Today I woke up with an agenda that was quickly altered. I thought I would take some items out to my car parked at a distant Metro station. I found out that the Metro police were not honoring reserved parking for the inauguration. This being the case, I ventured out on a little trip in moving my car to the hotel. It took twice as long as mapquest said, but I did it. By the time I had finished this, it was too late to go to the Smithsonian like I had wanted. So I then thought I would go to the FDR memorial and take more pictures. This was an impossible task, as there were almost a million people walking the opposite direction I wanted to go. After everything today, I got a nice little tour of the campus of George Washington University and a lot of exercise walking around Washington. I also got to experiance what a sardine must feel like packed in a can. Riding the Metro this afternoon was a great example.
Tonight I plan to finish my book on FDR and his first inauguration. I can see a great deal of parallels of FDR’s inauguration in 1933 and Barack Obama’s in 2009. Both have been faced with a crisis. Both placed much responsibility on the former presidents. Both entering the position with a great economic crisis. Both have very differing position then the administrations they are replacing. Most importantly, both have the country looking at them to lead them out of the difficult situations. As I walked the streets of Washington and listened to the conversations, it was as if I was walking around Madison Square in 1933. People have hope that they have not had in a long time.
