Obama Inauguration Crowd is Extraordinary and I am There, Reporting To You

I am downtown in Washington DC, just below the Capitol, as I write this. I've just come in from being with the massive crowd heading towards the Mall. It is truly an enormous gathering -- much bigger than anything I have ever witnessed and surely will be largely than what I understand was the previous record DC crowd: the U. S. Park Service estimated that 1.2 million people attended the inauguration of Lyndon Johnson as president on January 20, 1965.

People of all ages are bundled up against the bitter cold but the mood is very upbeat. A large proportion of the crowd is African-American, as might be expected to witness this historic event.

The Metro subway system is being stressed by the flow. Getting off at the Federal Center SW station stop at 6AM, it was difficult to get off the platform, up the stairwell/escalator and through the turnstiles, and then up another set of escalators to the outside. Fortunately at that hour the street heading toward the Mall was not that crowded and I was able to make it to the VOA building where I work.

But just half an hour later, looking out the windows, I could see the sidewalks were packed. People were pressing up against the VOA building to try and move toward the Mall and the Capitol.