Obama's inaugural will be most important day of many's lives

SAN FRANCISCO -- Skedded

When Barack Obama becomes the 44th president in January, millions will watch the swearing-in of the first African American, the first tail-end Baby Boomer and the first candidate too young to have served in Vietnam take the oath of office.

To say it will be historic is putting it mildly, at least where Charles Ward is concerned.

For many African Americans, like Ward, Obama's victory is possibly the most important event of their lives.

"It's comparable to the abolition of slavery, the right of women to vote, the various occurrences during the modern-day civil rights movement and landing on the moon," said Ward, 62, of San Francisco.

From high-profile Democratic Party donors to Gen X hipsters and high school students who will attend the inauguration in person, crowds be damned. Travelers have contacted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco and Washington offices to have their names placed on her list and have done the same at the offices of red state congressional representatives. There's no guarantee they will get tickets, but even if they don't, they say they intend to take to the streets for the patriotic Mardi Gras sure to ensue.

"If you'd asked a black person back in the 1960s what would be the greater possibility, landing on the moon or an African American being president, landing on the moon would have won by a mile," Ward said. "If you had asked them today, are we going to fly to Mars and settle the planet or have an African American president, everybody would have gone to Mars and be living there. That's how remote a possibility it seemed to African Americans."

Ward's wife, Cheryl, and their son, Che Hashim, also will attend. Hashim, 28, a criminal defense attorney in San Francisco, had never been involved in politics before Obama. Obama, he said, inspired participation with his message and his use of social networking in the campaign. Hashim is part owner of a San Francisco nightclub and hosted fundraisers there for Obama and Kevin Johnson, the former NBA basketball star and new mayor of Sacramento, Calif

Hashim's emotions are running high. "The only way I can explain it is this way: It's as if every city I've ever wanted to be in, or play for a sports team in, won the Super Bowl and the NBA finals at the same time," he said. "It's like the exuberance of a championship celebration. Usually, you root but the team plays and you don't have an effect on the outcome. This is a game we all played together, and we all hugged as we came off the court."

Kate Goldstein-Breyer, a 29-year-old freelance publicist, had never been involved in a presidential campaign but volunteered to canvass for Obama in the rural town of Espanola, an hour outside Santa Fe, N.M., with her boyfriend.

"I felt so good about Obama and so bad about this country that it was like I couldn't help but to get involved," said Goldstein-Breyer, who is going to the inauguration with her boyfriend. "With that victory, I actually feel like I'm part of America. The idea of going to this huge celebration with people who feel that way, too, feels right to me."

Obama's star quality is a draw for her and other Gen Xers. Obama was on the cover of Ebony's August issue in suit and sunglasses, with the headline, "The 25 Coolest Brothers of all Time -- Black Cool." Goldstein-Breyer and her friends still like to pore over the Flickr Web site photo album of election night in Obama's hotel suite as the votes came in.

"He's so cool, and he's not even trying," she said. "I found myself lately watching a video clip of the Obama family making a tuna fish sandwich. If you told me you had footage of them going to the dry cleaners, I'd probably watch that, too."

Meredith Ratto, 16, a junior in high school at St. Joseph Notre Dame high school in Alameda, Calif., is among 30 students who will attend as part of an annual trip to Washington, D.C., that happens to coincide with the inaugural this year.

"In my history class, we'd been following the debates," she said. "With Obama, I didn't see color, and I didn't see age. I saw somebody who I could relate to. I liked his positions better than (Sen. John) McCain's, especially with regard to the war."

She tried to imagine how she might feel standing on Pennsylvania Avenue, watching the first family go by, waving to the throngs.

"It's going to be a huge change for our country, and I'm just really excited," she said. "I don't even know how to describe it."

But Ward does.

"It's going to be as if you were at the Gettysburg Address," he said. "The first only comes once."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)