Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Obama assumes US presidency today


Americans are marking the annual public holiday in memory of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King - on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration...

The US president-elect will spend the day attending community projects in Washington in memory of Dr King, who was assassinated in 1968. Obama told hundreds of thousands at a rally on Sunday that "the dream of our founders will live on in our time".

Washington is braced for unprecedented crowds for Tuesday's inauguration. More than two million people are expected to attend the historic event...

Sunday's massive concert took place at the Lincoln Memorial - on the same steps that Martin Luther King made his "I Have A Dream" speech in 1963 to similar crowds...

Concluding the concert, Obama spoke of his hope that the US would overcome its toughest challenges in generations, saying "anything is possible in America".

"Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead - I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," he said,

Obama and vice-president-elect Joe Biden were due to spend Monday working at a community project, although the details of their visits were being kept under wraps...

The president-elect has urged people to honour Dr King's legacy by volunteering for community service...

It is a quirk of historical fate that Martin Luther King Day should fall the day before the US swears in its first black president, the BBC's Matthew Price in Birmingham, Alabama, says,

He said that for many in the southern states, Barack Obama's presidency will be the culmination of Dr King's dream - in which he foresaw a day when people would be judged not by the colour of their skin...

Dr King's sister, Christine King Farris, told the BBC she had not expected to see a black president in her lifetime...

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