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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

world

Inauguration leaves viewers awed

Groups converge to support, protest

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the power of the presidency transferred between William Jefferson Clinton and George Walker Bush, cameras zoomed in to show tears welling in Bush's eyes. They didn't show the IU students present, standing in rose bushes, sinking in mud, taking in the moment. They didn't show Al Gore, who won the popular vote and 85 percent of the votes in the District of Columbia. And they couldn't show the unity that junior Drew Miller sensed at the ceremony.\nYou have to enjoy something like that even if it's not your ideology," Miller said. "So many people came to see one man, but it was more about the position than the man. The position is so high it transcends ideology at times like this." \nSentiments from previous inaugural addresses have been carved into popular culture and stone monuments throughout the city. They include Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country."\n"You always try to listen to what line is most important," Miller said. "I don't think it's emerged yet really, but one of the things I liked was when he said compassion cannot come from government, it has to come from the people."\nWhile Miller found a vantage point among rose bushes in front of the Reflecting Pool, senior Mike Tyrikos stood further back, depending on a video screen that projected the events on the Capitol steps.\nDespite the solemnity of the occasion, the words echoing from the Capitol and the two-second delay of the CNN broadcast left those speaking out of sync with their sounds. \nAnother dimension of the inauguration that struck onlookers was the distant wail of sirens and rhythm of helicopter propellers that rose to compete with Bush's speech. The sound came from the direction of Pennsylvania Avenue, where junior Rebecca Bartlett and about 20,000 others protested. \nBartlett carried a sign that said "No 'W' and NOW," the National Organization for Women. Although she is not affiliated with the organization, she shares its conviction that women have the right to choose. She said she thinks Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft presents a threat to that right. \n"I thought it would be a good thing to do," she said. "It was like pick your issue there -- voters rights, environmental issues; a lot of different people in one spot. It was all peaceful until anarchists came."\nBartlett described the anarchists as college-age and older protesters clad in black, wearing black or red handkerchiefs over their faces. As Bartlett continued to peacefully protest in front of the Navy Memorial, the anarchists burned an American flag and replaced the flags at the memorial with black flags. They got the attention of the media and police. \nAlthough Bartlett wasn't able to leave her spot to hear the inaugural address, she said what she saw reflected the theme of unity nearly as much as the speech. \n"It was interesting to see the protest groups get together; they were really unified until the anarchists came in," she said. "When they started to take down flags we were chanting at them to come down. We were there for the freedom of speech. We didn't want to portray (an) image that we were going to put people in danger."\nWhile the 7,000 officers on duty enforced the prevailing atmosphere of order, no bystander could miss the power of the varied messages. \n"There was energy in the air. You could really feel it in the diversity of views," senior Shannon Jamison said. "People were coming together in Washington to support or protest what they believe in."\nTo junior David Trailov, only one message deserved top billing Saturday: celebration for the new president. He said the protesters didn't belong at the inauguration. \n"I didn't vote for Bush, and a lot of other people there didn't vote for him, but we were there to show support for the position and our country"

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