Superior Court judge sees ‘new era’ in Obama presidency

Four years ago, Eric Lucas breached the barrier of race in becoming Snohomish County’s first black judge.

On Tuesday, he and his wife, Beth, will stand among the throng outside the nation’s Capitol watching Barack Obama scale the same barrier to assume power as the nation’s first black president.

“For so many people, it’s the culmination of something. For me it’s more like the beginning of a new era,” said Lucas, who graduated from Harvard University three years before Obama.

“It is historic for whites and for blacks, for everyone,” he said. “For black people it’s almost like the lifting of a burden. It basically says that we can do it. His message of ‘Yes we can’ captures that feeling.”

Even before the Lucases knew if they’d be able to score tickets to the inauguration, they booked plane tickets and made arrangements to visit two of their children living in Washington, D.C. They wanted to be there no matter what.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Beth Lucas said. “I’m just really proud of America that they decided this was the person who could bring change and hope — and he just happens to be black. That’s more the attitude that we’re taking, except that it’s amazing our country has made such a step forward.”

Dozens of residents from Snohomish and Island counties are heading east for Tuesday’s inauguration.

They are men and women, boys and girls. Some are too young to vote, others cast ballots for the first time in November and many can recall — even participated in — the struggles for civil rights two generations ago.

As many as 4 million people from around the country could wind up on the Mall on Tuesday. Only 250,000 of them will have tickets to be closer to the stage.

Those tickets got snapped up quickly from all sources. Members of Congress received requests for thousands, but senators were each allotted about 400 to hand out and representatives had only half that amount.

Thirty-nine Totem Middle School students are among those without tickets who are still going. Long before Obama won the presidency, they were selling doughnuts and making plans to attend the inauguration.

“We didn’t care who would be president. We just thought it would be a great experience,” said teacher Jennifer Schmidt.

“It happens to be one of the most historic ones ever. The students will be able to tell their children and their grandchildren that they stood on the Mall listening to the first African-American president’s speech,” she said. “They know this is pretty stinking sweet.”

Around 20 Cascade High School students are going. Like the Totem students they started planning the trip long before the election. They do have a few tickets but not enough for everyone in the group.

To be fair, teacher Melissa Webster planned to draw students’ names from a hat to decide who gets in the ticketed area and who will be watching on Jumbotrons on the Mall.

“It’s going to be history in the making. I think they really understand that it is a big deal and they’re excited. They’re pumped,” Webster said.

This will be Peter Jackson’s fourth inauguration. The Everett native and son of the late Sen. Henry M. Jackson watched the swearing in of Jimmy Carter in 1977, George Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 1993.

Tuesday may leave him with the most indelible memories of them all.

“I know it’s a cliche, but it’s a truly historic moment,” he said. “In all of our lives, there are times we feel compelled to participate directly as history unfolds. This is one of them.”

Tuesday will reunite thousands of young adults inspired by Obama to dive deeper into political activity than they had ever done before in their lives.

Justin P. McMahon of Lynn­wood is one of those. He quit two jobs, dropped out of school and joined the campaign. Now he wants to work in the Obama Administration.

“Once Barack Obama came along I realized you can have a say in the shaping of policies. I had never really seen it that way before,” said McMahon, 27, who has plans to attend a couple of inaugural balls for young Democrats.

“Race isn’t so much an issue as it is the ideas,” he said. “It is about building community and rejecting divisiveness.”

Everett businesswoman Gigi Burke never thought she’d witness a second inauguration after watching the swearing in of President Bush in January 2005.

“Here I am, going again,” she said, quietly admitting she didn’t even vote for Obama.

She’ll be joining her cousin who worked with Michelle Obama on the campaign trail. It’s a moment that cannot be passed up, Burke said.

“Because it is our first black president, it is so much different than any experience we’ve ever had in this country,” she said. “I am very hopeful for him and his presidency and for us as a nation. I am hopeful he will be the right leader.”

Susan and Bruce Peterson of Snohomish never doubted Obama’s potential.

They didn’t expect the young Illinois senator they heard deliver a stirring speech against the war in Iraq in 2006 would so quickly reach the precipice of the presidency. They want to be there to see him complete his political journey.

“We were in D.C. to protest the war and we heard him speak,” said Susan Peterson, 55. “It was breathtaking. We said if that young man ever runs for president, we’re going to vote for him.”

Obama’s victory and his presidency represent historic change in America for all people, not just blacks, said Pastor Paul Stoot of the Greater Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Everett.

“This inauguration symbolizes the history of change that has been fought for by so many of our parents and their parents with blood, sweat and tears,” said Stoot, who will be there with a ticket.

“We are really overcoming now. Not just me. All of us are overcoming,” he said.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.