Obama To Take Big Pre-Inauguration Railroad Tour
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has hit on a novel way of reducing the pressure that the enormous crowd expected to show up on Inauguration Day will put on Washington: Have Barack Obama take a pre-inaugural railroad tour that will allow people to show up to view him and Joe Biden at multiple locations.
"As part of the most open and accessible Inauguration in history, we hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can't be in Washington," said the committee's executive director Emmett S. Beliveau, in the press release.
Obama will hold an event in Philadelphia the Saturday before the inauguration, then be joined by Joe Biden at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, with the two then proceeding to another rally in Baltimore, Maryland. It seems reasonable to expect that as the train heads to D.C., crowds could very well line the whole railroad to see them go by.
Bear in mind that the inauguration is expected to have millions of people trying to attend. Every person who can show up to the pre-inaugural events, or even catch a glimpse of the train going by, is somebody who won't necessarily feel they have to go to Washington that Tuesday.
This is very exciting! The whole inauguration will be a whole weekend then Monday with MLK Holiday which will be even more significant because Obama is our first African-American president and then ends Tuesday with the actual inaguration ceremony.
Should be a great time!!!
December 15, 2008 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
A loose historical reference to Lincoln's inaugural train journey
December 15, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I had the same thought while I was reading that. I only wish it was a cross-country trip like Lincoln did instead of just from Delaware to DC. Of course the rail system was much more complete back in Lincoln's time...
December 15, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I'd gladly watch from our local track! Amtrack uses it! He should too.
December 15, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Loose? It seems any historical association BO makes is far from loose. Opening campaign in Springfield. Speaking in Berlin. Dropping YouTube videos like FDR in a fireside chat. BO has shown himself to be a master of driving the media to compare him to larger figures and it has contributed to his grandeur. Not that I'm dissing it, but it is planned, and beautifully so.
I'm also hoping the emphasis of his use on train usage will draw attention to the ridiculousness of American commuter rails and will begin his efforts to look to trains as more ecologically-efficient means of travel.
December 15, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
But Lincoln's trip from Illinois to Washington was steeped in danger and intrigue. History records a carefully hatched plot to assassinate him at the stop in Baltimore. But his security man, Allen Pinkerton, caught wind of the plot, infiltrated the nest, and secretly put Lincoln on a night train from Philadelphia that passed thru
Baltimore in the middle of the night - the night before he was expected to travel. It was so secret that neither the conductor nor the engineer knew Lincoln was in one of those three cars added at the last minute...and his boarding was so carefully timed as to board barely a minute before the train departed Philly. Lincoln was safely in Washington before those who planned to murder him in Baltimore awakened on the morning of February 23rd.
December 15, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
People will line the tracks!
Woo-Hoo!!!
December 15, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm gonna put me a quarter on the track of that train and squish it.
December 15, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
That there's a fine idea!
December 15, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Be sure you mark it! It bet this idea will catch hold!
December 15, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm going to DC for the Inauguration, I don't care how lousy the weather is or how many people there are. I would not miss it for anything.
December 15, 2008 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
You, me and about 5 million other folks are thinking the exact same thing! It's going to be an unbeleivable spectacle. I have no expectation of getting close enough to see much of anything, and I don't much care.
December 15, 2008 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
(unbelieveable)
Sorry, haven't had coffee yet.
December 15, 2008 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's hard to hit a moving train with your shoe too...
December 15, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, just plant your shoe on the track, SFC! Drink the Kool-Aid, feel the Obamania...
December 15, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
with or without his foot in it?
December 15, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Obama see the shoe-throwing incident - the Secret Service has holes in it's game. I'd rather he didn't do this type of thing.
December 15, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Probably a high-tech grenade-proof train.
December 15, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine what would happen if Obama's train was hit with a Size 12 Gucci. I mean, it would devastate the entire presidency for the first year.
Anything can be a weapon. Should they have confiscated blackberries and cell phones, too? A blackberry would hurt much worse than a loafer. Perhaps they should only allow stark naked media people in the room with the president . . .
December 15, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kind of a misleading headline. Chicago to DC would be a "big" whistle-stop trip at about 950 miles.
Philadelphia 30th St to Washington Union, OTOH, is only about 135 miles.
Worse, it's going to throw a huge monkey-wrench into the the whole NEC schedule right at a time of crush loads of people heading to ... Washington.
Good thing it appears to be on the Saturday before.
Still, good to see the President-elect using SUPERTRAINS again (h/t Atrios :).
December 15, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
The logistics of doing anything longer than this (combined with security) are probably way too insane to manage.
December 15, 2008 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with plaws. This is not a "big railroad tour." It is a tiny trip with very little significance. Lame.
December 15, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Au contraire. The Obamas will already be in DC earlier to get their daughters started in their new school. So it would look REALLY odd for them to go all the way back to Chicago to start the trip. Also, by starting in Philly, the Bidens will be able to conveniently join the Obamas.
December 15, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
It wouldn't look odd. Barack could just say he forgot his watch on the nightstand, and that they had to go back.
December 15, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
The last time I stood beside the tracks to watch politician pass on a train it was the Bobby Kennedy funeral train as it passed through Philly's Broad Street Station.
December 15, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
This sounds like a great idea. (another one)
We can have no idea how this administration will actually turn out. But my minimum expectation is four years of competence. What a change that would be.
If Obama is judged on a curve he will be getting an A+ compared to W.
(Have to admit that W did show some nice reflexes and the line about size 10 was very good)
So let's recap the positive accomplishments of the W administration.
1. First pitch at Yankee stadium after 9/11 was very well thrown.
2. Nice reflexes dodging a shoe.
Short list. I expect 44's to be considerably longer.
December 15, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perryville, Baltimore, Halethorpe, West Baltimore, BWI Airport, Odenton, Bowie State, Bowie, Seabrook, New Carrolton, Union Station...
If Obama wants to get with the people, he'll hop on board that 6:37 a.m. MARC train. I'll be like one of those veteran train people and mock him disdainfully with my eyes when he fumbles around looking for his ticket, and I will openly scream at him for using his cell phone in the quiet car.
Woo woo!
December 15, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Barack, how about saving the money spent on the trip and help those out of work first?
December 15, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think this is a brilliant idea! Those of us who live in the DC area are beginning to get anxious about Inauguration week as exciting and historic as it is. Some of us still have to get to work or school that week, find places to park our cars, and use public transit. Everyone is happy to share the city with the world but the logistics are getting nightmarish--10,000 charter buses (where will they park?), instructions for people within 3 miles to walk to the mall rather than try to arrive on any type of wheels, predictions of 8-hour delays getting people out of town by subway after the parade, hotel workers sleeping on cots in the kitchen. The closest hotel rooms are in Salisbury (that's across the Chesapeake Bay!) and Richmond (over an hour by car). This is a great way to alleviate the problem as many people in the Philly-DC Amtrak corridor will be just as happy, or happier actually seeing Obama and Biden in person on the train or at these other rallies, versus watching them on a jumbotron on the mall with 4 million of their closes friends. I love that there are all of these surprises, all aimed at making this accessible and for the people. Plus it spreads the "wealth" of inauguration week to other cities (e.g., restaurants, hotels). As Tena says, President Awesome indeed!
December 15, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
He should start in Boston, so more of the people who voted for him can see him go by. I'd drive to Middleboro to see the train go by.
December 15, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
That would be nice, wouldn't it? But have you ever taken the train from Boston to DC? OMG, very long trip.
December 15, 2008 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink