There's Something Happenin Here...

Barack Obama began his train ride to Washington today in a 1939 Pullman rail car. Read the story here. Spectators line the tracks to see him pass. People flood into Washington days in advance for the inauguration, not in hopes of seeing the event, but of standing out in the freezing cold watching it on giant televisions with other liked minded people.

I struggle for perspective on this weekend. It's been so long since there was anything ennobling about presidential politics, I'm not certain how much of what we are seeing is elation at the end of the Bush years, how much is just the hoopla that surrounds any coronation, and how much is the energy that flows through a moment of obvious historical significance.

For those interested in attempting to capture the zeitgeist, check out: Gail Collins, Bloomberg, Boy George, Reuters, and the man himself.