Tales from the Trail

WASHINGTON – They came to cheer a new president. Some came to jeer the old one as well.

As a helicopter carried George W. Bush away from the U.S. capital where he has served as president for the past eight years, those in the crowd sang the taunting sports anthem, “Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.” 

The 43rd president certainly didn’t hear them. But he might have seen the “Arrest Bush” signs waved by some spectators as he rode in the presidential limousine toward the Capitol with his successor Barack Obama.

He also might have heard the chants of “No more Bush” shortly before the swearing-in ceremony began.

The sentiment was apparently widespread.

“People have been coming up to me all day saying, ‘Nice sign, let me take a picture,’” said Washington prison guard Jewell Lee, 44, referring to her styrofoam sign that said simply: “GET OUT.”

Barack and Michelle Obama will be making the rounds of the inaugural balls on Tuesday night after his swearing-in ceremony, and if tradition is any guide, they will take some time to dance the night away.

So USA Today asked President-elect Obama in an interview whether he had been practicing his dancing in between his work on his inaugural address.

He joked that his wife has been ribbing him a bit about his dancing.

“Michelle keeps knocking my dancing in public in ways that have hurt my feelings, so I probably should practice just ’cause she’ll tease me mercilessly if I step on her toes,” he said.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden expects that his oldest son Beau, who has been on a tour of Iraq with his Army National Guard unit, will be in Washington for Inauguration Day next Tuesday.

“God wiling and the creek not rise, as my grandfather would say, yes, I hope he’s here on inauguration. He has leave on Inauguration Day,” Biden said Friday outside the Senate, where he had just attended the swearing-in of his successor as senator from Delaware.

“I expect him (Beau) to be with me from early in the morning till late that night. I know he goes back shortly thereafter to Iraq,” Biden told reporters, adding that he was “looking forward” to seeing his son.