WASHINGTON -- A confident
President Barack Obama kicked off his second term on Monday with an impassioned
call for a more inclusive America that rejects partisan rancor and embraces
immigration reform, gay rights and the fight against climate change.
Obama's ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol was filled with traditional
pomp and pageantry, but it was a scaled-back inauguration compared to the
historic start of his presidency in 2009 when he swept into office on a mantle
of hope and change as America's first black president.
Despite expectations tempered by lingering economic weakness and a divided
Washington, Obama delivered a preview of the priorities he intends to pursue -
essentially, a reaffirmation of core liberal Democratic causes - declaring
Americans “are made for this moment” and must “seize it together.”
His hair visibly gray after four years in office, Obama called for an end to
the political partisanship that marked much of his first term in the White
House in bitter fights over the economy with Republicans.
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for
politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,” Obama said from atop the
Capitol steps overlooking the National Mall.
Looking out on a sea of flags, Obama addressed a crowd estimated to be up to
700,000 people - less than half the record 1.8 million who assembled four years
ago.
Speaking in more specific terms than is customary in an inaugural address, he
promised “hard choices” to reduce the federal deficit without shredding the
social safety net and called for a revamping of the tax code and a remaking of
government.
When Obama raised his right hand and was sworn in by Chief Justice John
Roberts, it was his second time taking the oath in 24 hours - but this time
with tens of millions of people watching on television.
The president beamed as chants of “Obama, Obama!” rang out from the crowd.
Obama had a formal swearing-in on Sunday at the White House because of a
constitutional requirement that the president take the oath on Jan. 20. Rather
than stage the full inauguration on a Sunday, the main public events were put
off until Monday.
During a triumphant parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, the
president and first lady Michelle Obama thrilled wildly cheering onlookers by
twice getting out of their heavily armored limousine and walking part of the
way on foot, as they had done four years ago. Secret Service agents kept close
watch.
In a speech of under 20 minutes, Obama, 51, sought to reassure Americans at the
mid-point of his presidency and encourage them to help him take care of
unfinished business. “Preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires
collective action,” he said.
Touching on volatile issues, Obama ticked off a series of liberal policies he
plans to push in this second term.
Most surprising was a relatively long reference to the need to address climate
change, which he mostly failed to do in his first four years.
“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to
do so would betray our children and future generations,” the president said.
On gay rights, Obama insisted: “Our journey is not complete until our gay
brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.”
And in a nod to America's fast-growing Hispanic population that helped catapult
him to re-election in November, he said there was a need to “find a better way
to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of
opportunity.”
FACING PERSISTENT PROBLEMS
Obama, who won a second term by defeating Republican Mitt Romney after a bitter
campaign, will now face many of the same problems that dogged his first four
years: persistently high unemployment, crushing government debt and a deep
partisan divide. The war in Afghanistan, which Obama is winding down, has
dragged on for over a decade.
He won an end-of-year fiscal battle against Republicans, whose poll numbers
have continued to sag, and appears to have gotten them to back down, at least
temporarily, from resisting an increase in the national debt ceiling.
And Obama faces a less-dire outlook than he did when he took office in 2009 at
the height of a deep U.S. recession and world economic crisis. The economy is
growing again, though slowly.
But he still faces a daunting array of challenges.
Among them is a fierce gun-control debate inspired by a school massacre in
Newtown, Connecticut, last month, a tragedy he invoked in his speech.
He said America must not rest until “all our children, from the streets of
Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that
they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”
Obama's appeals for bipartisan cooperation will remind many Americans of his
own failure to meet a key promise when he came to power - to act as a
transformational leader who would fix a dysfunctional Washington.
His speech was light on foreign policy, with no mention of the West's nuclear
standoff with Iran, the civil war in Syria, dealings with an increasingly
powerful China or confronting al Qaeda's continued threat as exemplified by the
recent deadly hostage crisis in Algeria.
But Obama said: “We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences
with other nations peacefully … We will support democracy from Asia to Africa;
from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience
compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”
U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had declared in 2010 that
his top goal was to deny Obama re-election, congratulated the president and
expressed a willingness to work together, saying a second term “represents a
fresh start.”
But some Republicans responded skeptically. “It was a very, very progressive
speech, to put it in the best possible light,” said Republican strategist Rich
Galen. “He's not running for election anymore.”
Obama's ceremonial swearing-in fell on the same day as the national holiday
honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. - and the president
embraced the symbolism. He took the oath with his hand on two Bibles - one from
President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery, and the other from King.
After watching the rest of the parade from a bullet-proof VIP viewing stand in
front of the White House, the Obamas planned to head to the two inaugural balls
- rather than the 10 that were held in 2009.
DURBIN: PRIVATE PARTIES AND
(MAYBE) BUDDY GUY
From dawn until dusk, Sen.
Dick Durbin is scheduled to be among the constant companions of President Barack
Obama, whom he joined starting with an early-morning church service near the
White House.
After the swearing-in,
Durbin, the No. 2 official at the Senate, said he found Obama's inaugural
speech "beautiful."
"I thought he president
really captured what the election was about, what the people were saying, we
needed to come together -- 'We the People' and to really address the issues
that are challenging our nation," said Durbin, a fellow Democrat.
After the inauguration
speech, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sat down as guests of honor at a
traditional luncheon at the Capitol. Durbin was there, along with about other
200 high-level officials, including Supreme Court justices, Cabinet officials
and congressional leaders.
At 9 o'clock tonight local time,
Durbin said, he'll return to the White House to join the Obamas and a select
group of friends, family and supporters at an exclusive celebration.
He indicated the timetable
was fluid, since a similar party following the balls in 2009 didn't get going
until about 11:30 p.m.
Will he make Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel's late-night blues party with guitarist Buddy Guy? That runs from
11 p.m. until 3 a.m. "Hope to stay awake long enough," the senator
said.
Durbin, 69, a 30-year veteran
of Congress, is up for re-election in 2014. He was an early supporter of Obama
leading up to his 2008 run, when Democrats had to choose between candidates
Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
CHICAGOANS IN D.C. FEEL
'VESTED IN HIS SUCCESS'
Spencer Gould and his wife,
Ardenia, of Chicago, arrived at the Capitol early enough to get seats on the
front row of their section, directly center of where the president took the
oath of office.
For about a minute, Gould
said, he considered staying at home in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, but
quickly realized that he could be no place else but here. Four years ago, he
said, he wanted to be part of the historical moment. This time, he
came to show his support.
CROWD MAKES LONG DRIVES,
BRAVES THE COLD
Hundreds of thousands
congregated on the National Mall on Monday, many
bundled in gloves and scarves against the cold. Some stopped in front of
street vendors to buy buttons with President Obama’s face on them, inaugural
coffee mugs or wool hats with Obama spelled in glass beads.
Some had driven all night
Sunday to make it to the ceremony by this morning.
FIRST FAMILY'S FASHION
CLOSELY WATCHED BY SOME
The American fashion
industry held
its breath on Inauguration Day for a series of Big Reveals.
Word came within minutes that
the navy check coat and dress Michelle Obama wore to the morning prayer service
at St. John's church was by American designer Thom Browne, to which she added a
belt for the ceremonial swearing-in. Her shoes and accessories were J.Crew. Her
necklace was by Cathy Waterman.Former Obama pastor in town
FORMER PASTOR WRIGHT OFFERS
ADVICE
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the
president's former Chicago pastor whose sermons touched off a firestorm in the
2008 political campaign, urged today that Barack Obama heed the words of the
late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and transform the country into the world's
"No. 1 purveyor of peace."
Wright, in
the capital today but skipping the inauguration, recalled a speech by King
during the Vietnam war, when the civil rights leader denounced the U.S. as
"the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."
(PLUS) ...
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