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Huge crowd expected for speech
By contrast, Obama will be making a speech before what is sure to be a huge crowd in a city that overwhelmingly supported him, both in the Democratic primary and the general election.
The act of riding the train — along with events in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore — expands the inaugural festivities to include more people, something that previous presidents with a mandate to change Washington have done.
"It does remind me a bit of Jimmy Carter jumping out of the limo on his inauguration, walking through the streets, and through the act reminding Americans this presidency would be different," said Julian E. Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University.
And by beginning his trip in the nation's birthplace, Obama will be emphasizing the historic nature of his own election as the first black president — "reminding voters how, unlike almost any other election, the choice voters made in itself was a watershed," Zelizer said.
For Amtrak riders, the trip makes another strong point, about the importance of mass transit — particularly given the participation of Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who will hop on Obama's train when it stops in Wilmington.
Biden, famously, decided to commute daily from his Delaware home after his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, shortly after his election to the Senate. The train rides allowed him to spend more time at home with his young sons, and he stuck with the routine throughout his 35 years in the Senate.
Other elected officials ride the rails
Biden's Amtrak trips are likely to be confined to weekends for at least the next four years, but he's not the only elected official who rides the rails.
Rep.-elect Leonard Lance, R-N.J., was aboard the Northeast Regional on Tuesday for an apartment-hunting trip to Washington. He lives in Clinton Township, N.J., and boarded the train in Trenton, a 2 1/2-hour journey.
"I commend the vice president-elect because I think he put his family first," said Lance, who, like Biden, plans to advocate for improved rail service.
"Amtrak is important to people in the Northeast, and of course we need to become more energy efficient and support mass transit," Lance said.
Praising mass transit aboard an Amtrak train is as politically astute as pushing for education money at a teachers' convention. As they doze off, peck away at laptops or bury their noses in newspapers or novels, the passengers look like they are in on a secret.
"It's convenient. It's kind of expensive," said Kwakye, echoing the comments of a half-dozen other passengers. "But it's better than driving."
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