The top three positions in the United States Government were in Charleston today, and I saw them all and heard them speak. I tried to get their pictures, but I was just too far away to get anything good. Still, this was certainly a once in lifetime experience. I've heard, but have not confirmed, that the new President pro tempore Daniel Inouye (from Hawaii) was in town too. If so, that brings the head count up to four... meaning that had there been some disaster, President Hillary Clinton would now be addressing the nation about it.
The cast of characters included the aforementioned top three (President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker Pelosi), Governor Manchin, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Rockefeller, Congressman Rahall, Senator Harry Reid, and former President Bill Clinton. I didn't know Clinton was coming. The crowd gave him a very warm reception — West Virginia loves some Bill Clinton — and he said Hillary would have loved to come too, but she had some other business to attend to. If she'd come too, though, who would be left running the country — Lyndon LaRouche?
Notably absent: Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito.
I enjoyed, of course, the logistics. I'm the kind of guy who goes to Disneyworld and looks at how the rides are put together and how the sheeple are herded from one point to another. Large sections of the Capitol Complex were shut off with metal gates, there were metal detectors, and you had no choice but to go through them. Greenbrier Street was closed — I presume all the way to the airport. Above, the air was filled with C-130s and helicopters. News vans from all over were parked in the middle of everything, huge satellite relays pointing skyward, power cables snaking along the walkways.
Cops everywhere, both state and local, and secret service agents — many of whom were "disguised" as ordinary citizens by wearing normal clothes instead of MIB suits. Hey guys, something to consider — if you've got that telltale wire coil looping around your ear, your "disguise" isn't working.
After it was over and every politico had said his or her thing, there was a traditional playing of "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes (which I've always loved and always will), followed by a full 21-gun salute and a round of "Taps." With that, the ceremony ended and the recessional started — and the West Virginia National Guard carried Senator Robert C. Byrd's casket up the stairs of Charleston's Capitol, with banjos playing an old familiar song:
Country roads, take me home,
To the place I belong,
West Virginia, mountain mama.
Take me home, country roads.
We all filed off the grounds only to be stopped by state police at Greenbrier Street for about fifteen minutes. Then, twenty or so police cars passed, followed by several big black Suburbans and three long cars with tinted windows all racing up the hill to the airport. Once the motorcade passed, we were free to go... and the crowd dispersed in every possible direction. Less than an hour later, the city was back to normal, traffic shuttling to and fro... leaving little trace of the day's historic events.
As for what's to come for us, I guess we'll have to see what happens. There's some buzz about succession and whether there's going to be a special election or a simple nomination by the governor. Politicians may come and go, but politics will never die.