Sure, if you go to the Inaugural Ball you get to watch Jennifer Hudson sing "Let's Stay Together" while the Obamas dance. But based on the dispatches from intrepid reporters at Obama's Inaugural Ball, those of us who were stuck at home should consider ourselves lucky; the conditions there sound atrocious — squalid, even. For starters, the food: the available snacks include "Cheez-Its crackers and stale pretzels." The horror.