INAUGURATION? OR CORONATION?

Washington DC is essentially shut down for the upcoming coronation, er, inauguration of President-elect Obama.

If you live in Virginia, as I do, and work in DC, you're essentially out of luck getting to work on Tuesday since all (repeat, all) the bridges connecting northern Virginia to DC will be closed on Tuesday. My own company (in Alexandria, not DC) is recommending all employees work at home and implementing VPN access to the company intranet.

I've lived in the Washington area for three inaugurations, attended one, and never before have I seen this level of restriction on movement. I could perhaps understand the restrictions if there were credible threats, but there has been nothing in the news, and the authorities are all saying that they are just trying to "manage traffic efficiently."

It strikes me that the Democrats just want to party, and party-crashers, like the poor slob just trying to get to his day job, are unwelcome.

I hope I'm wrong.

UPDATE: “With Barack Obama’s approval ratings in the 70s and his visage plastered on every shop window and Metro card in Washington, it’s hard to remember that 58 million Americans voted for the other guy.”