“An event that commentators repeatedly described as an ‘only in America’ catharsis had its closest parallel overseas. No inauguration has generated the kinds of crowds and emotions that surrounded Mr. Obama’s. In recent memory, the event that probably came the closest was the pilgrimage that John Paul II made to his native Poland in 1979, when the Communists were still in control. There too, millions gathered to tearfully witness a moment that few believed they would ever see in their lifetime.”

— The New York Times’ TV reporter Alessandra Stanley,
grasping for comparisons of yesterday’s little event in Washington.