Inauguration 2009
Barack Obama Becomes 44th President of the United States
America “ready to lead once more,” Obama says in Inaugural Address
By Michelle Austein Brooks
Staff Writer
January 20, 2009
Washington — Shortly after noon EST (1700 GMT) January 20, Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office, becoming the 44th president and first African-American leader of the United States.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts administered the oath of office to Obama on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “I will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States,” Obama said as he placed his hand on the Bible last used to inaugurate President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
Cheers rang out as onlookers, who packed a three-kilometer piece of land stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, waved American flags.
No official estimate of the crowd’s size is available yet, but the Washington Post reported that about 2 million people came to the National Mall. They boarded crowded trains miles outside the city and lined up at security checkpoints in Washington before dawn in below-freezing temperatures, knowing that the closest view they would get of the president was on one of the many large television screens scattered across the Mall.
Millions of Americans, at homes and in offices, watched the moment that many see as a milestone in U.S. history. In cities like New York and Los Angeles, crowds gathered in public squares to watch Obama’s speech on large television screens. At military bases overseas, American soldiers crowded around televisions.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Moments after taking the oath, President Obama gave his first speech, known as the Inaugural Address. He spoke not only to Americans, but to millions across the globe who closely watched the 2008 campaign, election and transition.
“To all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more,” the president said.
“Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please,” Obama said. “Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.”
Obama spoke of strengthening cooperation with allies on global problems such as climate change and nuclear threats. The United States can “no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders,” Obama said.
The president said the United States seeks to usher in a new era of peace in which it will seek to build a relationship with the Muslim world based on mutual interest and respect.
Obama also had a message for America’s enemies. To terrorists, Obama said, America’s spirit “is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
Discussing the challenges that lie ahead, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a struggling economy, Obama said, “The challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.”
Obama said the United States will begin to responsibly leave Iraq and forge a “hard-earned peace” in Afghanistan. He said his administration will improve infrastructure and alternative energies to contribute to economic growth.
“Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old,” he said.
A DEMOCRATIC TRADITION
The 56th presidential inauguration began much as it had since America’s earliest days. Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended a service at St. John’s Church near the White House and then headed to the White House for coffee with President Bush and Laura Bush. Obama traveled with President Bush to the Capitol for the formal swearing-in ceremony and the Inaugural Address, after which the Bushes departed as private citizens via helicopter, on their way to their new home in Texas.
The new president joined members of Congress and government officials for a luncheon in the Capitol before embarking on more celebratory events, including a parade and 10 inaugural balls.
On Obama’s first full day in office January 21, he will attend a prayer breakfast at Washington’s National Cathedral, another long-held inaugural tradition.
Inauguration Day, marking an unbroken tradition of peaceful transfers of power, is a hallmark of American democracy, but Obama noted in his speech that the inauguration of the first African-American president is especially historic.
“A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath,” Obama said, receiving one of the loudest cheers of his speech.
“So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.”