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Blog Monday, November 23, 2009 // Blog home »

While millions of people watched Barack Obama become president on Tuesday, about 5,000 -- who were supposed to have a great view of the inauguration -- missed the big moment. These 5,000 people had tickets to the inauguration, but never made it past the security gates. Many stood in line for up to six hours. Among them were several iReporters, who sent photos and video footage of huge masses of people waiting anxiously outside the gates. They weren't entirely sure what caused the back-up, but most attributed to a simple lack of organization and direction amongst officials. We told their stories on CNN television and CNN.com -- check out our CNN.com piece here. This story might have been lost in the plethora of inauguration events that took place on Tuesday were it not for your iReports. Thank you for bringing it to our attention! This is just another great example of how important iReport is to telling stories that matter. Keep letting us know if you think there's something we should be covering -- remember, CNN is listening, and we heard you loud and clear on this one.

Posted by: rachel8 // January 22, 2009
Category: stories

5 Comments

January 22, 2009		Createlafay Ladies and Gentleman, Please stop belly aching over such a wonderful experience. Howcome you are stirring issues when the Nation was witnessing history. Not to mention, you are faulting the CIA for doing their jobs. We need to be writing about continuously bridging the gap with the American people. God be the Glory and let's be one and not divided by ignorance.....
January 22, 2009		gbattle I attended the inauguration of President Obama on January 20th. Of course the occasion was awesome. However, I was sadden that after standing in line to receive tickets for four hours on Monday. Canceling events at our church. Waiting in line at airports, unable to get on train because people had been standing in line for 4-6 hours or more. Finally riding in a private vehicle for hire with total strangers. Then I am still excited because my husband and I are there early standing at the blue gate with our tickets waiting to get in and to no available the gate was never opened. No response from no one. My husband I along with thousands of others stood for hours and missed the entire ceremony hoping that someone would eventually let us in. This is just my encounter, while I watch elderly people who can barely even stand up was brave enough to take this challenge in hope that they could witness this event. They walked away with both physical and emotional pain. President Obama voiced his concern for unity and caring for people, obviously he was not aware that thousands of people at several gates got sick, and basically treated as if they did not exist. I don't know what happen but somehow we were forgotten. But for me it was a time to rejoice and I couldn't when I saw the faces of those hurt and disappointed. I know that at my gate were people who had received tickets from our congressman. The purple gate experience the same problems. I am not sure about the others.
January 23, 2009		queensilloh Tuesday, January 20th 2009 is a day that my family and I will never forget. We were not able to go to washington but, we stayed glued to our television screen with tears of happiness and joy. I will never forget how my mother and father picked cotton in the hills of Mississippi in order to make this day, a day of celebration for my daughter, my future grandchildren and great grandchildren.
January 25, 2009		Corrina61 Watch Obama music video done by my boyfriend www.splurgyworld.com Corrina 407 580 5293
January 27, 2009		benormal4me I can help President Obama get rid of that trillion dollar deficit. LKV in NY benormal4me2003@yahoo.com