Obama makes history as first black US president

Agence France-Presse - 1/20/2009 11:47 PM GMT

Barack Obama became America's first black president Tuesday in a singular moment of history and proclaimed the nation had chosen "hope over fear" in the face of economic gloom and foreign wars.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," the new president told a nation caught in the worst economic blight since the 1930s Great Depression.

Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother, laid his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861 to take the oath of office.

He quickly broke with departing president George W. Bush's policies on the war on terrorism and the economy, and told the rest of the world America was "ready to lead once more" in an 18-minute inaugural address .

Obama's inauguration, on the steps of the US Capitol which was partially built with slave labor, broke the highest racial barrier in the United States, and may go a long way to consummating civil rights icon Martin Luther King's dream of racial unity.

"We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," Obama said in a somber, sometimes poetic inaugural address shot through with optimism that the new president can sail America through its current storms.

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many," Obama said, seeking to buy himself time to haul the country out of its current woes.

"They will not be met easily, or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met."

Amid the exuberant celebrations, Obama and wife Michelle left their armored limousine to twice walk stretches of the inauguration parade route, which wended from the US Capitol back to the White House.

Obama beamed as he waved to the crowds , walking hand-in-hand with his wife down Pennsylvania Avenue, then walked into the White House for the first time as the 44th president.

The crowd on the National Mall numbered at least two million, the Washington Post said, and many in the throng wept as the new president spoke.

Bush looked on as the torch of power was passed, after his turbulent eight years in the White House.

As Bush and wife Laura flew over the mall in a helicopter on the first leg of their trip back to Texas, the crowd mockingly sang "Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye."

In his speech Obama also sent an immediate message to the rest of the world, and Muslim nations in particular, after America's ties with some of its top allies were tarnished during the Bush years, especially over the Iraq war.

"America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more," he said.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

"We understand that greatness is never a given, it must be earned."

But he also warned that those who would use "terror" and slaughter innocents to threaten the United States would face an uncompromising response.

"Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," Obama said. "We say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

Obama called on Americans to launch a "new era of responsibility" as the economy sinks deep into recession, brought on by massive stocks of bad mortgages and debt.

"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to mark hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

He also signaled a sharp shift from Bush administration anti-terror policies which critics say have compromised US ideals and the constitution.

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

He said the United States would begin to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."

The new president also said the United States would join other nations in rolling back "the specter of a warming planet."

The festive mood was tempered however when veteran Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, the only surviving brother of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, collapsed from a seizure during an inaugural lunch in the Congress building.

His hospital doctors said Kennedy, who is fighting brain cancer, had likely succumbed to fatigue.

The huge crises facing Obama meanwhile were underlined as stocks on Wall Street slumped on the first day of his presidency, losing four percent with investors spooked by banking industry woes.

Obama's moment in history was being closely watched abroad .

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed Obama's inauguration as a "new chapter in both American history and the world's history."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was eager to work with Obama to "change the world" while German Chancellor Angela Merkel wished him "the best of luck."

With expectations running high at home and globally, Obama's team is pleading for patience as it confronts a groaning in-tray of challenges from Gaza to the Guantanamo Bay war-on-terror camp.

Obama has vowed to hit the ground running as soon as he takes office, pushing an 825-billion-dollar stimulus package to lift the US economy and vowing to repair the tattered US image abroad. The new president has also offered talks with US foes such as Iran.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2182651