Inauguration: In the crowd, the young and the lucky
WASHINGTON — As their bus back to Scranton idled in the congested RFK Stadium parking lot Tuesday night, Casey Rose and Eric Nole rewound six hours to the inauguration of President Barack Obama — meshing recorded images with the ones seared in their minds.
Rose and Nole, seniors at Abington Heights High School, watched the video clips Nole had recorded with a handheld camcorder and they reminisced about the series of fortuitous events that permitted them to witness history.
Rose, 18, and Nole, 17, debated going to the inauguration for more than a week before Tuesday’s transfer of power. They wanted to be a part of history, they said — but their parents, friends and a civics teacher advised them to stay home and avoid the chaos of massive crowds, jammed traffic and bitter cold.
Bearing Witness: Tuesday will be one of those indelible days. One of those days when an oath can carry the weight of we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
Obama and King: Thoughts shift to historic black figures as Obama is inaugurated as the nation’s first black president.
The Senator’s View: From his seat behind the podium, Sen. Bob Casey Jr. could see the more than 2 million people who crowded National Mall to witness Obama’s defining moment.
Young and Lucky: As their bus idled in the congested stadium parking lot, Casey Rose and Eric Nole rewound to the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Roadblocks to History: For some, the trek to D.C. ended in disappointment as security equipment broke down, crowds overflowed and ticket holders were turned away.
They decided for history Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the defining moment when the Bush Administration ended and the Obama Administration began.
That’s when their luck began.
Rose and Nole were able to book two seats on the Martz Lines coach specially dispatched for a one-day round trip to the inaugural festivities despite having missed a deadline for sales.
During the inaugural ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, they worked their way from the National Mall, which was packed with more than a million people, into a more exclusive standing-room without the required silver tickets.
“For some reason, we kept moving from spot to spot and wound up near the reflecting pond. We were right next to the statues there,” Nole said. “That was the best part of the whole trip, being at the Capitol, with 2 million people behind us.”
Rose and Nole were in that spot for Obama’s swearing-in and his inaugural address, which touched on the familiar themes of hope and change and the prevalent realities of economic downturn, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the continual threat of terror.
Rose cast his first presidential vote for Obama last November.
“Him being the nominee was one thing,” Rose said. “But the full step, seeing him being president, was amazing.”
Rose and Nole were among several on the bus who fit the youth demographic so heavily courted by Obama’s campaign — technologically savvy, socially aware high school and college students.
Annie Callaway, 17, traveled to Wilkes-Barre from Keane, N.H., with her mother, Sue, and brother, Michael. There they met up with Sue’s sister, Peggy, and Annie’s sister, Allison, 21, a student at West Chester University, outside Philadelphia.
They rode to Washington together on the Martz coach.
“It’s just really exciting to see something so big come together,” Callaway said, after the bus arrived in the RFK Stadium parking lot Tuesday morning. “I can’t remember hearing anybody get this excited about a political event.”
Willy Jones, 8, of Waverly, fit an even younger demographic. He started campaigning for Obama last summer because he liked the sound of the name “Barack Obama.”
The precocious Waverly Elementary student quickly took hold of the candidate’s “change” message and started volunteering on a regular basis — giving up soccer and friends’ birthday parties to canvass neighborhoods for the campaign, his mother, Pam, said.
A campaign staffer rewarded Willy and his mother with two tickets to the inauguration.
“I feel so happy that our hard work paid off,” Willy said. “For all the people out there that voted for him, I’m so glad that they did. I’m so glad that Obama got elected. I’m going to try to get elected and be like him.”
