President Barack Obama
delivered a full-throated defense of the nation's safety net programs and vowed
to tackle the issues of climate change and gay rights in his second inaugural
address Monday afternoon.
"We reject that
Americans must choose between caring for the generation that built this country
and investing in the generation that will build its future," Obama told
the crowd of hundreds of thousands of spectators who descended on the National
Mall Monday morning. "The commitments we make to each other--through
Medicare, and Medicaid and Social Security--these things do not sap our
initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they
free us to take the risks that make this country great."
The president also warned in
the approximately 2,000 word speech that the country cannot succeed if a
"shrinking few" succeed economically while the middle class suffers.
As the president began to
exit the Capitol stage area after giving his speech, he stopped, turned around
and stared out at the crowd gathered on the National Mall. I want to see this
"one more time" he appeared to say to his family, according to video
of the moment. "I'm not going to see this again." He smiled,
lingering for several seconds.
The festivities were more
muted than four years ago, when nearly 2 million people showed up, but still
large for a second-term inauguration. An inaugural official estimated the crowd
for the swearing in at 1 million, and Metro officials estimated that about 60
percent as many people used the train system on Monday compared to four years
ago.
Obama took his oath Monday
morning on two bibles, one owned by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the
other by Abraham Lincoln. Civil rights activist and journalist Myrlie
Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, delivered
the invocation.
During the afternoon's
inaugural parade, Michelle and Barack Obama jumped out of the presidential limo
on two different occasions to greet parade-goers who were cheering from behind
metal barricades. The First Couple led the parade on foot for a few blocks down
Pennsylvania Avenue, got back in the limo, then emerged again to walk a few
more blocks before being driven to the White House. They then watched the rest
of the parade from a heated viewing station on the White House's north side.
The First Lady wore a navy dress and coat by the American designer Thom Browne
and accessories by J.Crew. The outfit will be donated to the National Archives
after the inauguration.
Despite deep partisan divides
in Washington, Republican lawmakers publicly crossed party lines to
congratulate the president on Inauguration Day. Senate Republican leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) released the following statement: “Every four years on
Inauguration Day, America shows the world that our major political parties can
disagree with civility and mutual respect. It is in this spirit that I
congratulate President Obama on his inauguration to a second term and wish him
well in the fulfillment of his duty to lead the U.S. at home and abroad over
the next four years."
The First Family attended a
luncheon with members of Congress in the Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol
after the swearing-in ceremony. In brief comments at the luncheon, Obama
acknowledged that the politicians in the room disagree on many issues, but
thanked the attendees for their service. Obama also thanked his wife.
"There is controversy about the quality of our president, but no
controversy at all about the quality of our First Lady," he said.
Compared to President Obama's
first inauguration in 2009, finding a spot at the National Mall to watch the
ceremony Monday morning was a breeze. There, inaugural staffers passed out free
tiny American flags, while others waved their own version of the Stars and Stripes
overlaid with the president's face. With plenty of room on the grass, even
families with small children had little problem sprawling out on blankets as
others carefully walked around them.
On Jumbotron screens placed
throughout the Mall, inaugural attendees watched dignitaries, celebrities and
lawmakers file to their seats. With each camera shot of Obama and his vice
president, Joseph Biden, the members of the crowd lifted up their flags and
cheered.
Earlier on Monday, the First
Family emerged from an 8:45 a.m. service at St. John's Episcopal Church. Obama
took time to tweet during church. "I'm honored and grateful that we have a
chance to finish what we started. Our work begins today. Let's go. -bo,"
he wrote. During the service, Bishop Vacti Mckenzie blessed Obama and Vice
President Joe Biden while they stood in the front row with their heads bowed.
The president shared a laugh
with his daughters upon his return to the White House Monday morning. Malia ran
up to his limousine and shouted "Boo!" at her father. "You
scared me!" he joked as the Obamas entered the White House.
Early on Monday, it seemed
the District would not not draw anywhere near the number
of guests that descended upon the city in 2009. Streets near the White
House were busy at 6 a.m., but very walkable despite the large number of
closed-off roads and pedestrian-prohibited pathways. In 2009, an estimated 1.8
million people showed up to watch the nation's first black president take the
oath of office.
Obama already took the oath
of office in a
private swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.
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¶
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Woe
to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me;
and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin
to sin:
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That
walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen
themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
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Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of
Egypt [your] confusion.
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They
were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be an help nor
profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
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For
the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried
concerning this, Their strength [is] to sit still.
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Lo,
thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man
lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt
to all that trust in him.
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Then
gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we?
for this man doeth many miracles.
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If
we let him thus alone, all [men] will believe on him: and the Romans shall
come and take away both our place and nation.
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