If you really want a scary-accurate parallel, read Forward the Foundation and take a look at the Jojo Joranum character (even though by that time Asimov had lost a lot of his storytelling chops as he was dealing with failing health and just plain being old)

In a wide-ranging 70-minute interview with Washington Post reporters and editors, the president-elect pledged quick action on the Middle East once he takes office, promised to support voting rights for D.C. residents, and said he will consider it a failure if he has not closed the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the end of his first term in office.

Not sure what “quick action” he could take on the middle east, and it’s scary that he seems to want to get 3 EVs for DC, but the last part caught my eye. If it was President-Elect McCain saying that about Gitmo, it would be reported as McCain Says Gitmo May Remain Open Until 2013.

Get Inauguration Survival Alerts on Your Mobile Device

It must be the lack of government port-a-potties.

What’s the best way out of the Mall? Which Metro lines are bogged down? Which highway is a parking lot? Starting at 5 a.m. on Jan. 20, and running throughout the day and evening, you can get crucial advice, tips and news on your mobile device.

Now, we all know that if a corporation had encouraged several million people to flock to Washington for an event, they would have been required by law to install approximately 10 times as many johns as the Government is doing for this Inauguration. Fortunately, it’s cold, which means the stench won’t travel very far — hopefully.

I expect the port-a-potty situation to be a disgustingly rich vein of caption contest fodder. And we will all be able to say that it’s Government in Action, Without Laxatives.

Yeah, sure, it’s a base motive I’m talking about here. But when you have several million people congregating in one fruited plain, everyone knows they’re going to have to take care of #1 and #2 at some point. My guess is that the facilities will be more overwhelmed than the restrooms at a punk-rock concert.

PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama came to The Post editorial board yesterday with two messages sketchy on details yet reassuring in approach

Story of his campaign and of what will be a spectacularly detail-less presidency