Frances Huntley-Cooper, Madison College District Board chair, recently went to Washington D.C. to see the second inauguration of President Barack Obama along with a few family members. After the event, The Clarion’s Ryan Spoehr sat down and spoke with Huntley-Cooper about the event and Obama’s presidency. This was Huntley-Cooper’s third trip to an inauguration. She attended the 2009 inauguration as well as Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.

RS: What was the atmosphere like at the ceremony? 

FHC: We actually arrived on Thursday. The crowds were smaller than four years ago, but it was still a huge group of people. I think people came (four years ago) because it was the first African-American president ever elected. People came back like me as repeaters because we were proud of what all we accomplished in the last four years and for him to get reelected after all the obstacles that he had to deal with in the political world.

We were just proud that he was able to overcome that and represent the average person with the re-election. People were up early to get a good seat; people were there at 4:30 even though the gates didn’t open until 7.

It wasn’t as cold as four years ago, but it was still cold. People say, “Well, you’re from Wisconsin” but it’s still cold. It was in the 30s. So it was cold. We had hand warmers and the seat warmers.

RS: You mentioned you were only a couple blocks away this time around. How far away were you in ’09?

FHC: You’re not going to believe this, but we had to walk back to Arlington, Va. We walked across the bridge because our hotel was there. At that time, there were restrictions on cars coming in and going out so you didn’t have transportation unless you did the subway. The subway system was jam-packed with everybody getting on, so my daughter said, “Mom, why don’t we just walk back?” So we didn’t get back to the hotel until 5:00 because we were trying to figure out our way back from the Capitol.

RS: What about the surroundings? What was going on throughout the weekend?

FHC: My husband and I participated in the National Day of Service that Saturday morning. There were about 100 agencies set up where you could go sign up and volunteer. You can learn a lot and stop at a lot of stations and find what is a good fit for you.

We then had to get ready for the Kids’ Inaugural. We ran into a woman who gave us these tickets (to that event). I didn’t know her; she served on the National Finance Committee. It was wonderful. Michelle Obama and Joe Biden and their kids were there and then it was kicked off with Usher performing and ended with Katy Perry. It was really nice.

Sunday, we didn’t have anything major planned so my husband and I didn’t have anything going on so we ended up going to an inaugural ball sponsored by the Maryland Finance Committee.

Between our family, we think we touched most aspects of (the inauguration) and celebration.

RS: Looking back at four years ago and looking at this year, were there any similarities (or differences) between the two events? 

FHC: I think what was totally different was I think if you have a choice to go see an inauguration, it’s always exciting to go to the first one when a president gets elected. I think the president’s inaugural committee was trying to be a little sensitive to the economy, so it didn’t seem to be as many balls; there were only two official balls and last time there were at least 10.

The biggest thing I noticed was four years ago when we stood in line there were more lines. It seemed longer four years ago because there were more people just to pick up tickets or if you were standing in line because you were trying to get to see the performances at the National Mall.

For us though, it was worth going one last time.

RS: What did you think about the actual speech that Obama gave? 

FHC: First off, that was his last (inaugural) speech so he had to deliver the message indicating that these were the things that are important to him and the American people. I heard a lot of the criticisms the people were talking about his speech, but the first four years he worked very hard at reaching out and reaching across the aisle at trying to get support on the various issues that he campaigned on and got nowhere. I think he’s just saying now, “OK, enough is enough. We need to put politics aside.”