I’ve never seen a press corps so giddy as the one at the Lincoln Memorial kickoff this afternoon.

There were plenty of Obama buttons, a lot of smiling, a lot of gasps of recognition as big names came out to celebrate the Obama inaugural. Twice – when John Mellencamp sang and when Garth Brooks dominated the stage – the press corps was actually dancing. (And with good reason. I don’t know how they came across on TV, but Mellencamp rocked out, and Brooks gave one of the most charismatic performances I’ve ever seen on a stage, singing to an audience of thousands as if he were having a private conversation).

How goofy was the press? At one point, VIPs turned around to look at us, surprised.

We could see both the stage and Obama’s reactions. Most fun was his response to Jamie Foxx, who impersonated Obama’s speech delivery – he smiled through the whole thing, once even breaking out into a laugh.

Malia kept taking pictures. Once in a while, her mom bent toward her to explain  – one imagines – what was happening on stage. Both Barack and Michelle sang all the lyrics to American Pie when it was performed, and waved their arms around to the song Shout.

Afterward, the lines for the Metro stretched around the block, and there were no taxis to be found. So we walked from the Lincoln Memorial to Adams Morgan – and throughout DuPont Circle and beyond, there was an air of celebration, with street vendors hawking merchandise (glitter portraits of Obama on tshirts! Obama tube socks!) and an atmosphere of giddy happiness.