By Bill Lambrecht
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(MCT)
WASHINGTON _ In entering the White House Tuesday after his history-shattering quest, Barack Obama walked a path toward becoming a president who could define an era.
That happens rarely: Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan each set America's course for decades. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and the first George Bush did not. George W. Bush had a consequential presidency, but it remains to be seen what will be good and lasting from the Bush years and what might haunt America.
Obama already has secured his niche by cracking cultural as well as political barriers in becoming the first African American president.
But he could have a far bigger place in history because of challenges that are his blessing as well as his curse, historians say.
In his words Tuesday in an incomparable setting _ with more than 1 million people sweeping out from the Capitol nearly to the horizon _ Obama exuded confidence that he could be a president who goes down in history for the change he brings.
His start was a clarion call for a new era of responsibility along with a pledge to the many who eagerly awaited his presidency to "begin again the work of remaking America."
"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of 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," Obama said.
What the nation needs, Obama said, "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 that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly . . . This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
Obama already was seeing himself in the big picture, as a president confronting challenging times, as someone unafraid to warn of trouble ahead.
The inaugural oath has been spoken "during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace," Obama said. "Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms."
Times of trouble call for big solutions and often create powerful presidents. For the first time in more than a generation, Americans have a president with free rein to spend and spend some more: nearly $1 trillion in a far-reaching stimulus plan likely to have his imprint by mid-February.
The prospect of big things to come was the take-home message spelled out by Obama Tuesday.
"The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act," he said. "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works _ whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care that they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."
Historians say that it is not unusual for a new president to be ambitious, to suggest that America's problem-solving emanate from the White House like spokes from a wheel's center. But the ambition of Obama's speech was extraordinary, presidential scholar Richard Brody said.
"He has really grabbed hold of what's going on and that he's going to hit the ground running and be more than first among equals," said Brody, a professor emeritus at Stanford University.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., among a select few who prayed with Obama on Tuesday before journeying up Pennsylvania Avenue to the inauguration, said it's often the miniscule _ not the big issues of the day _ that confound Obama.
"There's a certain irony," she said. "Because if there was something (that) frustrated my friend on the campaign, it was the trivial and the ticky tacky; the lipstick on a pig, the flag pin. All of those things drove him crazy," she said. "I know that he's energized and excited about the weight of the matters he's got to deal with."
The setting Tuesday was as remarkable as the moment, telling a tale of a man who thus far appears right for the times and in tune with the people. That connection was apparent in the joy that spread across the National Mall.
Despite an icy wind that clawed out of the southwest, an electric charge shot through the throngs that made up Washington's biggest crowd in its 219-year history. Block after block of barricaded streets were given over to hundreds of stands selling T-shirts, posters, calendars, mugs and all things Obama.
The city was engulfed in unbridled Obamania.
"I am 33 years old as of yesterday, and this is the best birthday of my life. I'm so excited about a new era," said April Breeden, of St. Louis.
"This was one of the best days of my life," echoed Terry Waldron, 60, a high school teacher from Sparta Ill. "And I think we are going to see some big changes in this country."
Dan Beiser, a Democratic state representative from Alton, Ill., felt the groove near the front of the crowd. "I wish there was some way to capture the feeling and give it to everybody else," he said. "There's renewed hope."
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(St. Louis Post-Dispatch staffer writers Kevin McDermott and Jake Wagman contributed to this report.)
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© 2009, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): inauguration
GRAPHICS (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): inauguration
