No US president in recent memory has entered
office facing such huge crises or such enormous expectations as Barack Obama, dpa reported.
The Democratic president-elect is to be inaugurated January 20 as the country's
44th president, elected with a strong 53 per cent majority by voters
disillusioned with eight years of Republican George W Bush.
The American public believes Obama will not only lead them out of two
increasingly unpopular wars and restore the country's tainted image abroad, but
also rescue them from the economic free fall that has brought worst worldwide
financial crisis in more than 70 years.
Such daunting prospects nearly overshadow the historic nature of the
inauguration. The theme of the day, "A New Birth of Freedom," is
meant to commemorate the 200th birthday this year of president Abraham Lincoln,
the man who ended slavery.
Yet even though Obama felled the ultimate US racial barrier by elected the
first black president, that feat has faded to a footnote as he rolled up his
sleeves in the first week of January to begin bartering with a resistant
Democratic Congress over his request for another 800 billion dollars to
stimulate the flagging economy.
The former Illinois senator may have to forego the traditional honeymoon with
Congress as he seeks to wrestle problems to the ground.
"We're not trying to jam anything down people's throats," Obama said
in a broadcast interview recently.
But he warned that another 4 million US jobs could disappear in 2009 if
Congress failed to act, and that the legislature would "hear" from
him if they didn't pass his programme by February 13.
"The sooner a recovery and reinvestment package is in place, the sooner we
can start turning the economy around," he vowed.
Unfazed by what looms ahead, Obama took time to get to know Washington before
his inauguration, stopping at the famous Ben's Chili Bowl restaurant for a hot
dog and visiting the Lincoln Memorial with wife Michelle and daughters Malia,
10, and Sasha, 7. The family came to town early so the girls could start
school.
All told, he has projected supreme confidence that he can conquer whatever came
along, while warning that the economic recovery will be slow.
He'll gather wind to his sails from well wishers as the choreographed
pre-inaugural activities start on Saturday, when Obama boards a train in Philadelphia to re-enact the last stage of Lincoln's train journey into Washington in 1861
just as the US Civil War was brewing.
On Sunday, a free outdoor concert on the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial
will include Beyonce, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and
Stevie Wonder. Readings will be given by Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington.
On Monday, the official celebration of civil rights leader Martin Luther King
Day, the Obamas will join in one of the nationwide service projects
traditionally held on this day. And on Tuesday, up to 2 million people are
expected to pile onto the Mall as Obama is sworn in at noon.
For a world which sees the US tarnished by Bush's go-it-alone attitude, the
controversial Guantanamo prison camp and the US military abuses against
detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Obama has pledged to restore
Washington's international standing through more direct diplomacy and a return
to the respect for human rights that has been one of the nation's historical
hallmarks.
He has signalled it would be a "challenge" to close down Guantanamo in his first 100 days in office, despite huge international pressure to do so.
But he indicated he would move "swiftly" to find a "new
approach" to the Iranian nuclear crisis, which he regards as one of his
biggest diplomatic challenges.
Obama will inherit a record 1.2-trillion-dollar deficit from Bush, a sum that
could rise to 1.8-trillion-dollars even if all tax cuts are repealed in the
next year. Instead, he has backed away from his pledge to immediately repeal
Bush's tax cuts and has instead proposed new cuts.
The president-elect has signalled that the financial recovery will be long and
arduous.
"Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have
some skin in the game," he said.
Obama's plan would include investments in infrastructure projects, health care,
education and alternative energy sources and tax cuts for middle- and
lower-income workers.
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