By Elizabeth Cook
ecook@salisburypost.com
Sixteen-year-old Caitlin Crawford of Spencer got a preview Sunday afternoon of what the mood may be like at today’s inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States.
Caitlin was among thousands who attended the free concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the site where Martin Luther King jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
Even though the Lincoln Memorial was “a little dot” to Caitlin from where she stood 200 to 300 yards away, she could tell it was a special moment.
“Oh my gosh,” she said in a telephone interview Monday. “The energy was just so insane. … People were happy to be there and be part of that experience.”
You might expect that in a crowd seeing the likes of Beyonce and Usher, who were among the event’s performers. But Caitlin said emotions ran even higher when Obama addressed the group. “People were ecstatic.”
They were also cold. Even with layers of Under Armour and a turtleneck, Caitlin said, “it was so cold,” and a few snowflakes fell.
A junior at North Rowan High School, Caitlin is in Washington with the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference, a once-every-four-years experience offered to teens who have been part of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council and the National Youth Leadership Forum. She’s staying at the Hilton in McLean, Va.
After applying for the program in May, Caitlin was on a bus Monday evening with more than 50 other noisy students when she called the Post to report how things were going in this history-making week in Washington, D.C.
The pandemonium some have predicted has not yet taken place, as far as Caitlin could tell.
“Just because there’s so many people, it takes time to get loaded on buses and get where we need to go,” she said. But other than that she had not noticed any signs of chaos.
And as for the porta-johns everyone predicted would be in short supply, Caitlin said they seemed to be everywhere, with no lines in evidence. Today may be a different story, but Caitlin doesn’t expect problems herself. “I try not to use them,” she said.
The daughter of Bill and Jennifer Crawford of Spencer, Caitlin is not necessarily an Obama supporter. When North Rowan students held a “blind election” for president last fall based on the candidates’ stands ó without knowing their names ó she found she leaned more toward John McCain, Obama’s Republican opponent.
But when she learned early last year that she could witness the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States ó whoever that person was ó “it was something that I really couldn’t miss.” She knew it would be an exciting event. And, she said, “it’s a resume builder.”
She hopes that resume could lead to studying journalism and English at Queens College, Davidson College or some other institution of higher learning.
In the meantime, so far this week she has been in meetings with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, South African activist Desmond Tutu and former Vice President Al Gore. “He went off on a tirade about global warming,” Caitlin said.
Virtually all speakers reminded the teens they were the leaders of tomorrow and must be agents of change.
Her group planned to start today with a hot chocolate reception and then head for the swearing-in ceremony and parade. Caitlin will return home Wednesday ó with stories to tell and memories to share.