[Update: Second installment of this article has now been added, below.]

Barack Hussein Obama's oath of office was indeed inspiring to hear, if a bit flawed in the execution. Both he and the Chief Justice seemed to have an attack of nerves, and they both wound up blowing their lines. For me, though, the entire ceremony -- and the handling of the crowds who braved the cold to see it -- was also inspiring, if a bit flawed. So if you're looking for some poetic description full of lofty praise of the experience, bowdlerized to remove any warts, then I suggest you look elsewhere. You have been forewarned.

As I was writing this account, the news broke that Obama did actually re-swear the oath (with the 35 words in the correct order, one assumes), meaning that the right-wing crank brigade can no longer gnash their teeth about how Obama somehow isn't legally president due to the muffing of the oath. Whew! Constitutional crisis averted!

But I am getting ahead of myself here. I should begin at the beginning. And the beginning, for me (as well as for hundreds of thousands of others) was walking out of the house at around 3:45 in the morning. The first thing I noticed (being a current California resident) was the fact that it was around 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (for our readers living outside America, this is approximately -7 to -10 degrees Centigrade). By any scale, it was cold. Really cold. Bitter, bitter cold. More on this later.

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As usual, the first official recognition of our new president was a twenty-one gun salute. By field artillery.

Now, I have heard howitzer fire in Washington before. I heard a military band perform the "1812 Overture" -- properly, as it was originally written -- with cannons used as percussion. [Incidentally, this is something I highly recommend to any who have the chance to hear such a rare performance.]

In other words, I know what it sounds like. But the amazing thing to me is that the crowd was cheering so loudly after our 44th president was sworn in that it was all but impossible to hear the cannon fire. I do not exaggerate -- even though they ran it through the monstrously-loud sound system.

The crowd was so ecstatic in making a joyful noise that it almost completely drowned out electrically-amplified artillery fire.

That summed up the day, for me, more poignantly than anything else.

May Barack Obama continue to overwhelm America in just such a fashion, for years to come.

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Just back from our dry run down on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The atmosphere is electric. The scene is one of thousands upon thousands of people aimlessly milling about, waiting for tomorrow to come. We've all been desperately waiting for this particular tomorrow to come for a long time, and now that it's almost here the celebratory joy is palpable.

I have to apologize if this post is a bit disjointed, as it is closer to a stream-of-consciousness blog than I am used to writing. Can we spend all day on our feet and then come home and write it all down for you to read? Yes we can!

So while it won't be as focused and polished as usual, here are my initial impressions after spending the day scoping out the preparations for the big day tomorrow.

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Day One (Sunday, 1/18/09)

I start my day in sunny California, where we have had a recent warm spell. Yesterday the temperature hit 80 degrees, we had the windows open, and I walked outside wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

So began my journey to the frozen tundra of Washington, D.C.

Driving to the airport was uneventful, as was the first plane ride, to catch our connection in Las Vegas. Late in the afternoon in Sin City, we make our connection. People here in the desert are dressed in T-shirts and sandals, as am I. I know, having grown up near Washington, that I am going to pay for this later in the day.

As we board our plane for Baltimore, I notice the prevalence of Obama shirts and hats has increased. The bad news is that as we board, the football score is Pittsburgh 6, Baltimore 0.

We have apparently gotten a plane staffed with standup comedy wannabes. The slap-happy jokes will continue until we exit the plane, but even this is bearable, since at the beginning of the flight (every seat filled) the stewardess asks who is going to the Inauguration. Every single hand goes up. We are among friends.

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[Note: This column is a repeat. I ran it last year, but unfortunately it was the day before Thanksgiving and I felt it didn't get the attention it deserves. As the Inauguration Week of President Barack Obama kicks off this Martin Luther King Day, I thought it was most appropriate to run it again, for those who may have missed it earlier. My blogging from the Inauguration will begin later today and continue intermittently for the next three days, but I wanted to kick it off with the following.]

For only the third time in this column's two-and-a-half year history (see note below), I am turning over my soapbox to a guest columnist. As with both previous times, the author is a commenter here at Huffington Post.

Known as "LewDan," he took exception to a column I wrote, and let me know how he felt in the comments, and later through a private email exchange. While he wasn't exactly agreeing with what I had written, I found him to have a unique perspective on the issue of race in Obama's election and also found him to be an original and well-reasoned thinker. While we disagreed on some things, we did so respectfully and with the intent of making our positions clear to each other.

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A few notes on the upcoming week at the site.

First, the annoying pledge drive image is gone. Due to a last-minute donation flurry, we reached over three-fourths of our total goal. Woo hoo! For this, I am humbled and grateful to everyone who donated, as it was more than I hoped for. Thanks to all of you again.

The donation page is still up and running, but will not be updated further. If you'd like to make a donation at any time, just click on the "Donate" button on the top right of any page, and you can use a credit card or PayPal account to do so.

I will be flying tomorrow, so there will be nothing new here until Monday. Monday morning I have a pre-loaded column which is a repeat, but (I think) most appropriate. Then, later in the day Monday, I will start posting when I can, most likely in late afternoons or evenings.

I promise to report on everything I can get to while I'm in our Nation's Capital. Tune in Monday through Wednesday for our Inauguration coverage!

"I am not a number. I am a free man!"
-- Patrick McGoohan, "The Prisoner"

What a strange week it was. In the waning days of President Bush's term in office, we lost -- in one week -- talented artists from Patrick McGoohan to Ricardo Montalban to Andrew Wyeth. Planes are landing in rivers. The Associated Press put out one of the most bizarre articles I've ever seen, unearthing the "lazy black" stereotype from the grave of history, where it rightfully belongs (the article's title: "Some blacks choose Obama inauguration over work"). George Bush is still delusionally happy in his bubble. And Washington, D.C. is preparing for a siege of Obamamaniacs.

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I waited to write today's column until President Bush had given his final primetime address to the American people. You know what? It wasn't worth the wait.

I had planned on writing a critical analysis of his speech, but I have to admit I just can't do it. I've been writing about Bush for two and a half years now, and I simply cannot bring myself to do it one last time. Because it is a largely pointless exercise. Bush's view of reality is so far removed from what an average person sees that it is useless to point it out one last time. Everybody, by this point, either believes the man is deluded, or still agrees with him 100%. Think about it -- no matter how low his poll numbers got, Bush kept a core of about one person in four who approved of the job the man was doing. They're not going to change their minds, in other words, and the rest of us are simply tired of trying.

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Are you one of those people who wants to see what has been done in your name by the outgoing Bush administration? Are you frustrated by all the "we need to look forward, not backward" language from Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders? Well, now you can do something about it, by calling up your House member today and telling them to support John Conyers' H.R.104, a bill to "establish a national commission on presidential war powers and civil liberties."

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Maybe I should re-think that title. After all, when Richard Nixon said "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more," it was in 1962 -- long before his stunning political comeback. But since we have the Twenty-Second Amendment and Bush has already done his time in office, I think I'll be pretty safe when I say that left-wing bloggers (and comedians and political cartoonists everywhere) are starting to feel a little... empty... looking towards a future without George Bush in it.

Bush, if nothing else, was a perpetual fount of things to both laugh at and excoriate him for. And, in some odd "Stockholm Syndrome" kind of way, my guess is that on one level (providing easy material), we're going to miss him.

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