Wednesday was a day of prayers, oaths, songs, speeches and solemnity. Gov. Martin O?Malley?s “One Maryland” came in many colors and faiths: black, white, pink and brown, a rabbi, an imam, a monsignor, assorted ministers and a Hindu holy man.
Choirs from across the state lifted their voices, including the Morgan State University choir singing “Maryland, My Maryland,” with its veiled reference to Abraham Lincoln as a “despot,” and a singer doing a jazzed-up version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Even outgoing Gov. Robert Ehrlich and former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, whom Ehrlich defeated in 2002, were on hand as spectators, catching up with each other.
“It?s his day,” Ehrlich said, and indeed it was as O?Malley was greeted at every turn with shouts, cheers and whistles. “My people,” he called to delegates applauding him from the House lounge.
In the late afternoon at Government House, O?Malley and his wife, Judge Catherine Curran O?Malley, greeted long lines of well-wishers at their new residence after an hourlong parade. But by 4:45 p.m., young son Jack, who had fallen asleep during the speeches, had to be carried upstairs by his mother, and the family got ready for a huge celebration at the Baltimore Convention Center Wednesday night.
Related links: Text of Martin O’Malley’s inaugural address
