Purple Tickets of Doom to the Inauguration - Thousands Stranded

A note from the editor... James

As this issue was brought to light with a blog known as Barack Oblogger" You can read the entire original article about the issue below by going to this link.


On a somber note, with all the excitement surrounding Barack Obama, and with the creation of this blog, I truly wanted to be at the inauguration to see history in the making. But I realized how difficult it would be, even to get a ticket for a far away glimpse in standing room only. Thousands of the people that actually did show up even with a ticket came to the harsh realization that they would not witness history. These "Obamaites" stood in what is now known as the "infamous tunnel to nowhere", holding their "Purple ticket of doom".

Oh My!!! So what went wrong?!!!! It appears that these people holding the "purple tickets" were actually turned away, and were stuck for hours in an underground tunnel with their entrance to the standing area on the side of the capital closed for access. These people were packed in the tunnel like sardines, with no water, no toilets but with allot of frustration, as all they wanted to do is stand in a distant area from the capital stage and witness history.
Some of these people worked hard campaigning for these tickets, and an opportunity to be part of history and attend the celebration in Washington.
The question that haunts me now is a very simple one. If there was so much control by the authorities and police throughout the city, how could the officials allow so many people to be stranded in this tunnel for this amount of time knowing that these people would not gain access through the so called "purple entrance"?
The emotions of these people were very "sour" and disappointment spread through the tunnel, especially since they worked hard to get to the inauguration and didn't even get a peak of the new President.
For me, I felt that I had a legitimate want to be there, because I have become so inspired about President Obama and because I write this blog. But now, I know that those credentials alone were not what was needed to qualify to witness the inauguration in person. Unless you had a personal stake in Obama, such as maybe a monetary donation to his cause, or campaigned endlessly like so many have here, or to win one of his contests to attend the inauguration, there was little chance that you could attend.
But what about some of these people in the tunnel that were possessed with working for the cause to get President Obama elected? Some of these people spent countless hours and a considerable sum of money and have sacrificed almost to the point to temporarily make their families second to the number one cause that they were all fighting for, and that was to do whatever possible to help Barack Obama become the 44th President of the United States.
I am disappointed. Obviously, President Obama had nothing to do with this bad situation, and I am convinced that if he knew that it existed, he would have demanded that these people be allowed to gain access. Yes, the plaza was full, overflowing with people, nearly 2 million. But the officials of the inaugural have to realize the obligation that they had to the people who held these tickets.
I feel that this issue that existed on this very important day should have never existed in the first place. Do you think that Barack Obama will ever find out that these inauguration tickets existed that weren't even worth the ink they were printed with?
I think he needs to know.. I will use a few avenues at my disposal to try and get this information to the President. If a President truly "lives in a bubble" when serving in office, then President Obama will never be notified that I am trying to inform him, or possibly that this incident ever happened in the first place.