THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: It was billed as Barack Obama's 'Martin Luther King moment', when America's first black president would outline his own dream for a more united America, but all along the length of Washington's great Mall, it was apparent that only half of the nation had showed up to listen to his call.
Overwhelmingly, the crowd of 800,000 people was filled with the faces of the young, female, urban, African-American coalition that ensured Mr Obama's re-election for a second term last November. They were Obama's people, and they were there to celebrate their victory.
After being sworn in on the bibles of his political heroes Abraham Lincoln and Dr King – without any fumbling of the oath of office as happened in 2009 – Mr Obama acknowledged the "uncertain future" faced by America and asked his "fellow Americans" to unite in facing its challenges.
And yet Mr Obama's prescription was an uncompromising and urgent statement of the liberal agenda that leaves Conservative forces – predominantly white, rural and evangelically Christian – seething with anger and alienation.
On gay marriage and gun control, on immigration and inequality, on the global issues of war and climate change, Mr Obama unapologetically reiterated his commitment to his own brand of social and economic inclusiveness.
He quoted the Declaration of Independence – a document, ironically often used by the Tea Party and Republicans – but made very different deductions from its premises than those heard from the American Right. » | Peter Foster, Washington | Monday, January 21, 2013
