Obama Calls for Unity, Action in Inauguration Speech
22:10 21/01/2013 WASHINGTON, January 21 (By Carl Schreck for RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before several hundred thousand people at his public inauguration ceremony here Monday and called on Americans to reject divisiveness and political rancor in order to tackle pressing problems like inequality, social welfare and climate change.
“For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay,” Obama told an estimated crowd of between 600,000 and 800,000 who packed the National Mall in Washington for the 57th US presidential inaugural ceremony.
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,” Obama added. “We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.”
In his speech Monday, Obama touched on many of the issues central to his presidential campaign last year, which ended with his victory in the Nov. 6 election over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
But his remarks also alluded to or addressed outright some of the potential looming political battles of his second term, including a White House push to enact stricter gun control laws—in the face of fierce opposition from the gun lobby—following a massacre last month by a lone gunman at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
“Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm,” Obama said.
The American president also spoke of the urgent need to address climate change, an issue that he put largely on the back burner during his campaign to the dismay of many of his supporters.
The failure to act on the issue “would betray our children and future generation,” Obama said.
“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” he said. “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.”
Obama’s political opponents have accused his administration of cronyism when choosing renewable energy projects to support and that government backing of some initiatives at the expense of others is at odds with the nation’s free-market principles.
Monday’s event marked the culmination of two days of celebrations in America’s capital, where the nation’s political and business elite, celebrities and thousands of others frolicked over the weekend at red-carpet events and inaugural balls.
Popular artists participated in Monday’s ceremony as well, including performances by American folk singer James Taylor and pop singers Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce.
Obama’s swearing-in Monday was ceremonial. He was officially inaugurated in a small, private ceremony Sunday in line with the US Constitution, which requires the president to formally take office on January 20.
US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts officiated both Sunday’s swearing-in and Monday’s ceremony, at which Obama used two bibles: the one used by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president and a hero of Obama’s, and one belonging to slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday’s ceremony fell on the national holiday dedicated to King, who was assassinated in 1968 and who delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech,” an iconic moment in the American civil rights movement, 50 years ago at the National Mall.
Obama referenced King’s speech in his inaugural address Monday, describing the idea that “all of us are created equal” as a “star that guides us still.”
“It guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth,” Obama said.
Former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter attended Monday’s ceremony. The other two living former presidents—George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush—were absent.
The elder Bush, 88, is recovering after suffering several recent illnesses. The younger Bush, Obama’s immediate predecessor in the White House, did not provide a public explanation for his absence.
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