Barack Obama, Baltimore and the train
Right about now, Barack Obama is scheduled to have finished his speech across from Baltimore’s city hall.
I wasn’t there.
There are a few reasons for that. First, I work tomorrow, so I’m trying to stay relatively rested for the early shift — as well as the blisteringly cold drive beforehand. After a day of pipe-thawing adventures, I’m looking forward to a long winter’s nap.
Second, I’ve heard most of what Obama has to say. That’s not meant to convey any disrespect: I simply get a larger-than-average dose of CNN at work.
Third, I plan to be at the inauguration on Tuesday. And I’m lazy.
That said, there’s no shortage of talented journalists covering the event, along with its parent “meta event,” Obama’s train journey to Washington. One of the more interesing takes that I saw was from Fred Obama’s hardly first U.S. president to favor train trave
The first president-elect to ride a passenger train to an inauguration was William Henry Harrison, eight years [after 1833]. Harrison holds several other firsts. He was the first presidential candidate to campaign by train. He is also noted for having presided over the shortest presidency, delivering the longest inaugural address at 8,444 words, and being the first chief executive to die in office.
Rasmussen mentions several other inaugural trains in the article, but I am sad to say that his most recent cited case (until now) is from 1953. Here’s hoping that having a loyal Amtrak rider in the vice president’s chair will help bring our national rail system up to first-world standards., making another inaugural rail trip substantially more likely.
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