I’ve received a number of texts/calls/emails from friends/family across the country wondering how my (much-hyped) Inauguration experience turned out earlier today. Well, to put it bluntly – extremely disappointing.
Once feeling like the luckiest person in SF after receiving confirmation that I had in fact “won” 4 Inauguration tickets to see Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th President from Speaker Pelosi’s office, I sit here now today (@ my parent’s home in the DC ‘burbs) feeling like one of the most defeated persons in the DC metro area.
After a stroke of (seemingly continued) luck, our contingency (a mix of family and friends gathered together to adventure down to the Nation’s capital) ended up with enough tickets for everyone interested, including 2 “better” purple tickets (see Ticket Holders’ Map). We woke up @ 5am, put on our full winter gear getup, got to the Metro by 6am, and were downtown at our “designated” subway stop by 7am. The silver ticket holders split off from my dad and I who were planning to use the even more coveted purple tickets.
5 hours (zero information and very little movement) later, we (the purple team) had not entered onto the Capitol grounds due to terrible planning and/or the lack of security’s ability to cope with the massive (but expected) crowds. The now infamous Purple Gate (silver and blue also experienced terrible problems) staff never allowed thousands upon thousands of purple ticket holders inside due to various “issues” (see Purple, Silver, Blue Ticket Holders Turned Away).
So, in the end, after making plans to come back to DC the day after Obama’s historic election last November, securing a plane ticket and Inauguration tickets, and making our way downtown this morning without any complications, my dad and I never saw today’s historic event. Instead, we ended up 20 yards away from the Purple Gate (that we never got a chance to pass through), in the shadow of the Capitol, with no loud-speakers or projector-screens to witness the apparently moving speech that Barack Obama delivered after being sworn-in as the 44th POTUS. There were only 2 moments that we actually experienced which signified that Obama had become President: (1) the 21-gun howitzer salute; and (2) the three minutes my dad and I spent huddling with other distraught ticket holders around an event truck’s window while the driver played the speech on the radio.
On the one hand, it was still exciting to be in the District during this historic day to celebrate the beginning of Obama’s presidency, but on the other… I cannot begin to describe my incredible disappointment with how things turned out. It’s now over 12 hours since I awoke this morning, and almost 6 since Obama officially became POTUS, and I’ve still yet to see Obama’s historic speech on the steps of the Capitol.
In no way, shape, or form do I think today’s debacles reflect on Obama or any of the positive forward progress that I am looking forward to under his administration. But, nonetheless, I can’t help but feel extraordinarily disappointed and defeated after all of the efforts that had been made to make today happen.
For more on this unfortunate and incredibly frustrating situation, read:
- Many Express Outrage Over Ticket Problem
- No We Can’t: Thousands Shut Out From Inauguration
- The purple tunnel of doom
- Purple People Pissed
- Inaugural Ticketholders Meet Disappointment
- Thousands– Including Me– Shut Out of the Inauguration: Heartbreak at the Blue, Silver, and Purple Lines
- The purple ticket nightmare: One man’s story
- Some Ticket Holders End Up With ‘Collectors’ Items’
- For Some in Crowd, a Day of Cold and Confusion
- Some ticket-holders rejected at Inauguration door
- Trapped in mob, some never got to inauguration
- Frustrated by those without tickets
- Santa Cruz couple among thousands shut out at inauguration
Dude, serious bummer! sorry to hear your experience was such a bust. I watched on PBS and it was an amazing event, start to finish. Enjoy the atmosphere – must be electric!
We just barely made it in the purple section. It was a complete disaster, very disorganized. We put together a facebook group about it: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45889363588
I was right there with you! I was huddled up to the Purple Gate and could see it, if only I could’ve gotten in!! I came in from Louisiana and feel like I’ve completely wasted my money on hotels, flight and car rentals. It’s just so disappointed. Were you shoved into that tunnel for like four hours? That was probably the worst place to be! I was ready to get out of there. Purple ticket holders should get a special screening of the whole thing or something. Haha.
Your post of the purple gate picture is the first and only time I ever saw it. After walking up and down and back and forth for almost 5 hours and approx. 10mi. and being sent on goose chases by every (misinformed)agency patroling, my friend and I with those purple tickets realized we were going to miss it as the 2 block x 4 block swell of people didn’t move any nearer the gate in the last 1.5hrs. We walked as fast as we could all the way back to the “start” of the crowd, thin when we arrived, by then backed up to 19th St. by ceremony time (2+mi). We watched and listened from a steep angle on what had to be the last jumbotron in the place. I am crushingly disappointed about the purple tickets, but I have to keep reminding myself I was there, even if he experience was waaaaay different than my planning and expectations. Ditto on the inquiries from friends; I almost can’t relive my disappointment to tell them what happened, hence my looking for explanations at 3am. Congratulations on your hard work and helping to elect a man whose vision we can be proud of!
I was one of the thousands of Blue ticket holders who didn’t get in, so I’m right there with you in terms of the disappointment/frustration. I just can’t understand how it could’ve been so incredibly mismanaged! We arrived at 7:30 and got into what initially looked like a line but really just became an area of people. We moved about a block over the next three hours, which was due to people squishing closer together rather than actually getting through security. We gave up just before 11:30 and ended up watching the events on a TV at a random pizza place with some Silver ticket holders who were also denied entrance.
I have completed an eleven(11) page document that contains pictures. If your are interested I will privide the complete document…This is my summary:
Summary
We have attended several public events on the mall. The largest was the “Million Man March” October 16, 1965. This was the worst experience for a public event of my life. It borders on a criminal act for endangering the public. I will continue to work to locate the people responsible for the planning and implementation of a disaster for thousands of people who, in good faith, trusted that having a Purple Ticket would permit them to see and hear the most significant event in American History in the last one hundred (100) or more years.
Written by Merwyn P. Reaves, Vienna, VA.
To Jeremy, Merwyn and others who wrote,
Thank you for your comments. Comparing this event to the 1965 Million Man MArch was particularly poignant.
After working on Obama’s campaign, the only Christmas present my 15 year old wanted was to attend the inauguration. Missing 2 days of school right before finals and spending 100,000 frequent flyer miles to reach DC from Portland OR, we waited for hours in the freezing cold and never got into the BLUE gate. While it’s been very healing to share our grief with so many others who experienced the same thing (makes us feel just slightly less alone), we need to demand CHANGE in future handling of events!
you wrote:” I’m probably one of the only people in the world who has yet to see Obama’s historic speech on the steps of the Capitol.”
it is Saturday morning, just after mignight and i still have not watched it. I was able to look at some still photos today and watched some “purple tunnel of doom” videos on youtube, but that is it. I am in shock still and break out in tears every time I see something come on the tv about the inauguration.
I wasn’t in the tunnel, but I never got thru the gate, despite the fact that I started out at RFK stadium at 4:30 in the morning. I was on the other side of the purple gate when they closed it at 11:59 AM.
I just cannot believe this happened.
Wow!
After entirely missing Obama speech (my bed was
cozy and it was cold outside) I guess I would kill
mysef if I have to go thru all the misery these
purple holder tickets people went thru.
I guess I am cynical, but don’t trust our
goverment to do anything right.
What beautiful photos! I am a purple ticket holder who traveled from Alaska and endured hours in the friendly but crushing crowd behind the gate-that-never-opened. We abandoned our spots at around 10:30 and moved toward the purple arch labeled EXIT. On the way there, we discovered a small, unmarked gap in the fence along Louisiana where the crowd was moving in. After 45 minutes of body crush, we got in. My story is at http://oliverkodiak.blogspot.com
The Nation’s Capital will celebrate the effective, efficient security measures during the recent Inauguration festivities at the National Bollard Festival.
See http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/celebrate-inaugural-security/