Why the Inaguration Festivites Should be Cancelled

Obviously I wasn't happy with the result of the Presidential Election, but regardless of that fact, Barack Obama will by law become President at 12 Noon on January 20th. But what is not required, by law, is for the Washington, D.C. Metro Area to be in a near multi-day lockdown situation in celebration of The One.

Take a look around. People are out of work. People are trying to make ends meet. The economy is in the tank. The Government (rightly of wrongly....mostly wrongly) is committing billions of dollars to economic recovery programs. So really.....what do we have to celebrate?

So instead of going immediately to work for the American People, we are going to have a long parade. And several inaugural balls. And millions of people descending upon the Metropolitan Area. This is going to send the D.C. area into virtual gridlock due to street closures (take a look at the long, long list of bridges and roads closed and note that Virginia is nearly cut off from the North). This means that downtown businesses are going to be virtually unable to conduct business on January 20th. And this does not merely impact white-collar businesses, but also restaurants, street vendors, and service employees who will not be able to do their jobs, or may not be able to get to their jobs. In some sectors of the service economy, workers are being encouraged to sleep at work instead of going home to their families.

The impact on public safety may be just as severe. So many police officers will be tied up in Inaugural Security as opposed to regular police work in the already violent District of Columbia. Fire and EMS personnel may find it difficult to provide service to certain areas due to traffic caused by Inaugural Crowds. And that is to say nothing of public safety personnel, as well as medical personnel, who may also find it extremely difficult to get to their jobs.

Is this any way to treat the people of the Washington, D.C. area already suffering from an economic funk?

On top of that, one can only imagine the tax burden the people of our state, as well as D.C. and Virginia, are going to have to endure due to extra police overtime, extra Department of Transportation crews on the street, etc. and so forth. And that is to so nothing of the Federal Burden due to security and logistics.

If Barack Obama really wanted to do something beneficial to the American people, he would take the Oath of Office in a small ceremony, and immediately do his job. Free the people of the D.C. Area from the unnecessary burden of outsiders, eliminate gridlock from the streets, and actually go forth and try to help the economy from day one as opposed to spending the day on formalities, pomp and circumstances.

Obama could have solved area gridlock, eliminated the negative impact on area businesses, and reduce the tax burden on the people of this area. Obama could have led by example. But the President who more than any before believes his own press clippings won't. Even he wants to properly glorify The One...

(Crossposted)