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Barack Obama is officially sworn-in by Chief Justice John Roberts in the Blue Room of the White House. (Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)
STEPPING INTO HIS second term, President Barack Obama took the oath of office in an intimate swearing-in ceremony at the White House, the leader of a nation no longer in the throes of the recession he inherited four years ago but still deeply divided.
The president, surrounded by family in the ornate White House Blue Room, was administered the brief oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts.
With Obama’s hand resting on a Bible used for years by Michelle Obama’s family, the president vowed “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” echoing the same words spoken by the 43 men who held the office before him.
About a dozen family members were on hand to witness Obama’s swearing in, including the first lady, daughters Malia and Sasha, the president’s sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and her family, Michelle Obama’s mother Marian Robinson, brother Craig Robinson and his family. A few reporters also were in the room.
The president will repeat the swearing in ritual again tomorrow on the west front of the Capitol building, before a jubilant crowd of up to 800,000 people.
Today’s smaller ceremony was a function of the calendar and the Constitution, which says presidents automatically begin their new terms at noon on January 20.
Because that date fell this year on a Sunday — a day on which inaugural ceremonies historically are not held — organisers scheduled a second, public swearing-in for Monday.
The mood in the nation’s capital was more subdued during this year’s inaugural festivities than it was four years ago, when Obama swept into office on a wave of national optimism, becoming the first black man to hold the nation’s highest office.
Since then, he has endured fiscal fights with Congress and a bruising re-election campaign — and has the gray hair and lower approval ratings to show for it.
Vice President Joe Biden took the oath of office earlier in the morning, surrounded by family and friends for a brief ceremony at the Naval Observatory, his official residence in northwest Washington.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by Obama as the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court, administered the oath of office. Biden placed his hand on a Bible his family has used since 1893.
Among the 120 guests on hand to witness the vice president’s second swearing-in were Attorney General Eric Holder, departing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and several Democratic lawmakers.
A crowd of up to 800,000 people is expected to gather on the National Mall to witness Obama’s second swearing-in, which will take place on the Capitol’s red, white and blue bunting-draped west front. Roberts, who famously flubbed the oath of office that Obama took in 2009, will administer the oath.
Once the celebrations are over, Obama will plunge into a second-term agenda still dominated by the economy, which slowly churned out of recession during his first four years in office.
The president will also try to cement his legacy with sweeping domestic changes, pledging to achieve both an immigration overhaul and stricter gun laws despite opposition from a divided Congress.
The president’s inauguration address will set the stage for the policy objectives he seeks to achieve in his second term, including speeding up the economic recovery, passing comprehensive immigration and gun control measures and ending the war in Afghanistan.
Aides said Obama would save the specifics of those agenda items for his Feb. 12 State of the Union address.
The president launched a weekend of inaugural activities yesterday by heading up a National Day of Service. Along with his family, Obama helped hundreds of volunteers spruce up a Washington area elementary school.
Obama wore rubber gloves, picked up a paint brush and helped volunteers stain a bookshelf.
Obama added the service event to the inaugural schedule in 2009 and is hoping it becomes a tradition followed for future presidents.
- Julie Pace
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Young men who won’t expose their arses in public? A rare breed of Irishman indeed . They don’t make them like that any more ………. :)
William wallace: its all for nothing if we dont have freedom.
If he though the Irish were smart asses, I wonder what he thought about the Jews…..oh wait……
Great film
Timely article given the impending referendum. What would William do these days?
I seem to remember a huge sense of disappointment, that Mel Gibson didn’t mention the boys from the defence forces, while doing his “thank you” when he received his Oscar.
My good friend Jason Mckevitt is the very lad in the article. Grand head of hair on you Jay
Cheers Buddy, That clip has brought back some memories, especially regarding my Hair…..Mel Gibson was actually a genuine guy….no airs or graces Hollywood stuff, he would talk to us the same as his co-stars and production team, Still a smartass none the less !!!!!!!
Genius film maker.
@Thomas, calling Mel Gibson a “Genius Film Maker” probably puts you in a very small minority group. A lot of things spr
….spring to mind, when he’s mentioned but “Genius” is not one of them ….
Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto are all film masterpieces. He is a great director.
It’s my Island
That movie also spawned the chat-up line that was most used by irish male students on foreign female students for a couple of years… Every single on them claimed to have been an extra. My landlord in first year in college was working for the irish film board when they granted the funding for brave heart so I heard about it coming to Ireland for filming months before they arrived.
I’d say you’re great craic.
What chat up line. “You bled for wallace now bleed for me”?
Very good!!!
Overrated and basically fictional version of history. So completely irrelevant to the independence debate.
Clown
Alan, about sums it up. Great Scottish hero, played by an Australian and filmed in Ireland. Obviously no suitable scenery in Scotland. Decent film but hardly a history lesson.
Indeed, it’s actually considered one of the most historically inaccurate films ever made.
Er, I’d say that dubious honour would fall to Neil Jordan’s version of “Michael Collins”, Ben.
You don’t speak Latin?
Yeah well Mel is a girl’s name.
The Irish Army is a good army They do a great job at peace keeping for the UN, but a lot of respect is lost when we see them being extras in films and minding the banks money
The banks pay them to do it. It’s not free service afaik.
Soldiers have been extras in films for years and years. There was a time their pay was total shit and so they’d do it for a weekend away on the piss and a bit of craic. I wouldn’t begrudge it to them.
That’s a bit like saying nurses lose a lot of respect when they take a coffee break.
Jack those extras were fca (reserves)
There’s always one….
They kept him in fags anyway.
He is just a drunk lads take no notice of him
Why should I care what an alcoholic, wife-beating myth peddler has to say?
have your say