TPM Reader JB:
I had a purple ticket to view the swearing in ceremony. I got in the ticket line (the I395 tunnel was the line) at 6:30 this morning and was shut out of the event – over 4.5 hours in line and no dice. In fact, there were no police, barricades, signs, or directions. Think of it – 30,000 plus (and i’d venture over 50,000) standing in a tunnel
for 4 hours with no public safety personnel. And then they don’t get in. We are lucky that we aren’t hearing reports of injuries. Truly negligent.
Late Update: More, from TPM Reader AJ:
Just wanted to support reader JB’s description of what happened in that tunnel. It was frightening. 30,000 to 50,000 people may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t. I know some reports so far have said hundreds of people were shut out, but it is definitely in the thousands. It seemed like we were caught in a bad science fiction movie–as if this was the moment when the gates would shut and we’d be trapped inside while the aliens began their invasion. The number of people in that tunnel, combined with the lack of any sense of order, was eerie. That was bad enough, but then–quite suddenly–everything frees up and everyone spills onto the streets. There is not a single police officer/volunteer/whoever in sight. Not a single one. The crowd is roaming freely, pushing people forward to try to get ahead (it’s about eleven o’clock at this point, and we’ve been in line for at least four hours) and there’s just no direction, no help. Everyone pushes forward until we reach a gate, and then it’s mass chaos. There’s nowhere to go; we’re trapped. They’re not letting us in, but the crowd is so large and confused that there’s no way out. Eventually people started to leave (thank God) but others started chanting, “Let us in! Let us in!” It would have taken just a little push to turn that crowd into an angry mob. By this point, it’s 11:20 and we’re about to miss the whole thing! We don’t have time to get to the Mall, either. Thankfully I managed to see Obama sworn in at a cafe. I’m trying to be happy about what is truly a great day in American history, but I also can’t help but be completely disturbed by my experience. I want to know what happened there today–I want to know why I was left in a TUNNEL with thousands of people with no supervision whatsoever. I want to know why I had to miss one of the most important and historic days I will ever witness. But thankfully I’m just disappointed and not injured.
Later Update: There’s already a Facebook group set up: “Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom.”
This is a group dedicated to all those with purple, blue or other tickets to the inauguration who braved the early morning cold (and the crowds) only to end up in the proverbial or literal Purple Tunnel of Doom.
Drudge is saying it. And weirdly the AP is even falling for it too, saying Obama flubbed the oath. But that’s clearly not what happened if you actually watch the video. It was Roberts who flubbed it. (ABC got it right; what’s with AP? Following Drudge? Still a GOP town?)
Roberts started the oath. Obama went a little more quickly than he’d anticipated. And then in the second stage of the oath Roberts got the words wrong. Instead of “I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States” he said “I will execute the office of President to the United States faithfully …”
Obama starts to repeat but realizes that Roberts has garbled the words (he’s probably thinking, “Dude, this is a big moment for me. Can you try that again?”) and then he lets Roberts say it again. After that it was a bit bumpy but they got through it.
No big deal. And wonderfully pulled off moment by everyone. And even for those nutballs who have been trying to get into federal court claiming Obama can’t be sworn in because he’s foreign born may get a second lease on life by claiming he didn’t take the oath correctly. So there’s something for everyone.
(ed.note: Needless to say, for those of us in the real world, President Obama became president at 12 noon. The swearing in is a formality.)
Late Update: Apparently Roberts spent a lot of time practicing the oath. Apparently to no real effect.
Did the other shoe not drop?
I have an unsettled feeling about this.
Late Update: I’m wondering about this pardon issue too. But there’s an interesting, possibly messy, new dimension. Remember, former President Bush has gone on record with the claim that pardons can be revoked if they have not yet been ‘executed’ by the pardon attorney and delivered to the recipients. So if there were any pardons dropped at say 11:59 AM, by that reasoning Obama would be able to pull them back. — jmm.
I thought it would only be some extreme wingnuts thinking that there might be a question about whether Obama is really president since Roberts screwed up the oath. But now Chris Wallace is saying it might end up in the courts. With a bit of humor in his voice but not completely clear he was joking.
Now hearing that Roberts tried to get through the oath from memory without the text in front of him. Trying to nail that down. Great idea. Add your joke about textualism here …
It seems it took less than a half hour for Michael Goldfarb, McCain’s cartoonish campaign blogger, now back at the Weekly Standard, to start blaming Iraq on Obama.
From the AP:
A military judge adjourned the Guantanamo Bay war crimes court just before President Barack Obama was sworn in on Tuesday, leaving open the possibility that the hearings might not resume.
The judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, dismissed the court until Wednesday “unless otherwise ordered,” a nod to the possibility that the Obama administration might suspend the military trials as it wrestles with how to proceed with its plan to close the prison that now holds about 245 men on suspicion of links to terrorism, al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Reports widespread now that Sen. Ted Kennedy had what appeared to be a seizure during the formal luncheon on Capitol Hill for the new President and left the room on a stretcher.
Separately, Sen. Robert Byrd also had medical trouble at the same luncheon, which added confusion to the initial reports.
MSNBC showing video of Kennedy being loaded into an ambulance, with wife Vicki joining him. Sen. Hatch telling MSNBC’s Kelly O’Donnell that it appeared to be a seizure, but that Kennedy was later conscious and able to communicate.
Late Update: Byrd’s spokesperson says the senator was not hospitalized and is doing fine. Byrd was simply upset by the Kennedy incident.