Barack Oblogger: Cursed Purple Tickets (or, how I worked for two years to get Obama elected and then couldn't view the Inauguration)”

More at Barack Oblogger I can personally attest to the hard work and determination of Lonnee Hamilton, who's been a valued contributor to my blog network, and a tireless worker.

To learn that she was in the tunnel is saddening to me. Here's part of her account:

: “I'm one of those Obamaites some people hate. Since the day he announced his candidacy, I have been working full-bore to get this man elected. I've been a volunteer and a staff member. My family has been brought to the verge of economic collapse due to my dedication toward the campaign and its untold volunteer hours. Life has been put on hold, household repairs have gone undone, there has been tension in my relationship with an extremely supportive and patient spouse, who would have loved to see my passion for Obama put into a proper financial perspective. My two children have sold bumper stickers, buttons, and have put up with Mom blogging for Obama in her "spare time" for almost two years.

And you know what, there are thousands of people throughout the country who have worked as hard as I have, if not harder

And that's why my let-down about the Inauguration is that much greater. Because I was unlucky enough, along with thousands of other Obama volunteers, to have been given one of the "Purple Tickets of Doom."”

Joe Scarborough: Obama's Speech Best Since JFK in 1960

I literally ran into Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe as I was walking into the lobby of a hotel for the sole purpose of warming up from the cold weather after President Barack Obama's great Inauguration acceptance speech. Joe was good enough to share his view of that speech with me, saying that it was the best one since John F. Kennedy's speech in 1960.

Inauguration Is Climax to Two Years Of Increasing Security Around Obama - washingtonpost.com

More at washingtonpost.com: “As jubilant Democrats nominated Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president in a Denver convention hall in late August, the U.S. Secret Service in Washington placed its largest ever order for bulletproof glass.

The service requested about 5 tons of "transparent armor," laminated with four layers of virtually unbreakable plastic to resist chemicals, flames and multiple gunshots. When Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th president Tuesday, the ballistic shield will provide a final layer of safety in a massive exercise in presidential security, the culmination of two years of a steady ratcheting up of the protection around Obama to a level unseen for any of his predecessors.”