A Louisville man who’s used to having a seat at history in the making is disappointed he won’t be at Wednesday's inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Michael Bowman has a sister who lives in Washington, D.C. and the two have made it a tradition attending presidential inaugurations together. They went to both inaugurations of former President Barack Obama and the swearing in for President Donald Trump. Bowman is back in the nation’s capitol, but this time, he’ll be watching the inauguration on TV.
“This is the first time American history where we’ve had to take these kinds of precautions to protect the event itself," Bowman told WKU Public Radio. "That tells us we have issues as a country to work through, but it left me undeterred. I was still going to come to D.C.”
The national mall is closed, as well as streets around the Capitol and White House. Bowman calls it surreal seeing the thousands of National Guardsmen patroling the city. Bowman, who works in the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, says having the inauguration closed to the public speaks to the discord in the nation.
The heightened security comes after pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. The civil unrest has limited the audience to mostly members of Congress and their guests.
