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President Barack Obama Takes Oath of Office, Extols the Promise of America


President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before over half a million people stretched out across the Mall in Washington DC on Monday, January 21, 2013.  US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to the president.

The president described an ambitious agenda for the next four years, including immigration reform, a stronger middle class, equal access for all Americans, including women, gays and minorities, and a sustainable energy future. 

"America’s possibilities are limitless," President Obama said, "for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands:  youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention.  My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together."

Read the  full text of the president's speech. 

Here is a video of the ceremony and the speech.

Prior to the president's oath of office, Vice-President Joe Biden was sworn in to office by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer.


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