Inaugural Woes

Even though DC voted 9-1 for Kerry, it's a tough town to be a Democrat in right now. Everywhere you go, there are signs of the impending inaugural 'festivities' which are making denial a hard place to live. Invites arrive everyday for events, balls, parties. One would almost get the impression that we don't have a deficit. Oh, but wait, we do and it's a bigun. Which is the 'reason' the city of DC for the first time is having to cut into it's homeland security budget to pay for all the extra security next week (about $20 million) for the most expensive inauguration to date. Ugh. And yes, before you ask, I would still be upset about it if John Kerry were up there next week.

Although I wouldn't have had the same reaction to the Hecht's display window as I did earlier this week. I was walking to the metro after work Tuesday, listening to music, minding my business when I turned my head to check out what Hecht's had in the window. Usually it's a nice display of shirts, maybe cocktail dresses, sometimes even a display of an exhibit at a nearby museum. Instead it was what can only be described as a shrine to 43. Huge head shot in a gaudy gold frame with some other things that I can't remember because my immediate reaction was to recoil from what I was seeing with something akin to a snarl on my face. I did manage to recover quickly and continue walking but not before hearing the man behind me chuckle. I merely shrugged my shoulders which made him laugh more. And I am not alone in this Pavlovian reaction to all things 43 - Agie, after hearing my story, walked that way last night. I got a phone call from her right after she passed it saying "Oh my God - it's huge - you were right. I had the same reaction!" So much for bygones.