The sky is still gray, the air still tastes the same and the sun will still set this evening. Yet even after this historic inaugural celebration, ushering in the 44th President of the United States, things just don’t seem any different today than they did twenty-four hours ago.Attending the Seattle Weekly Inauguration Party at Spitfire this morning, it was striking how subdued the three-hundred or so people really were. Perhaps it was because the liquor hadn’t kicked in yet, but with the way this “historic” event has been billed, one was expecting a Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and America’s Cup celebration all rolled into one to erupt out into the streets.People were certainly happy, to be sure, but where are all the overturned cars and bonfires?Contrast January 20, 2001 with January 20, 2009.Eight years ago Republicans were bouncing off the walls with joy at retaking the White House. Finally, there was the prospect of having a President enact solid conservative legislation, an Executive who would roll back the authority of the federal government (fat lot of good that did). The country had dodged the bullet and “Algore” was prevented from stealing the Florida election. The grownups were finally back in charge.Democrats, on the other hand, were grief stricken.Working at the U.W. Daily at the time, half the staff spent their time weeping silently behind iMacs while the other half were researching how to revoke their citizenship and checking out airfares to Canada and Europe.There’s isn’t any of that today.If anything, Democrats seem more excited about Bush and Cheney leaving town than anything Obama said in his rather lukewarm Inaugural Address. You could have heard a flag lapel pin drop throughout most of his speech. During the campaign, “That One” couldn’t utter a simple preposition without throngs of Obamaniacs chanting “Yes We Can!”The second network cameras switched to “W” boarding the Marine Corp helicopter “Executive One”, people at Spitfire jumped to their feet to jeer and boo the former Commander-in-Chief and flip off the television screen. The combination of banners on the Washington Mall reading “Bush Get the Hell Out of Here” and people chanting the old Steam tune, “Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye” was more noticeable than any pro-Obama sentiment.Perhaps it is simply a collective attempt to lower the expectations of an Obama presidency. Or perhaps we’re all just sick and tired of politics and want to get back to our regular lives.