Local Obama Supporters Celebrate Inauguration

An inaugural ball was held in downtown Rochester to celebrate President Obama's second term.  Supporters say even though they weren't in Washington D.C., they still felt the excitement of the day, "it was so enthusiastic I felt like he was talking directly to me," said Patricia Burks.

President Obama touched on several issues during his second inaugural address including gay rights, climate change, and gun control, "I look at the gun violence that's going on today and I'm really really concerned how it's effecting so many young people," explained Burks.  Burks is also hoping the president will get bipartisan support to take some financial burdens off middle class Americans, "I'm sort of crying over my taxes and things," explained Burks, "however I think that he made a lot of strides, I think there was a lot of animosity which should not have happened."

Raphael Boston says he has been looking for a job for several months, without luck, "the most important right now is what's going on with the economy," said Boston, "and it's hard to get a job right now."  He would like to see Mr. Obama push policies that will help local businesses grow, "I want to see the job market come back up," said Boston, "I want to see something come back to Monroe County."

The president also called on the country to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship.  That stood out to Carl Fitzsimmons the most, "how it looks down where we're at, basically the feet on the street aspect, that would be some form of activism," explained Fitzsimmong, "get involved in some activist organization that's involved in health care, could be involved in housing, could be involved in training people."

Supporters say now that the pomp and circumstance of the inauguration is over, they're anxious to see what the next four years will hold.