Obama Ushers In "New Era" For America

Barack Obama Sounds Call For Action As He Takes Historic Oath

(CBS/AP)  Stepping into history, Barack Obama grasped the reins of power as America's first black president Tuesday, declaring the nation must choose "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

After the swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address, President Obama stepped out of his limousine to greet part of the enthusiastic crowd that lined the route of his inaugural parade.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, got out of their car on Pennsylvania Ave., waved to the cheering spectators on both sides of the street, and then walked part of the way, smiling and waving.

A couple of moments later, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, joined them on the walk.

President Jimmy Carter was the only president to march all the way along his inaugural parade route, reports CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, though Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush did walk part of the way.

Along the way, hundreds of people who had been packed on rooftops and balconies broke into loud cheers. They got an unobstructed view of the parade from above the large crowd.

The four walked for about seven minutes before getting back into their limousines.

The parade route has also been lined with police and military personnel, who have saluted as the new president's limousine slowly moved past them.

At first light hundreds of thousands of people were already streaming onto the National Mall, reports CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Chip Reid.

While the President-elect and First Lady-to-be had coffee with the outgoing President and his wife, the flood of humanity continued, despite weather so cold the Reflecting Pool at the Washington Monument was frozen solid. The crowd eventually reached about 2 million, five times the number that turned out four years ago for the second inauguration of George W. Bush.

By comparison, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan's inauguration drew about 500,000 people, and President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration drew about 800,000 people, according to National Park Service estimates.

On the National Mall, the crowd stretched nearly two miles - from the Capitol building to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

The bulk of the crowd was jammed into the area between the west front of the Capitol and the Washington Monument, where people stood shoulder-to-shoulder as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president. The crowd was so tightly packed that some people complained they felt claustrophobic.

The vast, excited crowd bore witness to a transfer of American power like none before it. The blare of regal trumpets and thunder of cannon were familiar. The transition from Republican to Democrat, and gray hair to dark, had happened before.

But this was white to black, a shattering of racial barriers finally made complete when Barack Obama made it through a bumbled oath-taking, delivered a momentous-by-definition speech and got back to being his unflappable self.

The Democrat who charged onto the national scene saying this was not a nation of red states and blue states, but the United States, became president while wearing a red tie, the Republican color.

Republican George W. Bush, president no more, wore a blue tie, the Democratic color. They embraced at the Capitol and walked out together.

The racial milestone lent a deeply personal dimension for many in the crowd as well as a historical landmark for all.

New York Governor David Patterson told Couric that Obama's inauguration was "a fulfillment of a dream that African-Americans, both the living and the dead, have struggled for, for a couple of centuries to build a movement that would bring economic, political and social justice to African-Americans.

"But really what touched me was the effect that this inauguration has had on white Americans. People who didn't vote for President Obama, presumably might not vote for him for re-election and wouldn't agree with his policies still see the historical significance."

"I've been real emotional all morning thinking about my grandmother and the heroes whose shoulders we stand on," said Lyshundria Houston, 34, here from Memphis, Tenn., after more than 20 hours of travel. Houston, who is black, said: "They'd be so proud."

Coming from the city where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she reflected on the civil rights movement on her way to the parade, and said: "Sometimes that makes the cold go away."

[stinginrich]

HERE LIES THE GOPERV PARTY OF TOE-TAPPING WIDE-STANCERS AND DROOLING MOUTH-BREATHERS
BORN MARCH 20 1854
DIED NOV 4 2008
CAUSE OF DEATH
ROCK SOLID STUPIDITY, GREED, AND CRIMINALITY
RIP


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Hacker1001 at 12:28 PM : Jan 21, 2009
+ report abuse

[joule18]

The only one that brought up race consistently during the election was Obama.

[suecostarn]

Finally a president who can bring us all together. If you do not understand it then you need education and a heart. Thank God for our new President!!!

[lalabradle]

Maybe now many blacks that say nothing changed in regards to racism can acknowledge it has.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Robjk1 at 09:57 PM : Jan 19, 2009

Evidence and proof on these blogs tells us that just because one black man in 200 years made it to the white house does not change bigotry in the small minds of the leftovers from the former party.

[rafterman1]

===Yep...for me...honor flies out the window when you kill my innocent american friends....Yep...right out the window.===
Posted by laurieleemoo

Personal honor isn''t something you turn on and off like a faucet.

===I only wish I had the CIA job of torturing those terrorists....It would actually turn me on.....ooh better watch out...just the thought of it turns me on.===
Posted by laurieleemoo

When wardens at prisons have to conduct an execution, they have great remorse in doing it. Even though these prisoners killed in the worst ways, the wardens always say it is gutwrenching for them and they always hope that phone from the gov''s office rings. That''s becasue they are human beings with coinsciences and even killing bad guys brings some level of remorse to a person.

Something tells me that while you talk a big game, you wouldn''t have the guts to actually do the deed. I saw it in the Marines in the first Gulf War. All gungho stateside, but in country, some of them freaked and couldn''t hack it.

[lalabradle]

So in other words, you want to establish a Federal Black Panther party and promote bigotry towards white people legally.

Gotcha!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Truthin2009 at 08:53 AM : Jan 21, 2009
+ report abuse

Whites have been running this country. They could care less what''s going in on in urban areas because they don''t live in them. They just refuse to hire blacks for decent wages. They expect a black man whether educated or not to support his family on minimum wage or less. That''s why we have affirmative action to guarantee a black man a decent paying job. If you can''t feed your family or provide a roof over their heads, you sell drugs or whatever you have to do to do it. And yes, lots of whites are in high paying jobs because they are white. A black man can have a degree and be denied the same job. I know this for a fact, I work with whites who are making six figure salaries with no college education. Any black person making six figures definitely has a degree.

[centerfall94]

I see lots of bitter, bitter neocons posting today. Funny stuff guys! (and girls, and whatever else you might be)

I''d debate you but there''s really no point.

1. You wouldn''t listen.
2. After your huge loss in congress and the Presidency you have very little power.

So wail, thrash, gnash and cry, bitter bitter neocons! Your time has ended. For a good long while, at least. 8-)

[lalabradle]

This Is Awfull Its All Blacks On TV This Democratic
TV That Voted NoBamma in As Presedent ... Ther Are Some Whites That Voted For Him..I Thought This Country Was Mostly White.. Or Are We The Minority Now ..This Is Discrimanation...
PS {HES STILL A SCREW UP}


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by fedupman at 09:35 AM : Jan 21, 2009
+ report abuse


It was mostly white voters who voted him in, I guess bigots in America are a minority. LOL!!!!!!

[rafterman1]

===Well..that is better than the tactics the terrorists use....blowing innocent civilians into little bits and pieces for the families to see.===
Well...that would be the same advise I would give to you and your terrorist friends.===
Posted by laurieleemoo

Glad to see you have no conscience and would follow what terrorists do. Fortunately, I have more personal honor than that and act like a scumbag terrorist.

Sorry, I have no terrorist friends. None of them ram planes into buildings or waterboard. Both are examples of terror.

[talaan77]

Anyway...I tried all that....and now....I''''ve given up that idea and decided to have to little bit of fun with the idiots.

Posted by laurieleemoo

you''re funny have a good day