Opinion: All along the inaugural parade route

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WASHINGTON -- Standing behind a fence a block from the Pennsylvania Avenue inaugural parade route, Patrick Butler, 78, and his wife, Twiss, from Alexandria, Va., said the crowd was far bigger than it was when he attended Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inaugural parade. The Butlers didn’t bother to go to the Mall today.

‘We’re through with crowds,’’ he said. ‘We came here because it’s part of history.’’

Asked whether they planned to stay to try to watch the parade, though their view was blocked by a parked vehicle, Twiss said, ‘I would if I could see it.’’

Burleigh Achille, who drove to Washington with her husband and three children, ages 12, 16 and 20, from their home in West Palm Beach, Fla., was on the Mall and planned to try to watch the parade with her family.

On President Obama’s speech, she said, ‘Anything that comes out of Obama’s mouth, I pretty much like.’’

Mercile Banks, a longtime Washington resident and retired city worker, hoped to watch the inaugural parade with binoculars from about a block away from Pennsylvania Avenue.

‘I can’t stand that crowd down there — too many people. What I don’t see, I’ll go back home and look at the TV,’’ she said.

Asked about the crowds, Banks said, ‘I have never seen nothing like this. This is the biggest one — the nicest one. It’s just beautiful. I have never seen people stand up here on the street; they all would line up on Pennsylvania Avenue.’’

At the Lincoln Memorial, the historic moment was not entirely about Obama. A man, pointing to the reflecting pool, noted: ‘This is the area where Forrest Gump found Jenny.’’

-- Richard Simon

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