Shortly after noon on the 20th of January, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama stood before an audience of close to 1.8 million people to take the Oath of Office and become the 44th President of the United States. Frigid January temperatures in Washington D.C. were not enough to stop crowds from packing the National Mall to witness the inauguration of the nation’s first African American President.
- Barack Obama giving his Inaugural Address in January.
The crowd was large enough that, for the first time ever, the entire two-mile expanse of the Mall was open to the public. The ceremonies began at ten o’clock in the morning with musical selections from The United States Marine Band, as well as a stirring performance of “Let Freedom Ring” by Aretha Franklin.
The ceremony did not go on without a hitch, however. Obama stood before Chief Justice John Roberts with his left hand on the bible used by Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Justice Roberts, who was reciting the oath to Obama from memory, incorrectly stated, “I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully,” rather than “that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States.” While Roberts restated the line correctly, President Obama decided to repeat the line how Roberts first delivered it. The rest of the oath was taken without incident, but President Obama still retook the oath the following day.
White House Counsel Greg Craig stated that this was simply due to an “abundance of caution,” assuring that Obama had been the President since he was first sworn in. In the inaugural address that followed, President Obama spoke extensively on the troubles faced by the country. “The challenges we face are real,” he said. “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.” Recognizing how the faults of the previous administration have affected world opinion of the U.S., Obama stated that “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child… [and] we are ready to lead once more.”
President Obama now faces not only questions over how to handle the military occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan, but an economy in a downturn reminiscent of what was faced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Already in his first few days in office, Obama has begun reversing key Bush policies in the ‘War on Terror,’ signing executive orders to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay within a year and forcing all interrogations to follow non-coercive methods. These actions can be seen as a strong beginning to the first one hundred days where the tone of the Obama Presidency will be revealed.
