Spring Break
Obama honors Martin Luther King Jr.
Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: News
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"Tomorrow we will come together as one people on the same Mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still," said Obama, who takes the oath of office at noon Tuesday at a time of economic crisis at home and two wars overseas.
The festive crowds already jamming the capital city for the national holiday honoring King were just a preview of the vast throng expected for Inauguration Day events. "I didn't think I would see a black president inmy generation. I just had to be here," said Donald Butler, 20, a University of Washington student.
Uniformed military personnel were stationed at street corners, advance guard of the massive security presence planned for the oath-taking, inaugural speech, parade and other festivities. There were no disturbances reported.
On the specially built inaugural stands outside the Capitol, musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman rehearsed for their role in the historic ceremonies.
President Bush was in the White House for his final full day as president after two terms marked by the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the economic collapse of 2008. He placed calls to world leaders, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and commuted the prison sentences of two former Border Patrol Guards.
On Tuesday morning, he and first lady Laura Bush will greet Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the storied mansion's front portico and see them in for a brief visit. By the time Obama returns at mid-afternoon, he will be the nation's 44th president, Bush will be en route to a Texas retirement, and the moving vans will have departed with one family's belongings and arrived with the other's.
Obama issued a statement declaring, "King's was a life lived in loving service to others. As we honor that legacy, it's not a day just to pause and reflect - it's a day to act."
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