Pageantry and Poignancy

Television loves ritual, and perhaps the country does as well.

It was all so exquisitely scripted: the Blair House departure, the church visit, the coffee with the outgoing president, the limo ride, the oath, the speech. And yet we watched, transfixed, by the size of the crowds and the magnitude of the moment.

Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer and their cable counterparts served as the narrators, weaving their way through interviews, analysis and historical anecdotes. But mostly, they talked about the pictures, in a kind of golf whisper that made clear they were spectators along with the rest of us. The day was all about images -- the peaceful transfer of power, the country being placed in the hands of an African American -- and the words, not of the pundits but of Barack Obama.

News is often defined as the unexpected and the unusual. What happened yesterday was not, at least since Nov. 4, unexpected, but it was not a sight that many of us, black and white alike, expected to see in our lifetimes.

There was a moving moment in the morning when NBC's Ann Curry interviewed a black woman on the Mall. She was wearing a plastic wrap festooned with the names of her family members, and spoke of how she was here on their behalf -- both those who couldn't make it and those who have passed on.

Whether you supported Obama or not, the echoes -- Lincoln's bible, Selma, King's speech at this very spot, the riots, all the psychological scars of race in this country -- were everywhere. My impression, circulating amid the heavy security in recent days, is that the country feels proud of itself.

I've been critical at times of the glowing coverage that Obama has drawn, during the campaign and the transition. But there is something to be said for a moment of healing after the acrimony of a contested election, as the media convey the notion -- more in tone than explicit statements -- that America has a new leader who needs, and deserves, our goodwill. Perhaps this is especially true in 2009, when the country is in such a deep hole and even Obama's detractors have to hope that he can pull the economy out of its nosedive.

The anchors made various observations. "Americans have right on cue started falling in love with the Obama girls," Williams said.

Couric said that Michelle Obama had told her, "when I was a child, I would have never dreamed of being this nation's first lady." Katie, who broke an anchor barrier herself, added that "it's all about visual role models."

"So many expectations for this man," Gibson said as Obama walked out.

"My gosh," Juan Williams said on Fox, "no one has walked through this door the way Barack Obama walked through it today in terms of all that history."

There were lighter moments, such as when ABC's Jake Tapper asked Magic Johnson whether he'd like to play B-ball with Obama. "You're going to take it easy on him a little bit? I mean, you're a big guy. . . . You're not going to foul him?"