America's celebrity, Barack Obama, became the 44th President, the first African-American for the nation's highest office, in an epochal transition, with a spectacular swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol at noon on 20 January. The unfolding history was watched by over a jubilant million thronging the National Mall and its environs, and people across the nation and the world over television.

The inspiring inaugural address of the new 47-year old leader was even more significant for the new directions that he set for “remaking America amid gathering clouds and raging storms,” given the undiminished capacity of the “most prosperous and powerful nation on earth. America can meet the challenges with unity of purpose. What is required of us is a new era of responsibility, a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world,” Obama said.

Exuding confidence to overcome America's worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Obama signaled a broad shift in US approach to the rest of the world. “America cannot exercise power alone but must make prudent use of power and meet new threats and problems with greater cooperation and understanding between nations,” the new president announced.

Following a disastrous term

Obama’s coronation ended the eight-year term of President Bush, many of whose policies were viewed as disastrous – especially the Iraq war and abuse of human rights in the treatment of suspected terrorists.

The new President rejects unilate-ralism and is expected to undo some of the actions of the Bush administration in the coming days and weeks. In his inaugural address he assured that the rule of law and the rights of man assured by the Founding Fathers of America would not be given up for ‘expedience’s sake.’

“America is a friend of every nation which seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that it is ready to lead again in ushering in a new era of peace,” said Obama. On Iraq where over 130,000 troops had been bogged-down for over five years, Obama, who had set a 16-month timetable for withdrawal, said: “we will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.” His administration would also work “tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet,” he added.

To some who doubt whether Obama would take hard and unpopular decisions, he said there would be no wavering in defending ‘our way of life’ and he would tell those seeking to advance their aims by terror or slaughtering innocents, ‘we will defeat you.’ To the Muslim world, Obama, son of a black Kenyan Muslim father and a white mother from Kansas, said: “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”

Era of accountability

Obama did not refer to details of his economic recovery plans but pro-mised an era of accountability for spending tax-payer dollars in investment in infrastructure and other programmes. He squarely blamed the weakness of the economy on “greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

“Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” He also referred to the sapping of confidence and “a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable.”

Obama promised bold and swift action not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. Apart from large spending on infrastructure, Obama's priorities include restoring science to its rightful place, using technology to raise health care's quality and lower its cost and harnessing sun and the winds and the soil to fuel cars and run factories. Schools, colleges and universities would be transformed to meet the demands of a new age.

Conservatives in USA, while agreeing that a big fiscal stimulus is required to lift the economy out of recession, express concerns about the build-up of deficits and public debt. Obama said: “those who question the scale of our ambitions or suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans fail to understand that the ground has shifted beneath them and the question is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, provides jobs at a decent wage. And we move forward only if the answer is yes. Only if those managing public dollars are held to account, there would be trust between a people and their government.”

The swearing-in ceremony was followed by the departure of outgoing President George Bush and his wife Laura Bush, with a ceremonial send-off by the new President and first lady Michelle Obama and Vice-President Joseph Biden and his wife. After lunch with the law-makers, Obama drove to the White House and the traditional parade on Pennsylvania Avenue rounded off the four-day inaugural celebrations.