America Welcomes Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II was born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas a White American of predominantly English descent. Father Barack Obama Sr. an African American from Kenya. Raised by his maternal Grandparents Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, after returning to the United States from living with his mother and Step father Lolo Soetoro in Indonesia at age ten. Madelyn died just two day’s before Obama won the election, but she did get to early vote for him. Stanley died in 1992 and Ann died at the age of 52 from cancer in 1995. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School and eventually resided in Chicago, IL where he met and later married Michelle Robinson on Oct 3, 1992. Michelle our First African American First Lady is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School as well. The couple later had two daughters Malia and Sasha.

As a U.S. Junior Senator of IL Obama won the Democratic primaries against Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, wife of former president Bill Clinton. Hillary was running close to become the first female presidential nominee of the U.S. until Obama clinched the nomination in June 2008. November 4, 2008 he won the general election against Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, whom was the first female Republican nominee for a vice-president position. Barack Obama chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden to serve as his Vice President and he has become the first Roman Catholic to serve as Vice President.

January 20, 2009 marked a great day in a new beginning as we welcomed in the Inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President of the United States of America a day after the National Holiday of Martin Luther King Jr. in observance of his Birthday and all that he stood and fought for. His inauguration speech was given on the same mall that the I had a Dream Speech was given by MLK Jr. Obama was sworn in under Oath by Chief Justice John Roberts with the Bible used by Abraham Lincoln our great 16th President also of IL. Abraham Lincoln freed us of slavery and ironically was the first assassinated President of the U.S. Biden was sworn in by Supreme court Justice John Paul Stevens, with an estimated 1.8 million in attendance which set a new record previously held by Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Inauguration. Obama took the oath slightly after 12 noon due to the schedule running behind as well as the glitches during the swearing in with the words getting mixed up. Obama was actually sworn in again in the oval office on Jan 21st  as a precautionary reason, thus without the Bible and large crowd.

• The welcome was given by Senator Dianne Feinstein of CA
• Pastor T.D. Jakes of the multiethnic Dallas megachucrch gave the pre-inauguration sermon
• Rev. Gene Robinson gave invocation prayer
• Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren delivered the inaugural invocation
• The Benediction was given by civil rights activist Rev. Joseph Lowery
• Award winning Poet Elizabeth Alexander also recited a poem during the celebrations

For the first time ever The National Lesbian and Gay Band Association for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender was invited to march in a Presidential Inauguration Parade.  They did previously perform for both of Bill Clinton inaugurations, but they didn’t march in it.

The events began with the arrival on Jan 17th in Philadelphia with a town hall meeting and a later train ride of Lincoln Step’s along the path from Philadelphia to Washington, picking up Vice president Biden and Jill along the way. The free open to the public celebration and concert at the Lincoln Memorial made history as the most open and accessible inauguration. The inaugural kick off concert celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was presented by HBO on Sunday Jan 18th as “We are the One”.

On Jan 19th Michelle Obama and Jill Biden hosted a Kids Inaugural event, broadcast live on the Disney Channel and Radio Disney. Michelle hosted a military concert putting care packages together in RFK stadium and with letter writings also. Obama volunteered his service at a homeless shelter for teens and visited with wounded troops at Walter Reed Medical Center. Along with honoring the legacy of MLK Jr. and asked everybody to get involved and pitch in with rebuilding America. He also attended three private dinners one to honor retired General Colin Powell, Joe Biden and John McCain for their public service.

He escorted George and Laura Bush to their departure ceremony before attending the luncheon at the U.S. Capitol. Senator Ted Kennedy of MA suffered a seizure and collapsed while the inaugural luncheon was wrapping up, of which was later said to have contributed from fatigue, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May as well. I saw CNN had the children of Martin Luther King Jr. on for their reactions and Martin Luther King III spoke that his father’s dream and legacy hasn’t been filled just yet but we are steps closer because we still have 40 million people still living in poverty. Obama ceremonial suit was made up of bullet resistant clothing along with the new heavily armored Cadillac Limo, entitled the beast.

Amongst the Official Balls, in order of Obama’s arrival were:

• The Neighborhood Ball (open to the public and first of it’s kind)
• The Home State of IL and HI Ball
• Commander-in-Chief’s Ball
• The Youth Ball of 18 to 35 years of age
• Vice President Biden Home State of DE and PA Ball
• Mid-Atlantic State’s
• Western State’s Regional Ball
• Mid-West State’s
• Southern State’s
• Eastern State’s

President Obama spoke at each of the above along with a dance from the First Couple as well.

Some of the Artist, performers and speakers throughout the events were:

Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder Faith Hill Beyonce and Jay Z Garth Brooks Jamie Foxx Alicia Keys Maroon 5  Kanye West Bono Denzel Washington Mary J Blidge Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon Shakira Bruce Springsteen Will.I.am Usher John Legend U2 Ashley Judd Sameul L. Jackson Heather Headley Sheryl Crow Renee Fleming Josh Groban Herbie Hancock Jennifer Nettles Miley Cyrus John Williams Itzhak Perlman Yo-Yo MaGabriela Montero Anthony McGill John Mellencamp James Taylor Martin Luther King III Tiger Woods Forest Whitaker Queen Latifah The United States Marine and Navy Bands Corbin Bleu Billy Ray Cyrus Bow Wow Shaquille O’Neal Jonas Brothers

What a lovely young and intelligent First African American family we have living in the White House (in part built by slaves) right now! Barack Obama (47), Michelle Obama (45), Malia, Sasha and even Michelle Obama’s mother Marian Robinson will be residing in the White House as well to lend her supportive and helping hand with the girls. We are all American’s and should all be proud and stand together as one, as
we move forward into what hopefully will be a bright new future and new Era of Responsibility.

I know Obama has a tough job and road ahead of him and I truly feel he will give us his all and try his best to bring about good change during his administration as our Commander in Chief. Just please realize though that Obama is only human and that you can’t please them all. For many this is a heartfelt joyous and inspiring time and I know it still remains a bitter time for others.

I missed the whole inauguration ceremony live but I watched part of the parade that stretched nearly 2 miles long on the National Mall, along with  some recaps of the highlight’s of the day. I tried to stay up to watch some of the happenings within the ten official balls the Obama’s attended, but I fell asleep after about the fourth I think. What a long day they had, while the girls Malia and Sasha enjoyed a sleepover at the White House with some of their Chicago friends.

What an amazing and Historical Journey it has been.