No We Can't! Chilly Obama Worshippers Iced From Inaugural

I hope they dressed warmly.

On second thought, no, I don't.

Suckers.

People came from all over the country to see the inauguration in person. For thousands with tickets in hands, they never thought they wouldn't get to experience the chance of a lifetime.

But things didn't go as planned.

Elbow to elbow, anticipating one of the most exciting days of their lives, they came face-to-face with a fence. It was pure shock for those who had tickets to enter through the purple gates, only to find out they'd be held back blocks from Capitol and the National Mall.

"The whole time we thought, 'We're gonna make it, we're gonna make it!' and the gate's closed," one disappointed visitor told CBS 2.

"We're here for this and we can't see anything so it's frustrating," said Tina Painter, a Brooklyn resident who traveled to Washington for the event.

So close to hope, yet so far. Day One and dreams are crushed.

Sigh. Should've stayed home and watched it. Or better yet, gone to work.

The closed gates came after some spent hours below ground in the 3rd Street tunnel which runs beneath the mall. Spirits and anticipation were high. Many were singing "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" in unison while they waited.

"It was very nice, I mean we all had fun and sang songs, but now we're back and we're not gonna see the inauguration," said Painter.

Aww, they got to sing songs. Isn't that cute?

But now what have you got? Bupkes, that's what. Now you have a one-way ticket back to the real world.

"We got our tickets, we paid our money, we brought our money to the economy and we couldn't get in," said an angry spectator, holding up his ticket to show where he should be.

No big screens, no piped in audio to hear, no inauguration to witness and enjoy, even though they worked so hard to get a prized ticket to be there.

"All this for nothing. They give us ticket, we're all here to support the new president and then they turn you away," said another upset visitor.

And you don't even have Bush to blame.

Too effing funny, that's what this is.