President-elect Barack Obama kicked off a star-studded inaugural celebration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday by reminding a crowd snaking all the way to the Washington Monument that “anything is possible in America.”
“Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure — that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time,” said Obama at the end of an open-air concert where people were spoilt for choice.
Despite the January cold and grey skies the mood at the “We Are One” inaugural event was buoyant. It also marked Hollywood’s return to the limelight in Washington, as stars from Forest Whittaker to Denzel Washington took the stage for readings between energetic performances by U2, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Usher and many others. American pride shone through as the crowd sang with Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen in a rousing chorus of “This Land is Your Land.”
Obama will inherit two wars and a tanking economy, but his message of hope played across beleaguered America. Obama has written the bulk of his inaugural address and his spokesman Robert Gibbs has told Fox News the “themes that you will hear on Tuesday” will be familiar to people that have watched the campaign. “But they will be heavily infused with this notion of responsibility, and getting our country back on track,” said Gibbs.
