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President Bush Welcomes President-Elect Obama, Former President Clinton, Former President Bush and Former President Carter to the White House Oval Office
PRESIDENT BUSH: I want to thank the President-elect for joining the ex-Presidents for lunch. And one message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed. Whether we're Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual. And we wish you all the very best. And so does the country.
Barack Obama: 44th President Of The United States Of America
People gather around the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall hours before the start of 'We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial' in Washington, DC. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The wintry expanse between the marble memorials of the National Mall turned into an exuberant open-air celebration yesterday, the first of three days of festivities to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama.
The concert — despite a celebrity roster that ran from Bruce Springsteen to Denzel Washington, Bono, Beyoncé and Tiger Woods — was laden with the history that preceded Obama to Washington, and the burden of expectations on him as he enters the White House.
It was a rally here, between Washington's obelisk and Lincoln's marble columns and steps, that produced a defining moment of the civil rights era. In August 1963, in one of the largest gatherings on the mall, Martin Luther King spoke about the day when white and black people could live together in his "I have a dream" speech.
Two generations later, as the crowds filled up the dead and yellowing grass between those great monuments in a reprise of that day, footage of King played on the jumbotron (or giant TV), along with images of Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John Kennedy.
Obama, in his speech at the end of the concert, acknowledged the weight of that history and the burden he takes on tomorrow. Standing alone on the stage behind a transparent bullet proof barrier, he said: "Only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face." As he spoke, sharpshooters stood outlined against the grey sky on top of the memorial. Helicopters circled overhead, and members of the national guard in camouflage dress were stationed at 20 foot intervals around the perimeter of the crowd.
Obama, from the steps of the monument, went on: "I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many."
But he said he drew strength from ordinary Americans, and their embrace of his promise of change. "It is you — Americans of every race and region and station, who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there."
Despite his deliberately sombre tone, and temperatures that forced a retreat behind ski suits, blankets and ankle length fur, the crowd was unphased. Yesterday was a moment for celebration; freezing weather and reality checks from the incoming president would not keep them from the party.
But there was still no escaping the history, especially for the generation who lived through the civil rights era.
"Unbelievable," said Mildred Patterson, 77, an African-American woman from Bethune in South Carolina, shaking her head to emphasise her disbelief. As a young woman, she remembered listening on the radio as King delivered his "I Have A Dream Speech" on the Mall. Though she was panting from the walk, Patterson was insistent on coming to see Obama fulfill that promise with her own eyes. "I never thought I would live to see this never in my lifetime, and this is a one-time opportunity," she said.
For others, the mere existence of a crowd such as this, made up equally of white, black, old and young, drawn from as near as a few city blocks and as far away as Alaska, was a near miracle.
As the afternoon wore on, middle-aged and older whites and African-Americans who arrived at the event as strangers began to chat, a little self-consciously at first, but ended sharing snacks and handwarmers. They linked arms and posed for pictures.
The programme organisers carefully alternated country singers with R&B stars, and paired white and African-American actors. Pete Seeger, the folk icon, sang This Land is Your Land. Beyoncé sang America the Beautiful.
The sense of barriers falling was infectious. Each time a celebrity appeared to reprise Obama's trademark line about abolishing divisions for a united states of America, the crowd cheered.
"When I get old and have kids I can look back and tell them I was part of something," said Alex Joiner, 17, one of four high school friends from Carrollton, Georgia, in Washington for the occasion. All four were African-American.
Like the others in the group, Fante Bradford was too young to vote, and too young to remember King and the march on Washington. But she was convinced that having Obama in the White House would make a material difference to her life. "Of course," she said. "We are still going to have to work. We can't rely on him for everything."
"He's not Jesus," said her friend, Flo Tigner, 16. And her friends all nodded in agreement.
United States · Barack Obama · Obama inauguration · Obama White House.
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