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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Politics Everything You Need to Know About the Inauguration

Posted by Paul Constant on Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 10:14 AM

As Dan just showed you, President Barack Obama is officially our president for four more years. And Joe Biden is our ~~beloved crazy uncle~~ vice-president:

But of course an inauguration can never be that simple. The big ceremonial inauguration, with all the pomp and circumstance, will take place tomorrow (albeit with 17% less pomp than the 2008 inauguration) at 8:30 AM Seattle time. If you're looking to watch it with a bunch of people, we Suggest you go to Town Hall, which is hosting a viewing party. Other venues including The Northwest African American Museum and Cafe Presse are hosting parties, too.

And we'll be live-Slogging the whole inauguration here on Slog and on our Twitter feed. We'll see you then. Bring pomp! I hear we'll need extra pomp.

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Comments (10) RSS

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I've been in DC all weekend, not a whole going on other than the private balls. Weather is beautiful, though.

Posted by Nic in Greenlake on January 20, 2013 at 10:19 AM

8:30 am? What do you think I am, a person who gets up in the morning?

I'll try, but no promises.

Posted by MacCrocodile

on January 20, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Will there be a parade of drones to celebrate?

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on January 20, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Paul, could you or somebody please explain -- was the reason for the quiet ceremony some kind of blue law tradition? Why does it matter that the date mandated fell on a Sunday? Why can't we party?

Posted by Alice Dreger

on January 20, 2013 at 1:08 PM

@Alice,

...The president is taking the oath twice this time because technically, Inauguration Day falls on Sunday, Jan. 20, and the modern tradition has been that when that happens, the president takes a private oath on Sunday and does it again in public for the big ceremonial event on Monday.

It wasn't always like that. The first two presidents whose inauguration days fell on a Sunday waited until Monday to take the oath. The legal authority for doing that was none other than the founding father and great Chief Justice John Marshall...

More here.

Posted by rob!

on January 20, 2013 at 1:16 PM

i'm thrilled to see richard blanco as the inaugural poet. he's a great writer and a very nice person.

Posted by jayme on January 20, 2013 at 3:10 PM

Thanks, Robi. So basically it is a soft blue law. Sheesh. Someday we'll actually have a secular government. But perhaps not in my lifetime.

Posted by Alice Dreger

on January 20, 2013 at 6:18 PM

I've heard everyone's bringing pomp. I'll bring circumstance instead.

Posted by disintegrator

on January 20, 2013 at 7:28 PM

Biden is but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, he knows a hawk from a handsaw.

Posted by Tacoma Traveler on January 20, 2013 at 8:40 PM

Alice dear, I'm not a religious type by any means. But I sort of like the old custom of nothing being done on Sunday. I'm old enough to remember it - enough stores open to take care of essentials, restaurants and bars open, but not much else. It was very relaxing, and the best day of the week to go to the car dealerships, for there were no pesky salespersons about.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay