A New Day: The Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama

Today at 12:00pm, January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated the 44th President of the United States of America. In my brief 28 years of life I have not witnessed a more publicized or more anticipated Presidential Inauguration than that of Barack Obama. The human interest in this event is a testament to the good will and excitement that people of all races, nationalities, religious beliefs, political pedigrees have concerning the transformational Obama. On November 4, 2008, the American voters elected Barack Obama by a landslide. By the numbers, Obama won African Americans (96%), Jews (77%), gays and lesbians (71%), first-time voters (68%), Latinos (67%), Asians (63%), voters under 30 (66%), union members (59%) and women (55%), along with a significant number of independent voters, Republicans, conservatives, and Evangelical Christians.

Election night was certainly electric and filled with the realization that the hope of countless millions of Americans was about to be realized. For the first time in over 400 years, the idea that the best man could ascend to the highest office in the land and therefore take leadership of the world's most prosperous country despite his race or cultural background was no longer just a dream. Obama is not just an American, he is also an African-American and though some would like to paint him as a post-racial President, that is not in fact how the rest of us see it. He stands on the shoulders of giants such as Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Harriett Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Malcolm X, Aretha Franklin, Benjamin Banneker (who designed Washington, D.C.), Frederick Douglass, and many other historical African-American figures who could not see this day, but hoped for it.

In 1900, the poet James Weldon Johnson penned the following words to "Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing" now called the Negro National Anthem. Only if he were here to see his poetry become life!

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

My wife and I had considered attending the Inauguration, but decided against it and settled for watching it on TV due to having school-age children. I went to work just like any other day and at 12:00pm watched the Inauguration live on CNN on our office projector because CNN.com/Facebook Inauguration feed was over capacity. Outside I was standing calmly in my conference room, but inside I was excited and wanted the moment to last forever but satisfied that this has happened in my lifetime for my children to see. Even the sightings of outgoing President Bush and Vice-President Cheney could not dampen my spirits. President Obama took the oath administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and although Roberts flubbed a portion of the Oath of Office, Obama completed the Oath correctly, then proceeded to give his Inaugural speech.

Obama's Inaugural speech was filled with hope for the future and a change in the way that government interacts with its own people and the world while focusing on themes of sacrifice in times of crisis and renewal of ideals such as liberty, hard work, perseverence, unity & equality that made America great. He ended the speech with the statement, "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Following Inaugural festivities, President Obama's first official action was the declaration of January 20, 2009 as "National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation."

Below are Inaugural pictures from the Boston Globe's The Big Picture.


The Capitol is illuminated in the early morning hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (David McNew/Getty Images)


People gather to watch US President Barack Obama's sworn in as the 44th US president by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)


This image provided by GeoEye Satellite Image shows Washington D.C.'s National Mall and the United States Capitol (top), in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 taken at 11:19AM EDT during the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken through high, wispy white clouds, shows the masses of people between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. (AP Photo/GeoEye Satellite Image)


Barack H. Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States as his wife Michelle Obama holds the Bible and their daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama look on, on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Chuck Kennedy-Pool/Getty Images)


Spectators in Times Square watch President Barack Obama take the oath of office during his inauguration Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)


U.S. soldiers watch the U.S. presidential inauguration via a webcast from Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Bob Strong (AFGHANISTAN)


People gather for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)


U.S. President Barack H. Obama greets guests after he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty Images)


Vertie Hodge, 74, weeps during an Inauguration Day party near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 after President Barack Obama delivered his speech after taking the oath of office, becoming the first black president in the United States. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)


President Barack Obama signs his first act as president, a proclamation declaring a national day of renewal and reconciliation and calling on Americans to serve one another, after being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States during the inaugural ceremony in Washington Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, Pool)


Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo)


U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk in the inaugural parade following his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C.


Sasha Obama waves through the limousine window as she and her sister Malia leave Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)


Guests at the "Biden Home States Ball" record the moment as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance at the Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance their first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)