New start as Obama takes oath
Although still popular, leader faces big challenges
WASHINGTON — A still-popular Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office for a second term on Sunday, facing a troubled future but hoping to leave behind a battering four years at the helm of a government mired in ugly political division.
When Obama first took office as the 44th U.S. president, many Americans hoped the symbolism of the first black man in the White House was a turning point in the country’s deeply troubled racial history. Obama vowed to moderate the partisan anger engulfing the country, but the nation is only more divided four years later, perhaps as deeply as at any time since the U.S. Civil War 150 years ago.
Obama was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts during a brief ceremony with his family in the White House Blue Room, meeting the legal requirement that presidents officially take office on Jan. 20. Because that date fell on a Sunday this year, the traditional ceremonies surrounding the start of a president’s term were put off to Monday, which coincides this year with the birthday of revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King. He was assassinated in 1968.
Obama made no special remarks at Sunday’s ceremony, surrounded by portraits of former White House residents.
On Monday, he will repeat the oath and give his inaugural speech on the steps of the U.S. Capitol before hundreds of thousands of people. He then makes the traditional journey, part of it on foot, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
While Obama decisively won a second term, the jubilation that surrounded him four years ago is subdued this time around — a reality for second-term presidents. He guided the country through many crushing challenges after taking office in 2009: ending the Iraq war, putting the Afghan war on a course toward U.S. withdrawal and saving the collapsing economy. He won approval for a sweeping health care overhaul. Yet onerous problems remain, and his success in resolving them will define his place in history.
He faces bitter confrontation with opposition Republicans over gun control, avoiding a default on the nation’s debts, cutting the spiralling federal deficit and preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
Joe Biden was sworn in for his second term as vicepresident earlier Sunday, taking the oath from Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor at his official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Americans increasingly see Obama as a strong leader, someone who stands up for his beliefs and is able to get things done, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The survey shows him with a 52 per cent job approval rating, among the highest rankings since early in his presidency. His personal favourability, 59 per cent, has rebounded from a low of 50 per cent in the 2012 campaign against Republican Mitt Romney.
Domestic issues, notably the economy and health care, dominated Obama’s first term, but there were also critical international issues that could define his next four years. Obama may have to decide whether to launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, something he is loath to do.
Obama will also have to deal with the civil war in Syria, Israel-Palestinian ten- sions, a chill in relations with Russia and a series of maritime disputes in Asia.
Yet the political battles at home continue to dominate Obama’s attention.
Looming in the coming weeks are automatic cuts to defence and domestic programs, originally scheduled for Jan. 1, unless Congress and the president act. And the U.S. budget runs dry in March, leading again to a potential shutdown unless both sides agree on new legislation.
Obama is also seeking new restrictions on guns and ammunition, a move opposed by most Republicans and the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying group which believes any limits would violate constitutional protections for gun owners.