January 20, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Even before today's oath
makes him president, a great many people have
already put every hope for the future on the
shoulders of Barack Obama.
There was a guest book at Sen. Chris Dodd's
reception for Connecticut visitors at his Senate
office on Monday. It sat on the table, beside the
trays of cookies, and took in messages for Obama,
who will receive it. A glance at its pages revealed
the depth of trust people have in the Hawaiian
native-turned-Chicago politician who is about to
occupy the White House.
"We're embarking on a new American journey, and
I am thirsty for change."
"Thank you for giving me the courage to get
involved and be inspired to act."
"We're putting all our hopes on your shoulders."
Faith was scrawled in blue ink, from Bloomfield
and Oxford, Cos Cob and Hartford. And from a
9-year-old girl: "Our dream has come true, Barack."
People from Connecticut and across the country
wandered the nation's capital Monday, looking up
at the great stone artifacts of democracy.
Thousands upon thousands took a look around on
the day before today's main event, drinking in the
cold air of the country's grandest stage.
"My husband thinks I'm insane for coming," New
Milford's AnnMarie Sarbello said, laughing. She
left her 5-year-old son at home, but he's in her
thoughts. With Obama's presidency, she said, "I
feel like I can be hopeful for my son." The former
University of Connecticut women's basketball
cheerleader will cheer today for Obama. "I am so
excited - beyond belief," she said.
Mark Bouchard, of Berlin, came to Washington
with a group of students from Quinnipiac
University. "I'm honored to be here," he said. "The
whole world is going to be watching us tomorrow."
The day is too big to latch onto, some said, so big
that they think it will only be later in life that
they'll understand it.
"It's going to take awhile for it to sink in -
everything that's happening here," said Jason
Bartlett, a state representative from Danbury. He
was standing in line to enter a Senate office building
and retrieve his inauguration tickets, chatting with
those around him. "I love the fact that everyone is
so happy," he said.
Just driving to D.C. felt like he was part of a
calling, Bartlett said, a movement. "The enormity
of it ... it's a little overwhelming."
That larger-than-yourself feeling struck Ana
Alfaro, too. The affordable-housing volunteer from
Hartford sensed she wasn't here only for herself,
but as kind of a representative for her city's Latino
community. She thinks Obama's rise has opened
new channels of belief in people's minds. "Yeah, it
can happen. It could fall to us, too," she said.
"Maybe 20 years from now we will have a Latin
American president."
Her daughter, Bianca, came from her airline job in
Los Angeles."I wanted to come to experience
history - to see history in the making and say I was
there," she said.
Even before Obama uttered an inaugural word, his
speech was being counted as historic. This was
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Connecticut Sen.
Joseph Lieberman was standing in the Senate
caucus room at the Russell Office Building. He was
at a crowded reception for hundreds of Connecticut
visitors, and comparing Obama's future words with
King's "I Have A Dream" speech. "I believe,"
Lieberman said, "that the speech and the moment
we will be celebrating tomorrow will be every bit
as important to America."
Obama, the symbol, is spoken of as much as
Obama, the man.
When he won the primary, the New Britain
household of Laura Woodie-Thompson watched a
bi-racial man riding a wave of inevitability over
high sands they thought weren't within reach.
"Mommy, he's mixed up, just like me," said her
7-year-old son, Bryan. Not mixed up, she told him,
bi-racial. Bryan, who is also bi-racial, said, "I can
live in the White House someday."
Bryan wasn't far from the White House on
Monday, eating sweets at Dodd's reception. "I'm
glad they picked Barack," he said.
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