Obama Inauguration Preview

On the Saturday before the inauguration, President-elect Obama will hop a train in Phildelphia, then stop in Delaware to pick up VP-elect Joe Biden, and stop again for a celebration in Baltimore. On Sunday, there will be a welcome event open to the public. Monday, January 19th is Martin Luther King Day, which will be observed by Obama and Biden by participating in activities dedicated to serving others in communities across the D.C. area.

On Tuesday, January 20th, Obama and Biden will take their oaths of office. Here's how it'll play:

First we'll hear some musical selections from the fabulous Marine Corps Band (one of their bands will also appear in the Rose Parade), then a performance by the San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses.

Then there's the formality of a "Call to Order," and Senator Diane Feinstein of California will make welcoming remarks (she helped negotiate the peace between Obie and Hillary).

Next up is an invocation by controversial Pastor Rick Warren, whose participation was met with disgust by the gay community because of Warren's support of Prop. 8 and his Neanderthal statements about homosexuality. But Barack is apparently including him in the name of "dialogue" on difficult social issues.


Then it's Aretha Franklin singing an as yet unnamed selection, followed by Associate Supreme Court Justice Paul Stevens administering the Oath of Office to VP-elect Joseph Biden.

This will be followed by more music from a mini orchestra selected by film composer John Williams, featuring violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill.


At Noon, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John G. Roberts, Jr., will then administer the Presidential Oath of Office to Barack Obama, who has asked that Lincoln's bible be used in the ceremony, borrowed for the day from the Library of Congress. Barack's swearing-in precedes the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth by a few weeks. It is the first time since Lincoln's inauguration that the bible has been used in a presidential swearing-in ceremony.


Immediately following the oath, the bands play four ruffles and flourishes and "Hail to the Chief," followed by a 21-gun salute from howitzers of the Presidential Salute Battery, 3d United States Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

President Obama will then deliver his Inaugural Address, one of the most anticipated speeches in the history of the United States, and it should be a doozy.

Some reports say there will then be a poem by Elizabeth Alexander.

A benediction will then be delivered by Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, a former civil rights leader and retired pastor of Atlanta's Cascade United Methodist Church, who is gay-friendly.

The National Anthem will be performed for President Obama by the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters.

Then Obama will have to start fixing this mess we're in.