Standard Mischief

We had a smooth transition of power, and the celebrations managed to not mess up my commute too much. That’s good news.

I’m going to take the high road here and declare a “honeymoon” for as long as our President lays off attacking what I keep near and dear to my heart, or at least for 24 hours. Let’s hope it’s a long one.

Best wishes and I hope you have a wonderful Inaugural Party.

We taxpayers own a share of those banks, and when we ask what the hell happened to the first $350 billion that was suppose to go towards “helping troubled homeowners stay in their homes”, we get nothing.

Remember how that money was to go towards buying “toxic paper” that the US government was going to own and quite possibly make money on? Remember?

Still, I suppose the only reason the stock market fell like a rock before the ink even dried on that bill had to be because of the fact that the right people weren’t in charge yet, right?

Madoff’s still out on bail, and not one of the people who had to have helped him is in jail yet. Is that going to change after the 20th?

That’s as close as I was planning to get on the Beltway to the Zero Milestone that’s across the street from the Whitehouse. Still, as I mentioned yesterday, I may be impacted by this inauguration run amok. The restrictions get worse every day:

Md. Beltway ramps could close for inauguration

By Tuesday, they’ll have switched every stoplight from here to Philadelphia red in all four directions, enforce a curfew and have the military to keep the peace just in case someone in Norfolk Virginia happens to have a green laser pointer.

If you’ve got your papers in order, however, come on down, walk ten miles in the cold and spend some cash in DC ’cause they’re poor and it’s a capital city and all. I hear the mambo sauce is good.

Well-wishers warned to use care along train route

Addendum 16jan08: I’m still pissed enough to write another blog post, but I’ll spare you. While the overhead signs along my commute say, “Plan Ahead!”, it’s another day, and another round of road closings. Today I learn that I-95 and the B-W Parkway, both major routes between Baltimore and DC, may be shut down too. WTF?

After action report 23jan09: Inauguration day itself, I zipped by on the beltway, no problem. The two days afterward have been total heck, both mornings and evenings. I suppose all those tour buses and such? The right-to-life march yesterday? anyway it worked out well for me.

The news gets worse every day.

While I’d be happy to allow the President-elect his Inauguration Day, things are getting quite a bit out of hand. I started with total parking restrictions at the area’s metro subway parking lots. The next day it was announced that all the bridges across the Potomac going into DC were closed to traffic. Then we found out about river traffic restrictions, major arteries closing, and interstate highways inside the beltway being shut down. Today on the way home, I understand that President Bush has declared an emergency so we can blow a bunch of cash on police overtime. I was also encouraged by the Governor of Maryland to stay off the beltway on the 20th. I suppose having it officially shut down will be announced tomorrow?

All of this unprecedented security will exist even with no credible threat that the Secret Service will admit to.

I have no idea how I’m going to get to work that day, and I don’t even commute anywhere near DC.

President-elect Obama is going to, as a symbolic gesture, take a train ride into Washington DC, sorta almost kinda just like Lincoln did. I’m not quite sure how to express it, but this rubs me the wrong way.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve seem empty gestures like this before. After all, President-Elect Bill Clinton famously followed Jefferson’s horseback route into DC for his swearing in, and it’s hard to find a more polar opposite to our third President than Clinton.

Perhaps it’s because he’s already here, causing traffic issues in DC while staying in the Hay-Adams hotel. He’s here early so his kids can start at the prestigious school Sidwell Friends. That’s the private school that was picked after the Obama family made another empty gesture of touring several DC public (charter) schools.

Perhaps it’s because they’re making a minor detour of the specially chartered train so they can go pick up Vice President-Elect “Amtrak Joe” in Delaware?

Most likely it’s because of the willful ignorance of history by so many. You see, President-Elect Abraham Lincoln had to sneak his way into DC. While there was likely a credible threat to his life, this act was widely lampooned in the papers of the day. There’s a few political cartoons over at Wikipedia if you are interested. Abe got off at an unscheduled stop a few blocks from the station and finished the rest of the trip by private carriage. While walking to his carriage, He leaned against one of his supporters to help hide his height. It’s also possible that his famous beard, which was grown between the time he was elected and his eastward trip to DC, was meant as a disguise. His confederates even cut the telegraph line to Baltimore, just in case news of his arrival was to be wired ahead by those involved in a possible plot.

But hey, don’t let a little historical fact ruin anyone’s puff piece. Forget I said anything. It’s the thought that counts, right?