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OBAMAMANIA ON THE MALL

Barack Obama may not be a messiah, but just try telling that to the millions of people who have gathered to celebrate in Washington, DC. A contributor to The Economist observes the gathering hordes ...

From ECONOMIST.COM

Late on this chilly Sunday morning, rivers of people flow towards the Washington Monument. Hundreds of thousands converge on the expansive patch of grass between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, from which America’s 16th president sternly stares. Barack Obama’s inauguration is still two days away, but eager celebrants already pack Washington. Mr Obama’s inaugural planners are indulging them on Sunday with a two-hour outdoor concert on the National Mall.

Perhaps 400,000 Obamaphiles show up—a fraction of the crowd likely to turn out for Tuesday’s inauguration. Obama memorabilia is everywhere, sold by local entrepreneurs trying to cash in on the frenzy. There is the usual (posters, buttons and flags) and the exotic—Obama action figures, for example. To deafening cheers, the event’s first speaker, Denzel Washington, insists that in America now, “we are one”.

But even here there are the hints of division. The Reverend Gene Robinson—the first openly gay Episcopal bishop—asks God to bless Americans with “anger” over “the mistreatment of gays, lesbians and transgender people”. This is a winning line with most of the crowd, except for the small band of anti-gay protesters holding signs reading, “Homo Sex Is a Sin”.

But Mr Robinson’s delivery of the invocation is also an obvious counterpoint to the prayer that Rick Warren, a popular California pastor, will give on inauguration day. Inviting Mr Warren is just one of many things that Mr Obama has done lately that have riled liberals. “I’m more hard left than he is”, explains Dane Hyde, an attendee wearing a baggy, fluorescent green jacket. Mr Robinson’s contention that the president-elect “is a man, not a messiah”, meanwhile, extracts both cheers and boos from the crowd.

But division is mostly forgotten as the day’s cast shuffles through its acts. Almost all come from Hollywood’s A-list: Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks, Tiger Woods, Beyoncé and more. Bono insists that Mr Obama’s election is not just “an American dream”, but “an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream...an Israeli dream, and, also, a Palestinian dream”—all of which seems an implicit challenge to Mr Robinson’s anti-messianic claim.

Speakers compare Mr Obama to former presidents: Laura Linney mentions Franklin Roosevelt; Martin Luther King III speaks of John Kennedy; Jamie Foxx quotes Thomas Jefferson. Everyone seems to get a line or two from Abraham Lincoln in, particularly Tom Hanks, who performs an extended, violin-accompanied dramatic reading from some of Mr Lincoln’s most famous speeches. Marisa Tomei even mentions Ronald Reagan. Unhappy to hear the Republicans’ favourite president mentioned, a man standing near me shouts, “We don’t care!” “We’re all one now!” a woman nearby shouts disapprovingly back at him.

Finally, it is Mr Obama’s turn to give his pre-inaugural address, a mish-mash of soaring themes inspired by his campaign speeches. It brings the hard-left Mr Hyde to tears. “He really connects with me,” Mr Hyde insists. “It’s beyond the political.” Still, he worries about Mr Obama’s support for so-called clean coal and for nuclear power, though he speculates the president-elect might have taken those stances out of political expedience. Mr Obama is “trying to build bridges outside the fold”, Mr Hyde says optimistically as he collects litter left behind by fellow revellers.

Perhaps. Or perhaps Mr Obama really isn’t going to turn out to be the messiah for the Dane Hydes of America. He might not even be the next Abe Lincoln, despite the day’s rhetoric. But for the millions who show up for the swearing in, their minds will nevertheless be filled with romantic images of Mr Obama’s potential, unmarred by the challenges, disagreements and disappointments that come with governing America.

Picture credit: gbynum27 (via Flickr)

(This is an instalment of a week-long correspondent's diary about the American president's inauguration, published on Economist.com.)