Valley residents witness history

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A contingent of 40 people from the Shenandoah Valley witnessed history Tuesday when Barack Obama become the country’s 44th and first black president.

The Valley residents – who traveled by bus from Staunton – stood in a huge crowd on the National Mall and watched on a large video screen as Obama delivered his inaugural address.

Despite freezing temperatures and a crowd so large it made mobility difficult, the Valley contingent was energized by Obama’s speech.

While Obama spoke of foreclosures and a weakened national economy, he promised the challenges would be met.

“We can’t stand pat,” Obama said.

Clarence Durrette, of Stuarts Draft, the leader of the Valley group and a Staunton NAACP branch member, called Obama’s speech “the truth and nothing but.”

Durrette said Obama’s first six months will be critical. He can’t expect to accomplish all his goals during a first term, Durrette said.

“If he points us in the right direction, we can do it,” Durrette said. “But he can’t do everything in four years. Change is coming.”

Kim Brown, of Stuarts Draft, said she believes Obama can turn the country around. Her confidence is based in part on his rise from an obscure Democratic candidacy two years ago to being elected president.

“I never thought I would live to see an African-American president,” Brown said.

She said she hopes Obama will prove worthy of the office.

“He has his head on straight, and he knows what’s good for the country,” Brown said.

However, Brown said she was disappointed to hear boos in the crowd when President George W. Bush was introduced.

The crowd was rollicking and boisterous until Obama stepped forward to be sworn in, said Molly Pattersall, 27, of Stuarts Draft. Then a quiet fell over the Mall.

And later the celebration began.

Everywhere in Washington, the presence of a new president was evident.

As Obama’s inauguration was marked, street vendors hawked T-shirts and posters of him all across the city.

A crowd of some 1 million filtered past the souvenir stands, having bucked forecasts of nightmare traffic clogging entry routes into the city.

The Valley group encountered some gridlock traveling to Washington, but as they got closer to the Vienna Metro station, traffic loosened. They hopped on the subway, using their commemorative Obama Metro farecards for a one-hour subway ride into the city. They arrived in time for the ceremony with more than an hour to spare.

On the ride into Washington, Shane Tattersall, of Stuarts Draft, said Obama was the reason she voted for the first time since President John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960.

She called Obama “the modern Moses who devoted his life to people and trying to help people.”

Tattersall’s daughter, Molly, voted for the first time at age 27.

For Barbara Wallace, being on the National Mall when Obama became president was a matter of standing behind a man in whom she believes. Wallace, a member of the Staunton NAACP, said she wanted to be at the inauguration to show her support for Obama.

“If the world would give him a chance to prove something, we will have peace,” Wallace said.

Stopping for dinner on the way home, Durrette was still wound up from the ceremony. He was especially touched, he said, seeing the living presidents, including Bush and his father, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, standing on the podium with Obama.

The experience is one Durrette won’t forget: “Words can’t describe what we saw today.”