Cold, Dark and Worth Every Minute

For many Americans, January 20, 2009 will be remembered as a day for celebration. It was a day where millions gathered around their television sets in anxious anticipation to watch the dawn of a new era in the United States, the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States of America. Out of the teaming masses who watched in triumph, 1.8 million will be able to say they watched in bitter cold and braved throngs and living walls of people as they watched the inauguration in person, or at least as in person as they could from hundreds of yards away, spread out from the steps of the Capital across the Mall all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, two miles away.

Setting out in the dark and bitter cold before the sun began to even hint at its ascension, American University student Wade Smith, 20, went for a simple reason, because he could. “It's the inauguration and I was here so I might as well go,” Smith said. Wrapped tightly in his coat, Smith felt the cold and early hour march to the metro stop was worth it. Years from now, this will be a moment he can look back on fondly and say, I was there.

Like many, Smith went for Barack Obama. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear him speak and celebrate his presidency. For Smith, under different circumstance the inauguration would not have spurred his early morning venture into the cold had the November, 4, 2008 Presidential election gone differently. “I don't like McCain,” Smith said.

While just another inauguration for its procedure, something that has been done 55 times before, Smith also identified the inauguration as something truly special. “It's the first African American president and its a time of great economic issues and all other stuff,” Smith said.

Smith had high hopes for the event and for Obama's speech, one he expected to wax eloquent with “stuff about change, stuff about responsibility, stuff about... the economic crisis,” Smith said. “I got out of bed at four in the morning to go... it better be good,” Smith said.