More from Pacific View Guest Home in San Pedro

I had a chance to talk with Shelle Barnes, center, after the inaugural speech. She said she'd never paid much attention to politics until someone suggested last September that she check out Barack Obama, maybe volunteer for one of his phone banks. 

Before long, she was selling Obama T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and window signs, riding her bicycle around San Pedro in her own one-woman, grassroots campaign for the up-and-coming Democrat.

So today was special, the culmination of what she'd been working and hoping for. Enlisting the help of other residents at the Pacific View Guest Home, a facility for the mentally challenged, Shelle, 46, hung balloons and streamers throughout the lobby to be ready for this morning's big festivities on television. 

The enthusiasm was infectious as the events unfolded on the screen, with residents cheering and blowing air horns, standing up and applauding Obama's best speech lines. After praying along with Rick Warren, one of the residents exclaimed "That was beautiful!" And when Aretha took the stage, several of them leaped to their feet. "Woo-hoo, it's Aretha! She's gonna sing, baby!" 

And it's not over yet. Tonight, they're all dressing up to watch the evening festivities on TV. 

Many of these residents barely eek out a living on SSI. There was no way they'd be able to attend fancier events or the inaugural in Washington, D.C. itself. 

But it didn't seem to matter. They made their own celebration, and a celebration it was. They weren't about to be left out of America's special day, a day that shows the world how incredible democracy really is.