Thoughts on a Reagan Funeral

Here come all the cop cars and black Lincoln town cars from Andrews Air Force Base, a hearse sandwiched between.

I should be there in person, standing in the 95-degree heat in all of my pregnant glory viewing this historic event for myself, but I’m not. I’m watching it on telly from the comfort of my couch having fled work at 2:30 so as not to be stuck in gridlock as most streets were closed for the procession. Isn’t stuff like this what living in DC is all about? It’s been 30 years since the last one for crying out loud. How long will we have to wait for another? I should have stayed at work and walked over. My parents stood in line for eight hours to walk past Kennedy. They came and relieved each other at three-hour intervals. I heard the stories growing up, my mother moved to tears every time. Now what will I tell Grub? Mommy had the best view possible!! In fact, she surfed and viewed it live on five different channels.

While I admire and respect Reagan if only for the fact that he was The President during my growing up years and I didn’t know of anything negative just that he was The President and a bad man shot him, even I am growing weary of the nonstop coverage. The local coverage is pretty desperate. Channel 7 has a reporter on the Suitland Parkway in Southeast doing a live spot and he’s surrounded by all these cheering black kids in corn rows flashing big smiles and pseudo gangland symbols. I heard him hiss at them while his mike was still on, “This is a somber occasion!” They didn’t care. Hell, they got out of school today! Oh boy, couldn’t a president die every day? The reporter explained what an educational experience this was for these children and how they were witnessing history and I’m thinking, hey the kids are learning that dead presidents are more than just money. I felt bad for the reporter. He has time to fill and how many times can you ask, “What did President Reagan mean to you?” And, “How do you feel about his passing?” They did a man on the a street in Southeast and some guy on a leaning porch said, “What Reagan ever do fo’ a brutha?” Whoa! Cut back to broadcast house and all the crying white people standing on Constitution with the homemade “THANK YOU” signs. It was that fast. “Back to you Kathleen!”

Now that the caisson is rolling, the national coverage has taken over, which is a great relief. Maybe it’s not. Brokaw just suggested silence, asking me to “Absorb the majesty of it all,” so maybe I should stop typing for a minute. * pause * pause * Now they are talking about all the people that drove all night to be here for this, that have camped out overnight for the best possible spot. Now I feel really bad. I really should be down there. I know I just said “how long will we have to wait for another?” but Gerald Ford is being interviewed live from somewhere and he sounds like hell. I think my question has been answered. I’ll pencil in “stand on street and watch presidential funeral procession” for next week.

Comments

[AVERAGE JOE]

The wall-to-wall coverage is way too much. The unfortunate result of 24-hour news channels and the need to turn a profit on local newscasts.

Between Ford, Carter and Bush Sr. this may become old hat in the next 5-6 years. Of course, those were all one-term guys, so maybe we'll be spared the oversaturation.

btw, props on the dead presidents bit. :)

[Joy]

Well, he flew out as we were sitting in traffic on 395 :) We made it in and out and back here again since then. Somewhere along the trip it turned into a vacation and when we returned I developed a severe case of homesickitis.

So, how did the reunion go? You could have always stayed and visited with us and gone swimming on base and made many, many trips to Starbucks LOL!