Police State Security

The media reports predicted that the security precautions for today's 55th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. would be "unprecedented." Well, one had to be there -- as I was this morning and afternoon -- to appreciate what 9/11 and the like have done to America.

Whole sections of downtown were locked off, blocked by buses and guarded by SWAT teams with high-powered rifles. Iron barricades lined all of Pennsylvania Avenue, so spectators were crammed together into small cordoned-off areas, and police and military personnel formed a human barrier for 1 1/2 miles down the entire parade route. In the skies surveillance aircraft hovered constantly, riot police with billy clubs in hand were everywhere, snipers positioned on every rooftop and it seemed like every other person in the crowd had a Secret Service radio ear-piece. (The photo below -- click for the full-sized shot -- is the presidential motorcade passing by on its way back to the White House. Note the salutes from the sailors on the right and across the street at the Justice Department.) Unbelievable. And scary.

All of this contrasts sharply with Dubya's attempt at stirring rhetoric of freedom and liberty. I remarked months ago that 9/11 was making D.C. look like Beirut. Today it looked more like the "Green Zone" in Baghdad. The ideals of America and our Constitution are indeed a beacon of hope. But while most of the country and the world will see only the photo op of Bush walking, smiling and waving for 1/2 block in front of the White House, the reality is that this Administration is so spooked it is afraid of its own citizens. Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy are turning over in their graves. It's just hard to understand how a president can pretend to represent the people when he governs inside a fortress, walled off from those who wait hours in the cold just for a glance. We now have a president and a government of the FBI, by the Secret Service and for the military -- not the people.

So the question is, does Bush "put up" with this like Clinton, or does he really like the sterility of a capitol city and political culture in which the citizenry and its leaders are separated by guns, military squadrons and miles of barriers? I hope it is not the latter, but fear that's exactly what is going on here.

 Posted by glenn