Changes

*"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million"

*"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million"

However, in a column for MediaMatters.org<ref>mediamatters.org, ''The media myth about the cost of Obama's inauguration'', by Eric Boehlert, Jan 17, 2009[http://mediamatters.org/columns/200901170003]</ref>, Eric Boehlert notes that the $44 million figure cited for the Bush inauguration did not include the federal government's spending on security for the event.  The New York Times notes that, "In 2005, Mr. Bush raised $42.3 million from about 15,000 donors for festivities; the federal government and the District of Columbia spent a combined $115.5 million, most of it for security, the swearing-in ceremony, cleanup and for a holiday for federal workers."<ref>New York Times, ''Obama’s Inauguration Fund-Raising Tops $24 Million'', by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, published January 5, 2009 [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/politics/06donors.html]</ref>  According to Boehlert, the combined total of Bush's 2005 inauguration was $157 million, a cost similar to that projected for Obama's inauguration.

However, Factcheck.org states that "Claims of a huge disparity are untrue. Actually, an apples-to-apples comparison shows that the two inaugurations likely cost about the same."<ref>FactCheck.org, ''Q:  Did Barack Obama's inauguration really cost 4 times as much as George Bush's 2005 inauguration?'', by Joe Miller, January 21, 2009

In a column for MediaMatters.org<ref>mediamatters.org, ''The media myth about the cost of Obama's inauguration'', by Eric Boehlert, Jan 17, 2009[http://mediamatters.org/columns/200901170003]</ref>, Eric Boehlert explains that the $44 million figure cited for the Bush inauguration did not include the federal government's spending on security for the event.  The New York Times notes that, "In 2005, Mr. Bush raised $42.3 million from about 15,000 donors for festivities; the federal government and the District of Columbia spent a combined $115.5 million, most of it for security, the swearing-in ceremony, cleanup and for a holiday for federal workers."<ref>New York Times, ''Obama’s Inauguration Fund-Raising Tops $24 Million'', by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, published January 5, 2009 [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/politics/06donors.html]</ref>  According to Boehlert, the combined total of Bush's 2005 inauguration was $157 million, a cost similar to that projected for Obama's inauguration.

==Controversy==

==Controversy==