Wait, are you working today? Like, you’re in the office? At your computer? Is it quiet there? Is the only other person around that weird tech guy who always talks to you in the elevator? Are you worried he’s going to come and talk to you now because there’s no one else around? Are you wearing headphones to avoid that scenario, and listening to YouTube clips from last night’s inaugural concert? Are you eating an apple and drinking bad Keurig office coffee? Hazelnut perhaps?
Just asking. That’s not what’s happening to us or anything. (OMG, Samuel L. Jackson and George Lopez singing “America the Beautiful!”) But if that’s your situation, we’ve wrapped up a bunch of this morning’s Inauguration news, statistics, charticles, and even maps (maps!) to keep you looking busy. Enjoy, after the jump.
• Wondering how Obama’s speech will really measure up? Take a walk down memory lane. [Politico]
• The Post and Daily News have a rare mind-meld and select the same photo for this morning’s covers. [Time]
• The Atlantic dug into its own deep archives to recount how its writers and editors looked upon new presidents of the past, including Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, and both Roosevelts. [Atlantic]
• The Times has a schmancy interactive map of the parade route with historical notes. [NYT]
• The Washington Post’s “Survival Guide” one-ups them, however, by supplying walking routes, bus maps, and road closures. Ask the locals! [WP]
• If there is anyone out there who is not exhausted by media stories about how the media itself is handling this political season, then he or she should check out this Politico story about the journalism “state of emergency.” [Politico]
• Speaking of which, Diane Sawyer says that everyone at ABC News is going to be eating unhealthily for the next few days. We are delighted to know this, as we’ve been hangover-eating all morning. [HuffPo]
• What are the people on the ground taking pictures of? American flags and cold-weather wear! [NYT]
• Wonder just how many traffic-clogged cab rides you’re missing by staying in New York today and tomorrow? Time has a schedule of Obama’s insane event list. [Time]
• If you don’t yet know who’s going to the Super Bowl, you may want to click through here before you talk to anybody else today. Mary J. Blige singing “Lean on Me” wasn’t the only thing that happened this weekend. [AP]
• Someone uncovered a threat assessment for D.C. over the next couple of days, and good news! We’re not actually that threatened. [Cryptome]
• Maya Angelou, who epically false-started by throwing her weight as America’s black Poet Laureate behind Bill Clinton, still managed to have her voice heard this weekend. [WP]
• The early word on Obama’s speech tomorrow has him stressing “responsibility” and echoing the call to patriotic action of JFK’s Inaugural. [WP, NYP]
• Importantly, “Page Six” today has an Inauguration Only column. [NYP]
• You know that tickly, giddy, good feeling you have about all of this? Yeah, everyone else is having that, too. [Daily Mail]
