January 9th 2009
The Incredible Shrinking Inauguration
We always thought the initial projections of five million turning out in the January cold to see the Obama coronation inauguration were a frenzied media Obama-lust fantasy, and we’ve documented how those original projections have shrunk and shrunk. But wait, there’s more:
Across the Washington region, homeowners’ dreams of a quick and easy payday are evaporating as the days tick down to President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20: The inaugural housing market has gone bust in record time. …
Take Tim Tate, for instance. When he heard that a neighbor had rented out his condo in the trendy Mather Studios in downtown Washington for $3,000 for inauguration week, he and his friends hatched a plan to rent out their own units and use the profits for a week-long jaunt to Morocco.
But nearly two months after listing his condo on an inaugural housing Web site (one bedroom, one bath, $2,000 for the week), Tate has gotten nary a nibble. Neither have his friends. …
“I’m blown away by how little demand there is,” said Tania Odabashian, vice president at Corporate Apartment Specialists in Northern Virginia.
“Initially, we were flooded with calls from people looking for [inaugural] housing. For about four or five days, the phone would not stop ringing. . . . But now we have apartments as low as $150 a night that we can’t get rid of …. (WaPo)
Attendance projections have dropped from the gushing early wildly optimistic guesses of 5 million down to just 2 million. I guess Obama’s just two-fifths Messiah.
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