Inauguration signals a return to normalcy
By Ted Anthony
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Crumpled se
curity tape whipped in the wind.
The battalions of beefy police offi
cers were gone. There was no line
for the portable toilets, Pennsylva
nia Avenue had reopened to traffic
and a new president was ensconced
in the White House.
Under a dusting of snow Sunday,
things were beginning to look nor
mal again in the imposing corridor
between George W. Bush’s new
home and the Capitol — and, by ex
tension, in the entire country. The
New York Post pronounced it a
“New Day for America.”
But is it?
After the battles of the campaign
season and the tension of Election
Day, the presidential inauguration is
a symbol of continuity in American
government, a signal to other nations
and to ourselves that we’re still
strong, still resolute, still, as Ben
jamin Franklin put it, hanging togeth
er rather than hanging separately.
“It helps to remind people that
the institutions have endured, and
they’ve endured things a lot more
troubling than anything that hap
pened in the last few months,” said
Andrew Busch, a University of Den
ver political scientist.
This was no ordinary election,
though; it was the closest in 124
years. And Bush’s debut was no or
dinary inauguration. It was—prob
ably inevitably — streaked with a
sense of the torturous path that
brought him to the White House.
And the citizens who watched it
from behind the barricades? Though
legions came merely to soak up the
pageantry, others hardly seemed
ready to move on.
“As long as he’s in the White
House, it’s not over,” proclaimed Joe
Konizeski, a Washington attorney
wearing a bandit’s mask and carrying
a sign: “I wanna steal an election, too.”
Added his companion, Ann Ti
tus, an advertising copywriter: “Our
voice was taken away from us. This
has to be the time to be heard. ”
Among the thousands of protest
ers only eight were arrested, but
their attitude annoyed many on
lookers — Bush supporters, mostly,
but also folks who say the battle was
fought hard and resolved peacefully.
“How long do we sit and talk about
a hanging chad?” said Daniel Hamel,
23, of Wisconsin, freshly discharged
from an overseas assignment with the
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Marines. “America has more impor
tant things to worry about.”
Inaugurations have unfolded un
der shadows before. We’ve sworn in
presidents during wars and domestic
crises — Abraham Lincoln, Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon
among them. We’ve sworn in others
who didn’t win the popular vote, like
Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877.
Some, like John Quincy Adams in
1825, acknowledged the mixed feel
ings in their inaugural addresses.
“Less possessed of your confi
dence in advance than any of my
predecessors, I am deeply conscious
of the prospect that I shall stand more
and oftener in need of your indul
gence,” said Adams, chosen by the
House when the Electoral College
couldn’t determine a winner.
Bush, in his address Saturday,
did not refer to the election impasse
that ended with the Supreme Court
effectively naming him president,
though he praised Al Gore for “a
contest conducted with spirit and
ended with grace.”
In a luncheon afterward, he sought
to reassure Americans that the narrow
victory and cleaved Congress would
not render his tenure ineffective.
“People say, ‘Well, gosh, the elec
tion was so close, nothing will hap
pen, except for finger-pointing and
name-calling and bitterness,”’ Bush
said. “I’m here to tell the country
that things will get done, that we’re
going to rise above expectations.”
Ultimately, the mixed tenor of the
Bush inauguration depicts America
in miniature. For some, it’s a time of
celebration; for others, an opportu
nity to speak out. Some demand the
redress of grievances. Others wave
flags, shed a tear or two and dismiss
protests as poor form.
“It’s such a large part of American
ceremonial culture that any time
you see it, you’re reminded that it’s
part of a chain, that this is about
something bigger than the individ
ual who is actually taking office,”
said Busch, the political scientist.
“They’ll remember that George W.
Bush is the 43rd president now, and
someday there’ll be a 44th.”
The strange election ordeal under
scores this. We pushed the limits, and
we didn’t break. On Saturday, from
the cheering families to the loudest of
demonstrators, we celebrated that.
Just before the inauguration, a
homeless man wearing an American
flag bandanna left the pile of news
papers he was selling and clambered
up onto a ledge. He pulled a dispos
able camera from a torn pocket and
took a shot of the crowd.
One tiny celebration of many, it
passed in an instant.
“We come together and we move
on,” said Hamel, the Marine. “We’re
OK. We’re definitely OK.”
George W. Bush moves
into the White House
WASHINGTON — With a pledge
to lead America with “civility,
courage, compassion and charac
ter,” George Walker Bush became
the nation’s 43rd president and
vowed to heal the wounds opened
by the close and bitter election that
carried him to power.
A crowd stretching out from the
West Front of the Capitol witnessed
an inauguration that marked the
opening of the first Republican-con
trolled White House and Congress
since the Eisenhower era.
Also on Saturday, seven members
of Bush’s Cabinet won quick Senate
approval.
Bush was sworn in shortly after
noon and ended his first day on the
job before midnight when he went
home to the White House after mak
ing the rounds of inaugural balls
with his wife Laura.
Bush and Vice President Richard
Cheney, along with family, friends
and members of the new adminis
tration, attended prayer services
Sunday at the Washington Nation
al Cathedral.
Along the parade route down
Pennsylvania Avenue from the
Capitol to the White House, police
in riot gear stood five deep between
Bush’s motorcade and protesters,
who hurled insults at the newly in
stalled president.
An egg was thrown from a group
of demonstrators toward Bush’s
limousine. A few blocks later an or
ange was tossed toward his car. Po
lice pinned down two protesters
who jumped security barriers and
got within 30 feet of the limousine.
While the inaugural protests were
the largest since the anti-Vietnam
War demonstrations that marked
the start of Richard Nixon’s presi
dency, the police said only eight
people were arrested.
In one of the new president’s first
official acts, Bush formally submitted
his Cabinet nominations to the Sen
ate. Among those quickly confirmed
and sworn into office were Colin
Powell as secretary of state, Donald
Rumsfeld as defense secretary, Paul
O’Neill as treasury secretary and
Spencer Abraham as energy secretary.
Bush signed an executive order es
tablishing ethical standards for his
new administration, and moved to
halt Clinton’s blizzard of executive
orders and rules. Among the targets
were new Medicare guidelines and
environmental protections.
He also ordered a temporary fed
eral hiring freeze until his new Cabi
net members are in place.
Saturday night, the new presi
dent and first lady crisscrossed the
capital city to attend eight official
inaugural balls. At each, Bush ac
knowledged that dancing is not one
of his accomplishments.
“I’m proud to report, I think
we’ve accumulated more than ten
minutes of dancing,” he said at the
last ball. “So to help you all cele
brate, we’re going to dance, and
then I’m going to bed. ”
They were back at the White House
at 11:38 p.m., an hour and 8 minutes
ahead of schedule — something un
heard of during the Clinton years.
The Associated Press
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