Jan
20
2005
inaugural prom
I had an outside chance of being able to go to one of the inaugural balls tonight, but it didn’t work out. The funny thing is, I wanted to go not because I thought it would be fun — I generally like to avoid large, boisterous crowds at all cost, and a large, boisterous crowd of gloating Bushies doesn’t sound particularly fun — but because I wanted to be able to say that I’d done it. My friend Shawn said that this description of the inaugural party scene pretty much sums up the experience:
Perception: An elegant dinner-dance filled with sophisticated political types dropping clever one-liners.Reality: A massive political prom with no food, overpriced drinks, no place to sit, and thousands of twentysomethings drinking beer and yelling “Boo-yah!”
(Washington Post: “Inaugural Galas, From Elegant to Elephantine” - 01/20/01)
Incidentally, the above WP story has a really interesting explanation of the history of inaugural balls, a custom that started in 1809 with the inauguration of James Madison.
![[Photo]](http://photos.morethanthis.net/images/2008-09-13/thumbs/IMG_0272.jpg)
Comments
I *totally* concur. And I’ll add that the pasta and cheese heavy food was more like the stuff you’d find at a cheap bar’s “all-you-can-eat” New Year’s spread (read: lots of carbs so you can drink alot). The lines for overpriced drinks were at least 45 minutes long, no chairs, a lot of boo-yah and “freedom” being thrown around here and thar. Not to mention elder frat boys in their 40-something range, idiotic enough to spill red wine on your dress, and then not to even apologize. I figured I’d get even that at a frat party.
And yes, that *really* ugly dress you couldn’t imagine anyone buying and wearing to the ball, it was there too, on a woman who probably shouldn’t have been allowed in public :).