10:13 am Jan. 22, 20133
WASHINGTON—Cheez-its and pretzels.
These were the hors d'oeuvres served at Barack Obama’s inaugural ball Monday night. Held in the cavernous and sparsely decorated Washington Convention Center, the event felt a little like a junior prom. There were formally dressed men in varying levels of discomfort, women teetering in heels as they stood in snaking lines for the bathroom and a clear sense of social segregation.
There was a rotating cast of celebrities on stage, singing a few of their greatest hits, and a complex system to get alcohol, with lines for drink tickets and then drinks as well, making for a relatively sober affair.
There are traditionally about ten inaugural balls, held in locations scattered around the district. This year, there were just two, which is the fewest since Martin Van Buren took office. One was the Commander In Chief’s Ball, which is for veterans. The other was the Inaugural Ball, which was for everyone else. The crowd was anticipated to be 40,000 people, but it never got that full at any one time. Instead, attendance ebbed and flowed. People streamed in late to make their appearance or bustled out early after seeing the president and the first lady make theirs.
This gave the event a disjointed feel. The crowd seemed tilted towards the end of the room with the stage. The area also included a holding pen for special guests, a category of people that included celebrities and semi-celebrities who were entitled to perks like chairs, unlike the masses outside the pen. Here, there were huddled masses, middle aged couples packed in tight, dancing together, and former campaign staffers frantically instagramming. The lines here to take pictures were long. There was a special inaugural logo that attendees could pose in front of to prove that they were there.
Many, if not most, of the attendees seemed just happy to be there. Charles Cornell, 48, of St Louis was attending the ball as a surprise Christmas present from his wife. She had won a lottery to get tickets and they flew out to Washington on Thursday to make a weekend of it.
Others were less impressed. One former Obama staffer grumbled that he was only attending because his girlfriend insisted. He was far more excited about the staff ball, which was supposed to be the big party. In 2009, “Arcade Fire played for an hour and a half and did all their songs and then Obama came out and then Jay-Z was on stage for two hours,” he said. “You don’t often get to see Jay-Z perform in front of only 4,000 people.”
Others attendees mentioned, in hushed tones, various other, more exclusive gatherings planned for later in the evening.
The musical guests at the event were mostly A-list, and gave perfunctory performances. The lineup was geared towardthe type of mainstream R&B that had been a staple at Obama’s campaign rallies: Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Alicia Keys, who sang that “Barack Obama is on fire.”
But the entire musical spectrum did have to be represented. There was a Mexican band, a hipster band and a country singer. They were all introduced by the house DJ, who put on hip hop and Michael Jackson between sets. This led to some rather jarring transitions, most memorably when the crowd was encouraged “ to make some noise for Brad Paisley.” (They didn’t.)
The crowd was, naturally, most enthusiastic when first Barack and Michelle Obama made their brief appearance and, an hour later, when Joe and Jill Biden did the same. The Obamas appeared first on stage, slow dancing to Jennifer Hudson, who emerged behind them singing "Let’s Stay Together." The Bidens repeated the same routine when they appeared, only with Jamie Foxx singing instead.
By midnight, the room was starting to empty out. Some people were slumped against walls trying to get reception on their cell phones, some who'd managed to get drunk were dancing. The Cheez-it bowls had long since been emptied and the lines for pictures were starting to thin. People had flights to catch and jobs to do in the morning. But they'd made it to the prom, even if the better prom was the one four years ago.
First, let me say that you seem pretentious and terrible. I'm sorry you had a disjointed time. I had a great time - a better time in fact than I did four years ago. And second, I have some issues with your piece.
1. There weren't 40K people there because the hall you were in doesn't hold 40K people. There were 22K in that hall. The other 13K were upstairs. So you may want to check your facts or even look around in the events you attend before you do this kind of "I'm going to make implications that I don't understand" style of reporting. And if you had been credentialed to attend both portions of the ball, this story would be decidedly different.
2. The celebrations were modest for a reason. Much of the country is still under daily economic pressure. And I'm not sure if you've been to the Lower East Side or the Financial District in NYC or the Jersey Shore for that matter, but parts of the country still don't have hot running water or electricity as a result of the fall storms. Had the President done a parade lap around DC to ten inaugural balls, it would have felt a little garish this time around.
3. Did you even speak to a representative from the Presidential Inaugural Committee?
4. "Perfunctory performances"? Who, might I ask, are you to judge that? Have you seen all those artists perform in person multiple times? Also, hosting the celebration in one place meant that all that A list talent you mentioned could perform for everyone. Why exactly is that a bad thing? And just as a correction, Alicia Keys sang "Obama's on fire" not "Barack Obama is on fire" because the latter doesn't really you know, work with the music.
5. Not sure the veiled criticism about the diverse group of artists really holds up. The committee reached out to a diverse group of artists because it knew there would be a diverse group of attendees with diverse tastes and preferences. But you're right; you should definitely keep up the dog whistle drumbeat that democrats use events like this to pay lip service to minority groups. That's what you were implying with "the entire musical spectrum did have to be represented," right?
6. You either didn't talk to many people or you let your bias guide your fingers as you typed, because the dozens if not hundreds of attendees I spoke with were thrilled to be there and had a blast. Period. Maybe that's why they instagrammed and took pictures in front of the official seal.
7. This piece does a disservice to the event and paints the entire celebration in the wrong light. And you'd know that if you'd spoken with more people, talked to someone at PIC, been to any of the other events, or just did any due diligence before hitting "send" on this piece.
I also have a question.
What does "clear sense of social segregation" even mean as it pertains to women? Once again, you'd started to imply something, but didn't make any point, much like entirety of this article.
Many, if not most, of the attendees seemed just happy to be there. Charles Cornell, 48, of St Louis was attending the ball as a surprise Christmas present from his wife. She had won a lottery to get tickets and they flew out to Washington on Thursday to make a weekend of it http://www.wedding-speech-ideas.com/
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