"Ladies and gentlemen, its my great privilege and distinct honour to present you, the 44th President of the United States of America!"
Mr. Presidnet's inauguration adress today:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9816372/Barack-Obama-Inaugural-Address-2013-full-text.html
(with full text)
I should have brought Canon IOS Kiss X5...!
At Union Station of Metro Red Line
This is an armored vehicle.
Security check, yes of course.
The path the President will come through...
Not too bad, but a bit far for a mobile phone camera!!
America is like the Roman Empire.
That's what came up to me during and at the end of the ceremony, although US government is not autocratic as the Roman Empires in its post-Republic era had been.
I felt that I encountered what has been the foundation of the United States of America, and that America - like other Western countries - inherited a lot from the ancient Roman Empire.
This is something that I cannot feel by reading books, but obviously I need to learn and study more about the two great empires.
America is really an interesting country for a student of political thoughts. They are young, still young, but are confident enough to challenge and overcome whatever they may face in the future, and they believe that what they believe in will eventually come true in the world -not in the heaven- if they do their utmost. This is a country founded by the people who believed that they can achieve whatever they believed in and they considered right.
That is why it is said that Americans are optimistic.
And that is why political thoughts and philosophy still matter in US.
To be optimistic, you need a power of will and strength. Without those, optimism means nothing.
Isn't that all what we Japanese need to tackle the issues facing us today?
President Obama repeated, "Our journey will not be complete until... our journey will not be complete...".
No, the journey will not be ending. It will be ever lasting.
That is why we are here, today. There is no End of history.
I am extremely glad that I had a chance to attend this ceremony today.
