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

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World marks Obamas historic U.S. presidential inauguration
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Ocak 20, 2009 13:18

Billions of people around the world marked Tuesday the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama as America's 44th and first black president. (UPDATED)

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Climaxing the unlikeliest of journeys, Obama, the son of a black Kenyan and white mother from Kansas took the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol, a congressional building built by slave labor. Â

 

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

 

In one of the kick-off events, the Japanese town of Obama put up stages outside a local Buddhist temple for an "Obama for Obama" event, featuring the hula dancers - Obama was born in Hawaii, and hula is popular in Japan - and speeches by local dignitaries, AP reported.

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The town has been big on Obama all the way from the primaries. After his election, more than 1,000 people turned out for a raucous celebration. Obama, which means "little beach," has a population of 32,000.

 

In Indonesia, where Obama spent four years as a boy, children from his former school were to sing at celebrations in downtown Jakarta and former classmates of the president-elect plan to gather to watch his speech.

 

Hopes are high that Obama will return in the first 100 days of his presidency to the tropical country where he is known by the nickname Barry.

 

Hong Kong was also marking the historic transition.Â

 

The Madame Tussaud’s museum at Hong Kong’s popular mountaintop tourist attraction Victoria Peak was due to unveil a wax figure of Obama, adding to its collection of statues of Chinese celebrities like Jackie Chan, former Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Jiang Zemin and the country’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei.

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The wax figure was part of a global rollout - Obama figures have already been unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s museums in London, Berlin and New York.

 

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.

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"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.

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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.

 

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