Former President Bill Clinton addresses fellow Arkansans at a pre-inaugural gala held Monday night in Washington DC sponsored by the Arkansas State Society, the organization of Arkansas natives who live in the nation's capital. Clinton told the crowd that President-elect Barack Obama, who will be sworn into the presidency on Tuesday "knows what to do. He's going to work real hard for the economy." Photo by Kevin McKnight, Special to Stephens Media.
By Jane Norman
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Arkansans in the nation’s capital celebrated the impending inauguration of Barack Obama to the presidency to celebrate in style at a glittering gala on Monday night.
The traditional once-every-four-years party was sponsored by the Arkansas State Society of Washington, and attracted throngs of women in fur coats and evening gowns and men in black tie.
“It’s huge,” said Karen Garcia of Hot Springs, treasurer of the state Democratic Party. “Every inauguration, they have an Arkansas ball for Arkansans who are here in town, and native Arkansans that may live in other places.”
That would include one very famous Arkansan named Bill Clinton. The former president, accompanied by his Secret Service detail, arrived at the 9:20 p.m., at the party held at the National Press Club and immediately attracted a crush of home-state admirers wielding digital cameras and cell phones. Clinton waded through, shaking hands and slapping friends on the back, and gave his opinion about President-elect Obama.
“He knows what to do,” Clinton said. “He’s going to work really hard for the economy.”
Clinton said his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., wanted to attend but she had a party in New York at the same time, and “unless the wheel falls off, it’s her last night as the Democratic senator from New York.” She has been nominated to be secretary of state in the Obama administration and is expected to be confirmed today.
The former president in brief remarks told the crowd if the civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King had not given his famous speech in 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial, “there would be no speech tomorrow.”
This was the first of two big galas for Arkansans. The next is the official Southern Inaugural Ball at the District of Columbia Armory tonight at which the president-elect, Michelle Obama, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and Jill Biden are expected to make an appearance.
Monday’s state society event was sold out in advance. Some 1,000 tickets were distributed at a cost of $150 a person for VIP tickets that allowed entrance into a private party room where chefs carved roast beef and turkey, and $125 for general admission. Among the celebrities spotted in the VIP room was boxer Jermain Taylor, a former middleweight world champion from Little Rock.
Arkansans in the press club’s main ballroom danced to The Great Expectations Band playing “I Will Survive” and “My Boogie Shoes,” and The Rick Sickmen band, at one point forming a conga line that poured out into the hallway. The gala was scheduled to go on until 1 a.m.
Ray Cozad-Bolte and Derry Jacob, both of Bentonville, said they decided shortly after the election to fly into Washington to celebrate the inauguration, the first they’ve ever attended. They bought white-tie tuxedos to wear to the gala–another first–and plan to get up at 4 a.m. today to head to the swearing-in ceremony.
Cozad-Bolte, 44, said he likes Obama’s vision of one America. “I hope he continues that theme,” he said.
Jacob, 51, said he believes the country will go in a new direction in an Obama presidency. “Things will get better, hopefully,” he said.
Tim Ezell, 49, who lived in Jacksonville until recently, said he’d like to meet Obama but doubts that will happen. “I don’t want to hear him say anything–I want to see what he does,” Ezell said of today’s inaugural speech.
Souvenirs were everywhere in Washington and the party was no exception. The state society offered a table full of buttons, fuzzy scarves, ski hats, baseball caps and t-shirts. A silent auction offered bidders the chance to win large framed photos and pictures. The most elaborate one showed Obama, President Kennedy, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. Proceeds went to the state society.
Despite the atmosphere of joy and excitement as crowds of Obama supporters flooded the nation’s capital on Monday, the hard work that lies ahead was also on lawmakers’ minds.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said in an interview that she believes President-elect Obama is sincere in his desire to reach across partisan lines to find accord with Republicans.
“Whether they reach back is up to them,” she said, adding that the Republicans she knows are interested in moving the country ahead. Health care reform will be a “huge” priority, she said, as will be work on energy legislation.
Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said that “it’s an exciting time” for Washington and Arkansas.
“It’s a time of renewal in America,” he said. “These are difficult times, with a recession and two wars, but we’ll come out of it.”
