Obama’s second act draws a smaller but spirited crowd

Here and there

Thelma Lett, 67, and Mary Chatman, 60, came by plane and bus from Dallas. Lett said she had been in Washington four years ago but didn’t see much because she had to leave early.

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“People just don’t seem to be as kindhearted as they used to be,” she said before the inauguration, as she stood at 16th and I streets NW. “Our forefathers, I think their intent was to move the country ahead. Now it seems like everybody’s interested more in self, even our fantastic politicians.”

“Fantastic today,” she said “but we’ve got to think about tomorrow.’

Others were just happy to be there.

Monday was Cindy Johns’s 54th birthday.

Two weeks ago Johns was finishing up her final round of chemotherapy. She’d lost her hair and was prone to “chemo brain,” the fuzzy fog that envelops cancer patients, she said.

But she knew exactly where she wanted to be on Jan. 21 — in Washington for the inauguration.

“She got some wigs so she could come out,” said her husband , Mike Johns, 52.

The Johnses live in Columbus Grove, Ohio. He works in a factory that builds Whirlpool appliances, and she has an online company designing greeting cards.

She said she likes Obama’s approach to solving problems, and his quick mind.

“I think he’s going to end up the greatest president this country’s ever had,” she said. “I know an awful lot of people don’t believe that.”

Last Wednesday, Cindy Johns’s doctor said she appears to have beaten her cancer — her second bout in 15 years. The Johnses divided their drive into two, stopping to see their daughter in Pittsburgh.

Cindy Johns is still weak, and she used a cane and a wheelchair that she occasionally sank into at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW while waiting for the parade.

“Nothing could stop me from being here,” she said.

During the big day, a few people got lost in the crowd and then were found.

One of the lost was Augusta Bone of Alabama.

“My granddaughter is around here somewhere,” she said as she enjoyed a moment of peace in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

The president’s inaugural address was over, but Bone, who declined to give her age, was in no rush to join the people trying to reach the parade route or find their way off the Mall.

“It’s a momentous occasion,” said Bone, who said she was sick in 2009 and regretted missing Obama’s first inauguration.

“With the first inauguration, the plan was to be disruptive,” she said. “Now, it’s the people’s desire to come together. . . . It’s not about whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. It’s about being a citizen of the United States and wanting the best for this country.”

Along the parade route, Terry Manago, 45, of Washington waited with her family for the president’s motorcade to pass.

Manago, who is African American, hoisted her 8-year-old daughter, Ava Cumberbatch, onto her husband’s shoulders and handed the girl a camera.

Manago then lifted daughter Maci Cumberbatch, 5, onto her shoulders so the child could see.

“My children were born, and the first president they ever knew was a president who looked like them,” Manago said.

“We just want our children to know they can achieve and do anything,” she said. “[Obama] is a perfect example of that, and that’s why we’re here.”