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This has been a week like no other in Washington. Following the deluge of visitors for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, another deluge of visitors crashed the mall yesterday for the 36th annual March for Life. I was able to attend both events.
When I got to my office this morning here on Capitol Hill, I picked up the Washington Post and started looking for its story on the annual March for Life, which usually brings somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 people to the city to mark the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. There are times when the advance story makes the Metro front, but most of the time you look for something short inside the paper somewhere.
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So many religion stories this week, so little time. I wish there were more stories parsing the prayers of Bishop Gene Robinson and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, but it seems that almost all of the interest is with the Rev. Rick Warren. The variance in scrutiny is odd, to say the least.
If anyone needs any evidence that inaugurations are for the most part all about pomp and circumstance, see The Chicago Tribune‘s home page the day after the big event. The top of the “most read list” was an article about who made Michelle Obama’s dresses. Just below the front page’s top news story (“Obama freezes top-pay, adds ethic rules”) were two columns of articles — the first titled “fashion” and the second titled “The reaction.”
When presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said during the Republican primaries that he was comfortable speaking the language of Zion, he clearly referred to the social and, to some degree, theological contexts of conservative evangelical Protestants. I’ve long sensed that Obama speaks in the cadence of Zion, one that seems familiar to any ears familiar with black churches.
I had the privilege of attending the inauguration yesterday and sitting in some ridiculously good seats. As in, eighth row. As in, Beyonce was many rows behind me. I have to say, if you’re going to see an inauguration, you can’t get closer than the press area. Or at least the press area I was in.
I am posting this video here for discussion for a very specific journalistic reason, even though I know I am stretching the boundaries of what we do here.
