Above is a sample image — watching in Sadr City, Baghdad

See the whole collection

I am taking the time to let you know of something that you are unlikely to hear all that much about — the great f__k up that left many of those with highly sought after tickets packed together like sardines, waiting for hours without moving, standing in the streets outside of the viewing areas while the Inauguration took place.

To the right is a satellite photo taken at 11:19 a.m., well after the ceremonies began, 3 hours and 19 minutes after the gates opened to the viewing areas for public ticket holders, and five hours after many people started standing in line. We personally started standing in line at about 7:30.

Members of Congress had 240,000 tickets to distribute to the general public. Given that 2 million people came to the inauguration, these tickets were very highly sought after. We talked to one person while standing in line who had won a lottery held by Senator Schumer of New York. Six-hundred thousand people applied for 150 tickets. She obviously felt like she had won The Lottery.

Everyone who had a Silver Ticket, or one of the rarer but still public Colored Tickets, was completely delighted. If you had a colored ticket, as a few lucky members of the public did, or a silver ticket, as we did, you were happy and delighted — until you were jammed into a barely moving, completely unmanaged mass of people for hours on end.

Looking at the photo, you can see clearly that by 11:19, when the Inauguration ceremonies were well under way, only a minority of the space allocated to the public ticket holders is occupied. We are in the mass of people labeled "Silver Ticket Holders" at the bottom left side of the photo. This mass of people extended well below the bottom of the photo

The situation for many of the Colored Ticket Holders was even worse. Note that the two top areas for colored ticket holders are almost empty. Evidently many of these, supposedly privileged ticket holders never did gain entrance to the view area. A friend of ours met a man with a Purple Ticket who stood in line for hours until he finally gave up and watched the Inauguration from a bar. By all reports, he had much company.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Silver Ticket Holders began climbing over the concrete barrier that kept them contained. The swarmed down on the entrance of the Silver Area, which was restricted only by a few security people and yellow tape. Overwhelmed, the guards just started waving people through, whether or not they had a ticket.

We made it into the left area and eventually noticed an way across the road to the less crowded right area (the only way into that area as far as we could tell). We couldn’t see the podium area nor much of the Jumbotron in our region, but we were next to speakers and surrounded by people all of whom are overjoyed to to together celebrating the beginning of a new era. We are overjoyed, too. When Obama appeared, the joy erupted into sustained cheering. When Obama spoke, all listened intently (or took photos and videos). We were all happy to be part of this moment in history.

I can’t finish without noting that almost every person in the vast crowds waiting without moving were happy, courteous, and patient. We were a happy family, whether or not we were moving.

Now, time has moved on and we are even more overjoyed as we experience President Barack Hussein Obama.

The excitement has been palpable since the moment we arrived on Friday. Today, it will be beyond description. People of every race and color from everywhere around the globe are gathering to celebrate the moment in time when Obama becomes President.

I don’t have time this morning to tell much or go through the photos and videos to put them up here. That will have to come later. Just one small vignette will have to suffice:

We arrive in Dulles Airport at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. I forget my camera under the seat of the airplane. As I wait for the remaining passengers to deplane and my camera to be retrieved, a woman approaches and asks, "Are you on this flight?" I reply, "No, we just arrived. Why do you ask?" "Because I’m looking for a fellow passenger. They’ve sold only 4 tickets for this flight back to SF." The demand for flights to Washington is so great that they are willing to fly the plane back empty!

On the bus into town, I’m sitting across from two young women. Because everyone feels connected by the Inauguration, I feel free to ask them if they are here for the Inauguration, and of course they are, separately. As the conversation develops, I ask one of the women if she is participating in the Inauguration. She says, "Yes. I’m in a band, the Gay and Lesbian Marching Band from Chicago." Right away I think, "Wow. This is statement of the inclusiveness that Barack has been espousing in many of his speeches. His actions are matching his words.

It gets even better for me. She tells me that the band didn’t even bother to apply during the Bush years. "When Clinton was Inaugurated, we were selected to come, but they wouldn’t let us march in the parade. The put us at a place on the sidelines where we could play, but not march." I thought, "Heard but not seen." How like, "Don’t ask, don’t tell." How like Clinton. Not like Obama. Praise be!

Much more tonight and tomorrow. You will sense the excitement today, wherever you are watching. And, you’ll be warmer. Obama’s good weather fortune that he had throughout the campaign has not carried through to the Inauguration. Today the high is forecast to be 30 degrees, with winds of 10 mph growing to 20 mph during the day. We are preparing for five hours of subfreezing weather!  But we don’t care. We are going to see Barack Obama become our President!