Obama sounds a message of hope in trying times - Taiwan News Online

Obama sounds a message of hope in trying times - Taiwan News Online

By STEVEN R. HURST
Associated Press
2009-01-19 05:16 AM
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President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are seen on their train en route to Wilmington, Del., Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Pool, Chang W.
Lee)

Associated Press

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.,

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Associated Press


President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, center, stand with Maj. Gen. Richard Rowe as they lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns
at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Associated Press


President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden stand with Maj. Gen. Richard Rowe as they lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington
National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Associated Press
Barack Obama sang along _ at one moment bobbing his head to the music, at another somberly absorbing the words of speakers _ and the U.S. capital came alive
in the hours ahead of his inauguration Tuesday as America's 44th president.

On a gloomy Sunday afternoon, tens of thousands of concertgoers blanketed the grounds below the neoclassical memorial that houses a giant statue of Abraham
Lincoln, the country's 16th president who led the nation through the Civil War and emancipated slaves.

Lincoln, Obama's fellow Illinoisan, opened the door on the racial divide for African Americans nearly 150 years, and the 47-year-old president-elect stood
before the massive crowd in testament to America's lumbering and imperfect progress toward racial equality.

Taking the rostrum to end the concert, Obama again warned the nation and those assembled under gray skies and in chilly temperatures that Americans face
a vast assignment in battling to stop their economy from sliding into another Great Depression. But he smiled, too, reminding of his message of hope.

When he takes the presidential oath of office at noon (1700 GMT) Tuesday, Obama said he and the nation would bask in the dream that motivated his run for
the country's highest office: "a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together ... then not only would we
restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process."

Obama, his wife, Michelle, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, appeared genuinely to enjoy the concert. The Obama girls, Sasha and Malia,
snapped pictures of the performers, an A-list of the American music, entertainment and sports world.

Obama, Biden and their families arrived the night before by train from Philadelphia, a symbolic journey recalling that of Lincoln in equally troubled times
in 1861 before the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War.

The president-elect and Biden began Sunday with a somber wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery on the Virginia side of
the Potomac River. Obama and Biden stood, hands over hearts, as a bugler played Taps, the military call sounded over soldiers' graves.

The Obamas and Bidens then attended church services separately.

At Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in northwest Washington, the congregation erupted in applause when Obama and wife, Michelle, walked in with daughters
Malia and Sasha and Michelle Obama's mother. They sat in the second row, which had been set aide for them.

Obama was told anew that his rise follows the achievements of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader whose memory the nation celebrates
on Monday.

When times turn tough and critics sound off, Pastor Derrick Harkins said, Obama should turn to the strength of his wife and to God.

"Understand that God has prepared you, and God has placed you, and God will not forsake you," Harkins told the incoming president.

Biden and his wife attended mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. At one point, when newcomers and visitors were welcomed, congregants laughed
and started applauding until Biden stood up. Then everyone stood up for sustained applause.

The crowd gathered for the concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial erupted in cheers when Obama and his wife arrived, walking down the steps of the memorial.

Bruce Springsteen sang "The Rising" to open the concert which included, among other stars, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce and U2.

Somewhere between 1 million and 2 million people are expected to make their way to Washington for the swearing in ceremony and inaugural parade. Nearly
a quarter million tickets have been issued for the festivities at the Capitol.

Although he may not get to bed before 3 a.m. (0800 GMT) after the inaugural balls, Obama plans to make Wednesday, his first full day as president, a jam-packed
affair of prayer, diplomacy, war discussions and welcoming hundreds of visitors to the White House.

The new president will start Wednesday at Washington's National Cathedral for the National Prayer Service, which dates to George Washington's time. His
office said Friday that he and his wife, Michelle, will welcome "hundreds of special guests" on "day one, when we open the doors of the White House to
you."

Perhaps most importantly, however, will be Obama's plan to fulfill his pledge to assemble the nation's military leaders to take a hard look at starting
the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq _ six years after outgoing President George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" following the initial U.S.
invasion of the Mideast nation.

Obama said in July: "I intend to end this war. My first day in office, I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and
that is to end this war responsibly and deliberately but decisively."

David Axelrod, a top Obama adviser, said on CNN Sunday that the next commander in chief would do just that at the White House session that also will include
military commanders and aides outside the Joint Chiefs.

His first day could be crowded as well with the Middle East and the bloody Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Both sides agreed to a cease-fire after
three weeks of intense fighting since Israeli forces moved into the tiny Palestinian territory to stop the militant Hamas group from firing missiles into
the south of the Jewish state.

One worry seemed to be under control. Obama's soon-to-be White House press secretary pronounced the president-elect relieved to already have a version of
Tuesday's inaugural address down on paper.

Robert Gibbs said the speech would stress responsibility and openness _ words that Obama emphasized along the train route in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware,
and Baltimore the day before.

Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Obama will call on Americans to embrace a new era of responsible behavior _ in government and in business.
Emanuel said the speech will harken back to John F. Kennedy's call for personal sacrifice in his 1960 inaugural address and will ask the nation to reject
the "culture of anything goes."