Obama's Inauguration

Barack Obama has been inaugurated for a second and final time in Washington D.C. yesterday. The significance of Obama’s second inauguration is no small thing, the breakthrough for African Americans continues. It’s also important to note what date his public inauguration took place, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Without the work done by King and the rest of those in the Civil Rights Movement then it would have been impossible for Obama to say the oath of office.

Yet the big question is what will Obama try to do in a second term. If you listened to his inaugural address on Capitol Hill it might give you a clue. He spoke of tackling Climate Change, specifically he said “some may still deny the overwhelming judgement of science…” which most people took to be a dig at Republicans. He also brought up entitlements, Medicade, Medicare and Social Security and defended them against the accusations that they are for takers only. He implied the need for comprehensive immigration reform so that immigrants who were prepared to work and realise their dreams could become citizens. Yet one of the more memorable ideals that Obama included was that of gay rights. So not only has he become the first sitting US President to support gay marriage, but the first to include it in one of his inaugural addresses as one of his priorities! He mentioned Stonewall, the 1969 riots which sparked the gay pride movement and re-addirmed his commitment to gay marriage:

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated as equal like everyone else, under the law. For if we are truly equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

When asked, the American people frequently choose ending the war in Iraq as Obama’s greatest first term achievement. Obama also plans on ending the war in Afghanistan by 2014, which led him to say “a decade of war is ending”. America has been in a perpetual state of war since 2001 and it will soon end. One of the big questions is will there be a peace dividend? If America is to balance its budget, there’d need to be one.

Unfortunately for Obama, one of the biggest problems on his second term will be Republican obstructionism. After the 2010 mid-terms when Republicans took control of the House, Obama has had trouble with the no-compromise section of the Republican Party that has meant that the 2010-2012 Congress was the most unproductive there’s ever been. Trying to get many of his policies through the House will be extremely difficult, but I think Obama has learnt from his first term, he needs to go in all guns blazing.