As the Inauguration Planning Committee works, they should keep in mind the distributed nature of the Obama campaign. In past inaugurations, like the one I went to in 2005, the celebrations matched the size and the demographics of the base of support for the winning candidate. The last inauguration’s biggest ball, the Texas-Wyoming Ball, was sponsored by major corporate donors (the same donors that had sponsored the President’s campaign) and by large donors who could afford $500+ tickets.
People who can afford these prices shouldn’t be denigrated for their wealth; indeed, their generousity in part helped elect President-elect Obama. So let them eat cake at their parties (edit: keep out the huge corporate sponsors), but it’s time to recognize the sacrifices of time and money made by millions of Americans who cannot afford these exorbinate prices.
The Citizen’s Inaugural Ball could be one huge event that could help promote one of DC’s large venues: RFK or Nationals Stadiums. The committee need not be constrained to find one venue though. Like the organizing it did during the campaign, Obama’s people could help set up many many smaller venues throughout the DC-area or even the country with much lower ticket prices: $15-$40. Obviously, the new president would be unable to visit many sites in person, but a special message to these individuals gathering to celebrate the momentous day would go a long way to showing that the Obama presidency will be as revolutionary as the Obama campaign.
2 Comments
November 30, 2008 at 2:30 pm
This is an extremely valid point. I’m so sick of the “Almighty Dollar” and it’s position as the nucleus of life in this country. This is why standards of decency in our society have decreased noticeably since the Reagan years.
When the life of a sick or dying person, who is poor, has to take a back seat to a hospital’s annuity policy, something is clearly wrong.
The greed of the wealthy in this country has been the reason for several Communist uprisings across the globe.
I am banking on Obama and the Democrats to play Robin Hood. It is high time that someone put these greedy pigs in their places.
January 5, 2009 at 1:42 pm
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