High security as up to 2 million brave icy weather in D.C. for inauguration
January 20, 2009 - Inauguration Day
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama steps into history by becoming the United States' first black president Tuesday, bringing a message of hope to a nation battered by recession, weary of war and hungry for change after eight years of George W. Bush in the White House.
With the national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. falling on the eve of the inauguration, America's troubled racial history was in the spotlight.
Obama's inauguration represents a milestone once unthinkable in a nation that has struggled with racial issues since its founding and where segregation was practiced in many Southern states just decades ago. It will take place outside the U.S. Capitol, which slaves helped build. Obama will take his oath on the same Bible used at the 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.
Braving icy temperatures and possible snow flurries, hundreds of thousands of people descended on the heavily guarded capital city Tuesday for the first change of administrations since 2001.
Around the world, Obama's election electrified millions with the hope that America will be more embracing, more open to change.
Remarkable ascent
Tuesday's ceremony culminates a remarkable ascent for the 47-year-old Democrat who moves into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth youngest president. In less than five years, he rose from a little-known Illinois state lawmaker to the nation's highest office, persuading Americans that despite his relative inexperience, he could turn around the economy and end the Iraq war.
A gifted, inspirational speaker, Obama has raised the hopes of millions seeking a new course for the United States. He has promised to emphasize diplomacy, seek global solutions to climate change, reject torture and shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Obama's presidency puts Democrats firmly in charge of Washington. They will control both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time since 1994.
Bush leaves Washington as one of the nation's most unpopular and divisive presidents, the architect of two unfinished wars and the man in charge at a time of economic calamity.
Bush's approval ratings, which soared after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, plummeted over his handling of the Iraq war, his slow response to Hurricane Katrina and the economic meltdown.
High hopes, enormous burden
Pre-inauguration polls show Americans believe Obama is on track to succeed despite the enormous burden placed upon his shoulders. They express confidence the new president can turn the economy around, but Obama has cautioned that improvements will take time and that things will get worse before they get better.
Culminating four days of celebration, Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden were to begin the day with a traditional morning worship service at St. John's Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House, and end it with dancing and partying at 10 inaugural balls lasting deep into the night.
By custom, Obama and his wife, Michelle, were invited to the White House for coffee with Bush and his wife, Laura, followed by a shared ride in a heavily armored Cadillac limousine to the U.S. Capitol for the transfer of power. On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back, leaving him in a wheelchair for the inauguration.
Before noon, Obama steps forward on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol to take the 35-word oath of office, administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, which has been uttered by every president since George Washington.
The son of a Kansas-born mother and Kenyan-born father, Obama decided to use his full name — Barack Hussein Obama — in the swearing-in ceremony.
To the dismay of liberals, Obama invited conservative evangelical pastor Rick Warren — an opponent of gay rights — to give the inaugural invocation.
Obama's aides said he was readying an inaugural address that would stress twin themes of responsibility and accountability.
Unprecedented security
More than 10,000 people from all 50 states — including bands and military units — were assembled to follow Obama and Biden from the Capitol on the 1.5 mile inaugural parade route on Pennsylvania Ave., concluding at a bulletproof reviewing stand in front of the White House.
The inauguration was expected to draw up to 2 million people. Security was unprecedented as Washington braced for logistical headaches with major streets and bridges into the capital closed.
But that has not dimmed the excitement as a party atmosphere took hold on the National Mall. Several blocks from where Obama will take the oath of office, the Boy's Choir of Kenya gave an impromptu performance on Monday for anyone who happened to be nearby.
"I didn't think I would see a black president in my generation. I just had to be here," said Donald Butler, 20, a University of Washington student.
About a dozen members of Obama's Cabinet and top appointees — including Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Democratic presidential rival — were ready for Senate confirmation Tuesday, provided no objection was raised. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner's confirmation has been delayed because of his disclosure that he had failed to pay some taxes.
On Wednesday, his first working day in office, Obama is expected to redeem his campaign promise to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq under a 16-month timetable. Aides said he would summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Oval Office and order that the pullout commence.
In the months since winning the Nov. 4 election, Obama has shown signs his administration will be more pragmatic than ideological.
Obama has asked Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, to stay in office to oversee the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and a buildup in Afghanistan where the Taliban has been gaining strength.
His $825 billion economic stimulus package, unprecedented in scale and reach, mixes public spending and tax cuts in a bid to win the support of congressional Republicans as well as Democrats. And he has worked with Bush to persuade reluctant lawmakers to release $350 billion in funds as part of a financial bailout package. His goal is to save or create 3 million jobs and put banks back in the job of lending to customers.
'Common ground'
In an appeal for bipartisanship,Obama honored defeated Republican presidential rival John McCain at a dinner Monday night, praising him as someone who has sought common ground.
He hugged McCain onstage and called for Americans' help "in making this bipartisan dinner not just an inaugural tradition, but a new way of doing the people's business in this city."
"Let us strive always to find that common ground, and to defend together those common ideals, for it is the only way we can meet the very big and very serious challenges that we face right now," Obama said.
Though some core supporters have been disappointed by what they see as a drift to the center, Obama now enjoys favorability ratings much higher than the 52 percent of the popular vote he received in the election.
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