It is finished- the campaigning. Now Barack H. Obama is the 44th president of the United States. The 43rd president is back home in Texas, albeit Midland. And George will get to see the house that his wife bought in Dallas for the first time. The inauguration balls are over, the hoop and hype have come and gone and the Obama family have spent their first night in the White House. History has now been remade. Today marks the first day of reality- as President of the United States.
Obama said it in his inauguration speech, "That we are in the midst of crisis is now well-understood," Obama said as Bush sat a few feet away from him on the Capitol platform. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America." Oh yeah, we're in a crisis and as he spoke the stock market was falling like a rock.
President Obama, on his first full day in the Oval Office, will pivot his attention Wednesday from celebration to the grueling work of securing confirmations for the rest of his Cabinet nominees and determining the way forward in Iraq and Afghanistan. Timothy Geithner, Obama's nominee for treasury secretary, comes up for his first confirmation hearing Wednesday after an earlier hearing was postponed over questions about tax problems.
Since launching his campaign two years ago Obama has pledged to overhaul or improve dozens of domestic and foreign policies and programs. In his address Tuesday, he also stressed his determination to lift America's global image. The more than 1 million spectators on and around the National Mall for Obama's swearing-in Tuesday personified how high a bar Obama's supporters have set for him.
"Expectations are so sky high for him, I think a lot of Americans expect things to turn around in six months," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He said two years might be a more realistic goal for major changes to take place under the Obama administration.
Meanwhile, Obama awaits the confirmation of the team that he has hand-picked to help him on day one. The vote for Hillary Clinton's nomination for secretary of state was also held up until Wednesday over a single senator's objection. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Clinton would nevertheless "receive overwhelming bipartisan support."
Among those confirmed Tuesday were Obama's pick for energy secretary, Steven Chu, homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano; agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack; education secretary, Arne Duncan; interior secretary Ken Salazar; and veterans affairs secretary Eric Shinseki.
Welcome to your new job Barack! :-)
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