Outrage and frustration crowded the streets of Washington along with GW freshman Rachael Whitley and thousands of other protestors as George W. Bush made his way along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route four years ago.
"I wasn't even near where the parade was and it was unbelievable - there were so many people distraught and enraged by that election," Whitley said.
Though inaugural and world politics have shifted significantly since Whitley first took to the streets of the capital in protest, her disdain for the commander in chief remains intact.
Unable to attack the legitimacy of the election, Whitley will abandon the angry cries of four years ago, marking the occasion by silently turning her back on Bush.
In that plan, she is not alone. While Whitley, a GW campus organizer for the nationally-orchestrated Turn Your Back on Bush campaign, foresees only a small number of local students participating, national organizer Jet Heiko projects at least 10,000 dissidents congregating to turn away from the president upon a given signal.
"I think a lot of protests don't really have a lot of direct impact on anything, but I see Turn Your Back on Bush as being in his face so that he can see that America stands against him, at least 50 percent of it does," Whitley said.
With a clear victory for Bush confirmed, however, many Republicans, including former chairman of the GW College Republicans Lee Roupas, believe the time has come to end the protests and reunite the nation.
"I think the inauguration is about a peaceful transition of power in America. I don't see why we're protesting such an honored tradition," Roupas said. "The truth is we had an election, people had their chance to express their opinions and I think it's time for some of those people to move on and respect the bipartisan nature of the inauguration."
Regardless, the silent statement, one of a myriad of options planned for protestors on the 20th, will play out within the shadow of the most highly secured inaugural celebration in history. While many fear the precautions may violate basic freedom of speech rights for those opposing the president, Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry insisted otherwise.
"I wasn't even near where the parade was and it was unbelievable - there were so many people distraught and enraged by that election," Whitley said.
Though inaugural and world politics have shifted significantly since Whitley first took to the streets of the capital in protest, her disdain for the commander in chief remains intact.
Unable to attack the legitimacy of the election, Whitley will abandon the angry cries of four years ago, marking the occasion by silently turning her back on Bush.
In that plan, she is not alone. While Whitley, a GW campus organizer for the nationally-orchestrated Turn Your Back on Bush campaign, foresees only a small number of local students participating, national organizer Jet Heiko projects at least 10,000 dissidents congregating to turn away from the president upon a given signal.
"I think a lot of protests don't really have a lot of direct impact on anything, but I see Turn Your Back on Bush as being in his face so that he can see that America stands against him, at least 50 percent of it does," Whitley said.
With a clear victory for Bush confirmed, however, many Republicans, including former chairman of the GW College Republicans Lee Roupas, believe the time has come to end the protests and reunite the nation.
"I think the inauguration is about a peaceful transition of power in America. I don't see why we're protesting such an honored tradition," Roupas said. "The truth is we had an election, people had their chance to express their opinions and I think it's time for some of those people to move on and respect the bipartisan nature of the inauguration."
Regardless, the silent statement, one of a myriad of options planned for protestors on the 20th, will play out within the shadow of the most highly secured inaugural celebration in history. While many fear the precautions may violate basic freedom of speech rights for those opposing the president, Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry insisted otherwise.
