okay, i'm whining

Okay, I feel a little guilty for making fun of the folks who were out in the streets yesterday to show their opposition to the inauguration of President Bush. I mean, it's fairly obvious that they bothered to get out there whereas I am just sitting here opining on a blog that no one reads. I still think they could use some work on message and strategy, but I applaud their desire to represent the opposition.

The Washington Post had coverage of the inauguration in this morning's edition that included coverage of the protests. In a sort of "man on the street" style, they include sidebars with quotes "overheard" during the festivities.

One fool who needs a quick kick in the head (and who compelled me to rethink my desire to ridicule) is DC Mayor Anthony Williams. According to the Post, Williams looked at the protestors and said, "It really does piss me off that people are so selfish that they can't give him this one day."

Excuse me, "selfish"? There's another article in the Post about an African American woman in her 50's who is a resident of DC who says that she was going about her business yesterday because the inauguration festivities had nothing to do with her. Why? "It has no meaning for me," she told the reporter, "I'm poor, and he's for the rich."

91 percent of the people in the District voted for John Kerry. Nevertheless, the federal government decided to stick DC with a 12 million dollar bill for security for the event, to be taken from the homeland security budget.

Why is Anthony Williams pissed off by protestors who aren't ready to roll over and take it when it comes to the presidency of a man they do not support? Why isn't he pissed off that one of his constituents knows full well that she's not being taken into consideration by this administration? Why isn't he pissed that the people who don't get to celebrate (and, in fact, see no reason to) are the ones who have to pay for a chunk of the celebration?

Whose mayor is he?