President Obama steps into history, and a world of peril

Tracing the arc of history to a day many thought would never come, Barack Obama will be sworn in as America's 44th and first black president -- and wades into a sea of troubles.

Climaxing the unlikeliest of journeys, Barack Obama, the son of a black Kenyan and white mother from Kansas will be taking the oath of office at noon (1700 GMT) on the steps of the Capitol, a congressional building built by slave labor.

Guarded by an unprecedented security operation, millions were expected to pack the National Mall stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963, spoke of a dream of racial unity.

To his successor, outgoing President George W. Bush bequeaths an economy in crisis, a war on two fronts and a patchwork of frayed alliances. For Barack Obama, drawing inspiration both from former great Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the perils of the age call for a spirit of national sacrifice unseen since World War II.

"Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still," Obama said Monday, paying tribute to the slain civil rights hero on the national holiday commemorating King's birth.

"As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked," he said.

"We resolve that as we walk, we must walk together. And as we go forward in the work of renewing the promise of this nation, let's remember King's lesson -- that our separate dreams are really one."

Tuesday morning, in the first presidential handover since the September 11 attacks of 2001, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were to meet the departing president and First Lady Laura Bush at their new home in the White House.

Then, after swearing to "preserve, protect and defend" the US constitution, Obama is to deliver his most important speech yet in a career littered with memorable oratory since his explosion onto the national stage in 2004.

Braving the cold, a vast crowd was expected to line the Mall, watching the historic inauguration either near the West Front of the US Capitol for the lucky few, or in front of giant television screens for the rest.

Renita King, 46, said she had flown from Houston, Texas with her six-year-old son Arthur to mark the years of racial prejudice endured by her 73-year-old mother.

"I am here for her, and every time that she was called a n*gger -- that is how I see this, as an American," she said.

Aides said Obama's call for all Americans to embrace public service would dominate his inaugural address, as he gets to grips with the nation's longest recession since World War II and his plans to pull US troops out of Iraq.

"Given the crisis we're in and the hardships so many people are going through, we can't allow any idle hands. Everybody's going to have to be involved. Everybody's going to have to pitch in," Obama said during a visit Monday to a teen shelter in Washington.

The "war on terror" is just one part of Obama's groaning in-tray of challenges.
From Gaza to Guantanamo, he confronts a world in tumult, a point underscored by the latest bellicose noises from nuclear-armed North Korea.

Following the inauguration of President Barack Obama and vice president-elect Joseph Biden, the new US leaders were to lunch with members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and Obama's cabinet, including secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Marching bands, military veterans, union workers and schoolchildren were to then join a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House for President Obama to take up the reins of power in the Oval Office.... and his place in history.

Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney, 67, who pulled a muscle in his back Monday -- the latest in a series of health problems -- while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for the inauguration, the White House said.

The whirlwind day is to end with 10 official inaugural balls before the Obama's could retire with their daughters Malia and Sasha, becoming the youngest First Family since that of John F. Kennedy, who occupied the White House in the early 1960s.

The celebrations have an acute poignancy for many in the United States, and the world, given Obama's mold-shattering bi-racial heritage.

Even tennis star Serena Williams, a Jehovah's Witness who makes a point of staying out of political matters, said from the Australian Open that she was inspired by Obama.

"This is an amazing moment for American history," she said.

Can the rest of the world be excited about the new presidency? Yes we can!