, and couldn't think of a more wonderful place to spend my summer vacation. The National Museum of American History was kind of like mecca.

As a high school senior, I toyed with the idea of attending GW University, and almost went there, until I admitted that I really just wanted to be in D.C., and really didn't want to study at a large university.

But after college I quickly moved here, and fell in love with all new aspects of the community. I basked in the free museums but also in the strange mix of braininess and gentility that seems to hang around the place. I found an apartment that is an easy walk from restaurants, bars, the White House, museums, and embassies. I like being close to "real D.C." where people live, and "official D.C." where laws and policies are made. Moving between the two (which I realize is a luxury many of my fellow residents don't enjoy) adds an official excitement to my everyday life, and makes seeing Dick Cheney's motorcade or talking about my boyfriend's meeting with the Kenyan economic advisors seem a bit more every day.

But not many people really got my affair with D.C. before. Most of my friends gleefully moved to New York after college, with enthusiasm I didn't understand (I grew up near New York, and I think it will always be a little too close to home and little too full with memories of going to Broadway shows with my family). They didn't understand why I wanted to live here.

Now they're starting to get it. The Obama excitement is drawing people here and they're discovering that their nation's capital is pretty great (except for the humidity. That's actually not that great). Sure, you can run into rampant and slightly annoying idealism, not to mention partisanship, but for me, someone who lives in the district limits and doesn't own a car, it's also incredibly liveable, walkable, exciting, and pleasant. Not to mention the fact that while Wall Street collapses the D.C. economy is looking comparatively stable.

So long New York. Welcome to the District.

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Blogging the Inauguration

Dear reader,

Here at your fingertips are several eyewitness accounts to the inaugural festivities. Some of us talk about the cold, some of us talk about the excitement, and some even recount coming close to disappointment. We all have a different perspective on what happened yesterday, and what it means for the country. Enjoy!

Note from the National Mall - Caroline Anderson

I am a patriot - Karyn Wingard Manuel

Ticket Debacle - Emily Rhodes

The Swearing in of the 44th- Trevor Keck

On the joy of braving giant crowds to stand in the freezing cold. - Christine Haider

Dust off our country: Post-Inauguration Reflection - Stephen Donahoe

Lincoln and helicopters - Laura Chirot

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Dust Off Our Country: Post- Inauguration Reflection

During the last moments of Barack's Inauguration, I picked up one of the flags that had been given out and dusted it off. This was a powerful symbol for how I feel about these amazing times. I feel like we have a tremendous opportunity to take Barack's challenge and dust ourselves and this nation off--wiping away years of hopelessness and bad policy. I am very excited to embrace the changes Barack is proposing that will result in a better country and a better world. I am also ready to continue to do my part, responding to his call for responsibility and service.

It is a good time to be alive.

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On the joy of braving giant crowds to stand in the freezing cold.

So, I'll be honest. Earlier this week, I wasn't so excited about the inauguration. Election night had been one of the most electric, monumental events of my life, and for a while I had been looking forward to the inauguration as a way to re-live that excitement. However, as my house mates and I figured out how many people could crash at our house that week (turns out a lot!), and I got caught up in the post holiday rush, the inauguration began to look like a hassle. I realized that what I'd loved about election night was the spontaneity of it all (college students dancing on bus shelters, homeless men giving young professionals high fives), which seemed very far from the impeccably planned inauguration. I began to tell people that I was looking forward to being able to say that I'd lived through the inauguration, but that I was dreading the actual inauguration day.

So, when I came home from Philadelphia on Saturday, I was a bit of a curmudgeon. It took 2 hours to get into my favorite restaurant, everything was crowded and no one seemed able to figure out how to use the Metro escalators (you stand on the RIGHT, people!). Early, on, I felt a bit at odds with my fabulous guests, who were giddy with excitement about the giant block party that seemed to be invading my quaint little town.

But, in an attempt to be a gracious host, I agreed to go with them to the inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. "Argh," I thought. "Why am I standing outside to see something on a JumboTron when I could just be watching it at home?" Then, as the national anthem started, I started to realize why I and my guests had chosen to brave the cold and the crowds to be there. I glanced over at the man next to me, and saw that he was holding his child on his shoulder, singing the anthem, with tears running down his face. Then, afterwards, the whole crowd joined Mary J. Blige in singing "Lean on Me." We were all there, dancing, and crying and singing TOGETHER. And I suddenly realized that that was why I braved the cold that day (and two day later for the actual inauguration). It wasn't just so that I could someday be able to tell my children that "I was there." And it (certainly) wasn't because I expected to see anything better than I'd be able to see at home on my TV. It was because I got to be there, sharing the experience with children waving U.S. and Kenyan flags, men who graciously moved out of the way so that we short folks could see the JumboTron and older ladies who cracked jokes and made small talk to pass the time in the stressful and overcrowded metro stations.

I feel privileged to have watched history being made, not just with my (fantastic) family and friends, but with U.S. Americans and well-wishers from all over the world. And that's something that I could have never done in the comfort of my own home.

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Notes from the National Mall

First off, let's just get this straight. I am tired, and still a little cold. I woke up in my warm bed at 4:30 on Tuesday morning, and walked down to the mall from my home north of Dupont Circle to arrive at my place on the mall at 6:10 am – only 4 hours until the musical prelude began! So yes, cold and tired, but glad that I went to witness history.

The inauguration felt more serious and solemn than I thought it would, especially compared with the ebullience and enthusiasm of the election. On election night people were dancing in the streets. Yesterday people were huddled in crowded masses trying to get down those streets to reach the metro. There was happiness, but a more guarded sort than on that comparatively balmy night in November.

I think a few factors contributed to this. As I alluded to above, the cold, the crowds, and the state of the economy all put a damper on the unimpeded joy of November. There was hope, but, at least for me, hope tempered with the knowledge that this man who became president yesterday is human, capable of flubbing his oath of office, and capable of making mistakes and disappointing us. In fact, I find the cult of personality springing up around President Obama to be slightly upsetting. The people of the United States (and the world) need to take a collective step back and begin constructively scrutinizing their president.

There was also the presence of former president George W. Bush, who was left out of the celebrations in November. As President Obama was delivering his speech you could spy Bush over his shoulder, a reminder amid the excitement of the mistakes, secrecy and despair we are hoping to change.

But it wasn’t all bad! History was made, and there were moments of giddy excitement. When Vice-President Biden and President Obama took their oaths I grinned, cheered, and waved my flag because specters of torture and racism were falling. When I walked by the White House on my way down to mall I had to pinch myself to believe that someone I respected and who respected my city would be living there. After all, Bush had been president since before I could vote.

Because I think that this is an important moment for Washington as well. As the commentators at a live Slate Political Gabfest I went to on Monday pointed out, Washington is becoming “cool” again. Celebrities want to come here to be close to the Obamas, and the Obamas want to get to know the city. And it’s a pretty great place! I’m excited for a president who doesn’t disdain and ignore it as the Bushes did.

So, as I work to recover from my epic journey to the mall yesterday (I fear it may take a week), I am filled with a somber joy. I am confident that our new president will do his best, but I am hesitant to insist that he will succeed. Turning this country around will be an immense job, and we need to think not just what President Obama is going to do to fix our lives, but what we can do to help raise this country up again. What a blessing that we have chosen a president who will let us try.

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