Hernando County residents of all ages gather to watch Obama make history

SPRING HILL — Charlene Johnston could have been one of the thousands in Washington, D.C., bundled tight in winter clothes to brave the cold, fighting through the crowds and basking in the moment unfolding at the U.S. Capitol.

But that all seemed so ... inconvenient.

Instead, Johnston gave her VIP tickets to her granddaughter and chose to celebrate Barack Obama's inauguration with nearly 150 local Democrats at the Marine Corps League Detachment in Spring Hill.

"At 75 years old, I'm too old to go up (to D.C.)," Johnston said. "To stand up for such a long time and to get up that early in the morning, I can't hang with that. This is much easier."

Nearly 900 miles away from the high-noon ceremony at the Capitol, Johnston and others gathered for a local celebration organized by the Hernando Democratic Club, the Democratic Women's Club of Hernando County and the Wellington Democrats.

The event attracted a partisan and standing-room-only crowd, many of whom cheered wildly when Obama and his family were shown on the projection screen.

A hush eventually fell over the crowd as Obama took the 35-word oath of office. Throughout much of the ceremony, Jacqueline Stott of Spring Hill clasped her hands in front of her face and silently cried.

"This was something I never thought we'd see in my lifetime," Stott said. "I never even thought my grandchildren would see it."

But in traditionally Republican Hernando, Obama's predominant themes of hope and change haven't resonated quite as deeply as they have in other parts of Florida and the nation. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain won Hernando with 51 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 election while Obama finished with 47 percent.

Hernando County's own presidential contender, Spring Hill resident Brian Moore of the Socialist Party USA, watched the inauguration at home with his wife and said he hoped to have the ear of the new president in the future.

"I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt," said Moore, who sent Obama a congratulatory letter following the election. "We would hope that he would move in our direction. I mentioned Socialism throughout the entire letter."

Like thousands of other residents, Moore is looking for work amid one of the nation's worst economic downturns in decades. Hernando is mired in the region's worst slump, with unemployment at 10.2 percent. That's the first double-digit rate for a Tampa Bay area county since September 1992.

At the Career Center in Spring Hill, Rana Vantrease said she hadn't had much chance to watch any of the inaugural events Tuesday. She was resuming her daily, and usually fruitless, job search.

Vantrease, who has four children and an ailing husband, said she had found only part-time work over the past year and was anxious to find something more permanent.

"I always have hope," Vantrease said. "However, we're going through tough times. I guess I'm going to be patient to see the changes but I've been looking for a job for a long time."

Over at Brother's Barbershop in Brooksville, owner Ismail Rasheed said he was cautious about putting all his hopes into Obama and the government. Rasheed said he'd withhold judgment on Obama until he'd actually had a chance to back up his words with action.

"I just hope the outcome is the best one for everybody — black, brown, yellow, green or purple," Rasheed said. "I'm not banking all my hopes on one man. He still has to work within the system."

Joel Anderson can be reached at joelanderson@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6120. Tom Marshall and Paulette Lash Ritchie contributed to this report.