A black hole at the Black Tie affair
IT MAY have been the hottest ticket in town the night before the inauguration, but the Black Tie and Boots Ball was a bust for some who shelled out hundreds, even thousands, of dollars to get through the doors. The Texas State Society's gala celebration was oversold, with 10,000 tickets distributed, and it quickly turned into a collection of long lines for warm beer and food stations that ran out of forks. The ballroom was filled past capacity by 8 p.m., 90 minutes before President Bush showed up to wish his fellow Texans well. The coat check on the snowy evening was full by 8:30, forcing guests to lug their furs for the evening. And the food ran out by 10 p.m., leaving partygoers foraging for burgers and burritos in Washington's Woodley Park neighborhood in their Stetsons. "I can't believe we paid $500 for this," said one disgusted ticket holder, who was wearing a Lone Star bow tie. "At least John Kerry lost."
ACROSS TOWN Wednesday night, at the ritzy new Mandarin Oriental Hotel along the Potomac River, Massachusetts Republicans gathered to hear from such prominent local figures as Governor Mitt Romney; the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card; Ambassador to Canada (and former Massachusetts governor) Paul Cellucci; and the Council of Economic Advisers chairman, N. Gregory Mankiw, a former professor at Harvard University. As the festivities wound down, a "party" crasher from the other side of the aisle walked in the door: US Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden. "I'm here in the spirit of bipartisanship," the congressman declared with a smile. Markey apologized for being late: He had been on the phone all afternoon with FBI officials about the agency's search for four Chinese nationals and two Iraqis, sought for questioning about a possible terror plot in Boston. The incident also forced Romney to cancel his plans and return to Boston.
A PAIR of African-Americans who played visible roles at the Republican National Convention in New York traveled to Washington for Inaugural Week with different agendas -- and styles. Delois Blakely, a neighborhood activist known as the "Community Mayor of Harlem," attended Wednesday's "Celebration of Freedom" concert on the Ellipse, where she continued her lobbying efforts on behalf of affordable housing, health care, and other services vital to her constituents. Blakely, who led a group of GOP convention delegates on a field trip to Harlem's Apollo Theater, said she intended to hold the Bush administration accountable for helping all Americans, not just rich and entitled ones. "I'm a grass-roots Republican living in a Democratic area," Blakely said. "You go where the power is and speak truth to it. It's why I'm here."
Meanwhile, moments after President Bush's inaugural speech had ended yesterday, boxing promoter Don King, a fixture around Madison Square Garden during the GOP convention, stood on the steps of the Capitol and pontificated about his deep -- and apparently unconditional -- love of the Bush administration. Calling the speech "audacious, bold, revolutionary, and profound," the promoter praised Bush for making "giant steps in including African-Americans in high positions, not toadying ones" and for "hitting that stereotype right in the head."
AS INAUGURAL Day dawned, the west lawn of the Capitol began to fill with fur coats and cowboy hats as Bush supporters with premier tickets took their seats. Along Pennsylvania Avenue, evangelicals prayed for the president. And all across town, anti-Bush protesters ranging from Billionaires for Bush "auctioning off" Social Security to antiwar activists and anarchists took to the streets. (There was even a protest to promote Hillary Rodham Clinton as the 2008 presidential candidate who could "stop the Bush legacy.") As the inaugural ceremony began, anti-Bush protesters at the other end of the city marched down Connecticut Avenue toward the National Mall. This group -- calling itself the Women's March and Funeral Procession -- featured jazzy music that set its two blocks of marchers swaying as they walked. One woman carried a hot-pink purse and pumped her hot-pink umbrella in the air, Mary Poppins style. But their message was the jarring opposite: They carried coffins draped in American flags, with signs reading "Bush lied and troops died."
MISSING FROM the cast of former presidents and vice presidents in attendance at the official ceremony: Al Gore, the former vice president and 2000 presidential candidate.
AT A luncheon inside the Capitol, President Bush welcomed eminent figures that included Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and parents George and Barbara Bush. But he had a special word for his twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who made a sometimes controversial splash as they promoted his presidential candidacy last year. "I thank them for joining the campaign trail," Bush said. "It was like the camping trip I promised to take them on and never did."
