Bloomington celebrates the inauguration

Obama supporters packed Bloomington restaurants Tuesday evening to relive the experience of the inauguration that occurred more than seven hours earlier.

Several Bloomington locations, some with prior connections to President Barack Obama, were host to inaugural events to celebrate the historic occasion.

Rachael’s Cafe was host to an inauguration bash to celebrate the event. The cafe replayed a recording of the president’s inaugural address on a projection screen. Throughout the speech, the entire room stopped to watch and cheered during its favorite parts.

Graduate student Moises Montenegro had already watched the inauguration live in the Indiana Memorial Union earlier Tuesday. Montenegro said he was impressed by his speech but also glad to see Obama’s more human side.

“There was a moment when he stuttered, and it showed he was human,” Montenegro said. “He isn’t perfect, but he is the next best thing.”

Cafe owner Rachael Jones was happy when Obama won, but she was even more excited when she got a personal phone call from Obama on election night. Though their conversation was short, Jones was happy to have spoken with him.

“At first I could barely hear him,” she said. “He just wanted to say thank you for the support.”

Jones wanted to throw the Obama bash to celebrate his victory after the success of her election night party. She quickly became an avid supporter, though she was initially skeptical.

“At first I thought he was just the lesser of the two evils,” Jones said. “But I soon became a supporter.”

Several other businesses were host to events for the inauguration. Nick’s English Hut created an “Obama-boli” sandwich for the occasion. Earlier during the day, customers came to watch the inauguration live, and the bar was host to a party Tuesday evening. Obama came to the bar on his visit to Bloomington last April.

Waitress Jennifer Long was working at Nick’s when Obama came to visit. She said the bar was so crowded people had to stand on their booths to see Obama, who signed the wall during his visit. The signature was recently removed and placed in a separate frame.

Long said people come frequently to see Obama’s signature, and Obama promised to return to the bar and have a beer if he won the election.

“He was so down-to-earth,” Long said. “It was not what I expected.”