World marks Obama's historic U.S. presidential inauguration

Many across the Middle East heralded the inauguration but expressed reservations about how much Obama will actually change U.S. policy in a region where anti-American sentiment spiked during the Bush administration.

 

Those doubts have become more pronounced in recent weeks with the devastating Gaza offensive by U.S. ally Israel that killed over 1,300 Palestinians.

 

But Obama still retains a great deal of goodwill in the Middle East from people who feel his multicultural background allows him to relate to the region better than past U.S. presidents.

 

A WORLD OF PERIL

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

 

"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, 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 U.S. constitution, Obama was to deliver his most important speech yet in a career littered with memorable oratory since his explosion onto the national stage in 2004.

 

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 Obama and vice president-elect Joseph Biden, the new U.S. leaders were to lunch with members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and Obama’s cabinet, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

The whirlwind day was to end with 10 official inaugural balls before the Obamas 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.