Barack Obama Inaugurated As 44th President of the United States

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jumping the gun a bit aaman? he's not yet been inaugurated. just under 30 mins to go.

I live just outside of DC. The city has come to a standstill. The National Mall is now closed as it has reach full capacity. The streets are so jammed that people cannot exit metro stations and there are backups everywhere.

and heeeeeere's obama in mcmahonese

Articles are invited on the weight of expectations on the new President

The liveblog's ended, but comments stay open, as always

Vice President Jobs?

ReadWriteWeb's Tag Cloud analysis of Obama's and Bush's inaugural speeches

ReadWriteWeb's Tag Cloud analysis of Obama's and Bush's inaugural speeches

Clever. Bush talked a lot about freedom and delivered less of it to America. Obama talked a lot about less - will he deliver more? And more of what?

how is it being reported around the world?

Good way to put it Ruvy. ...We shall see!

Well, it's the day of Inauguration in the US, where the "Great New Hope" floats in, while the outgoing admin bows out. Oddly enough, I had a flashback of a brief memory from 10 years ago:

Back in 1998, when CNN first upgraded their website and started their chat boards, I remember being avid participant there, where you could even find assorted journalists and academics lounging online.

We used to have some heated discussions about geo-politics. I remember one such debate over the headline issue at the time - the opportunistic bombing of Belgrade by the war-mongering Clinton and Albright. I angrily denounced Albright (whom I always referred to by her original foreign-born name, Madlenka Korbel), complaining that she was an extra-territorialist Atlanticist whose own personal past had prejudiced her into imposing war on Serbia. I also made pointed comparisons to the 1991 Gulf War and how the United States had built up Saddam's war machine into the menace it became, before bludgeoning it into submission after it chomped on America's little Kuwaiti poodle. A Malayalee living in Kuwait rebuked me, complaining, "You and I share a common name - a Mahabharata figure who was famous for his foresight! How can you then be so blind to the suffering Saddam has caused your fellow Indians here!"

Before I could retort back, another poster named Condoleezza curiously inquired as to what our name meant, upon which I had to summarize the Mahabharata story for her. A regular on the forum, she preferred to stay out of our acrimonious debates and never used to voice any opinions of her own, only asking occasional questions. I figured she was some Mississippi grandma visiting the forum to pass the time. It was only later to my chagrin that other forum participants mentioned to me she was a political science professor from Stanford.

It was only a couple of years later during the 2001 US Presidential campaign that the memory of that exchange came back to me, as I read about George W Bush's new foreign policy advisor, and how she was actually a former student of Josef Korbel's.

Heh, an odd coincidence, but a true story.

I watched Obama's inauguration last night. I am not an American but I couldn't help feeling really proud of who thay have elected and got goosebumps when he spoke about how 60 years ago he wouldn't have been served in restaurants in some states.

O well, now back to business,let's see what he can do to take the world out of the mess that Dubya has created.

DOn't want to be cynical and really want to give this guy a chance.

GO OBAMA!

I really wish that India elects wisely this summer to complement the miracle that this past year has been, here in the US, politically speaking.

I agree.. we need a change as much as the Americans needed.. the Cong govt has failed on many fronts.

i don't doubt that Obama will be a vast improvement for the U.S. and the rest of the world

It was a historic day indeed with the inauguration of Barack Obama and now Obama will have to sit down and tackle the problems facing the United States of America. The economy, oil, jobs and two wars will all be Obama's focal points during his historic first 90 days in office. The changing of the guard will hopefully equal an end to the crisis.

so far obama is making the right moves, even though we all know that he is only human:

1. weapons cut, saving a lot of tax money that was sucked into the defense contractors coffers.

2. a congressional delegation visited cuba and was not warned of dire consequences and worse by the administration.

3. the signing of the closure of gitmo

4. the lifting of the ban on media coverage of dead soldiers coming home in body-bags.

5. the recent speech in turkey

6. an overall sophisticated understanding of the world, packaged in a cultured, literate, urbane and brimming with intelligence persona (compare this with the predecessor)

The president unfortunately is not the person who may actually lead the country. The country is ruled by corporations that decided to change the President for a better one who would be more appealing to Americans. Actually the US course hasn't changed since the Inauguration of Obama, even though he's been awarded with a Nobel Peace prize.

Rubbish. America isn't run by corporations. But corporations DO have too much influence on Washington.

That would be because is America is founded on the idea that free-market capitalism produces the best results for its citizens when combined with rule of law. When you compare the living standards of the US and other developed western democracies, including the UK and some of its former colonies, you can't say that isn't true. It is. It's also why people are busting down the door to get in to these places.

However, when it comes to democratic governance and the peddling of influence, the two are separate issues and should be treated as such.

Even at its most benign, corporate influence peddling and lobbying by non-corporate influence groups is a form of corruption that doesn't sit well with the exercise of transparent modern democracy.

It's the start of the rot.