We joined a few hundred thousand of our closest friends for the We Are One pre-inaugural concert down on the Washington Mall yesterday. (In DC, the Mall isn't a shopping center, it's the mostly grassy and monument-filled strip that runs across the city from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.) Walking from the Metro to the Mall, past the White House, it was eerie to experience the streets devoid of cars and filled with pedestrians (the central city has been closed off to private traffic). Temps were in the low thirties, but it wasn't too windy and the snow held off.
The vibe and diversity of the crowd was tremendous. Everyone from the gray-haired to kids on shoulders, the full range of race and ethnicity, formal dress to grunge.
All sang along with Garth Brooks on American Pie, danced to Shout, sang along with Mary J. Blige on Lean on Me, with James Taylor on Shower the People, with Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger on This Land is Your Land.
Whenever the Jumbotron screens showed Obama (generally smiling and moving to the music), the crowd roared.
It seemed that everyone was taking pics and video, and many asked strangers to take pictures of family groups: We were there. When Obama spoke near the end, every camera and cell phone was clicking, even though we were about 3/4 of mile away.
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