Optimism, hope, realism: Minnesota voices from the inauguration

Millions of people from around the country have descended on Washington, D.C., to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Among the masses are scores of Minnesotans eager to catch a glimpse of history.

Bill Davis is a veteran Democratic Party activist and African-American from Brooklyn Park who traveled to Washington for the gathering. “Not only is it a historic inauguration, but it’s also a unifying inauguration,” says Davis, speaking on the phone from Washington. “What I’m sensing from people not only in Minnesota, but from across the country, is a sense of hope and wanting to see things change.”

Davis will take in Obama’s inaugural address today from the Capitol mall. “I think he’s going to speak from the heart,” he says. “There’s probably going to be a lot of hope and optimism, but also some realism that things aren’t going to change next week, next year.”

Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, arrived in Washington yesterday to take part in the gathering. “The flight had this nice, positive, upbeat, energetic vibe,” he says.  “That’s a thousand-fold now that I’m in the city. It’s really very excitiing.”

McGrath was living in the nation’s Capitol four years ago when George W. Bush was sworn in for a second term. “It just had such a feeling of deep deflation,” he recalls. “It was a tough experience in a way. It’s a very different crowd from four years ago.”

TakeAction Minnesota relies on community organizing — the job once performed by Obama on Chicago’s South Side — to advance progressive candidates and causes.

“There’s something bigger than just having elected a Democrat,” says McGrath. “You have this feeling right now like this is one of our own.”