Obama: We Are One Concert

Yesterday on the National Mall in Washington there was a huge gathering, kicking off the first day of Barack Obama's inaugural festivities -- the We Are One Concert.

Two days before he is to take the oath of office at the Capitol, Mr. Obama addressed a crowd that began at his feet below Mr. Lincoln’s statue and stretched far down the Mall to the World War II memorial. The sea of people — scarf-wrapped and stocking-capped, shivering under gray skies and 35-degree temperatures — had poured onto the National Mall on Sunday afternoon to kick off three days of festivities to celebrate the inauguration.

“Only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now,” Mr. Obama said to the crowd, which had assembled not only to hear him but also such musical stars as Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Garth Brooks and U2. “Our nation is at war, our economy is in crisis,” Mr. Obama said near the conclusion of the “We Are One” concert. “Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes. They’re worried about how they’ll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen tables. And most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future, about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what’s best about this country to our children and their children.

“I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our resolve as a nation.”

Despite the size of those challenges, he declared himself “as hopeful as ever” that the nation will thrive.

The concert, shown live on HBO, featured a litany of musicians who sang their more inspirational hits, like Stevie Wonder’s performance of “Higher Ground” with Usher and Shakira. Before singing “Pride (In the Name of Love),” U2’s tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., the lead singer Bono referred to Dr. King’s speech during the 1963 March on Washington at the same spot “43 years ago,” which he quickly corrected to “46.”

The Dublin-born singer said Mr. Obama’s election was an American and Irish dream as well as “a European dream, an African dream, an Israeli dream.” After a pause, he added: “And also a Palestinian dream.”

Mr. Obama, sitting off to the side with his family, nodded in time to the music and sang along as the country singer Garth Brooks belted out Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

It was a star-studded celebration. Change is coming. Better days are ahead. Good riddance, George W. Bush. Woo hoo!

Obama's message has been that the nation and the world is in tatters.

The message of the inaugural festivities: Screw the mess, it's time to party!

YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!

Then Obama brings things down more than a few notches with his speech, continuing to lower expectations. In effect, Obama says, "We can, but it may take a long, long, long time."

I don't think people are listening to the new Obama and his hope-lite message. They're remembering what he promised and said before the burden of the office of the presidency was about to be dumped on him. Naturally, expectations are soaring.

Transcript of Obama's Speech at the We Are One Concert

As usual, Obama does well with a teleprompter and prepared remarks. He plays a president very well, but there's so much more to the job than waving from the back of a train and standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Before that bash, the Obamas attended a church service.

At the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, the congregation erupted in applause when Mr. And Mrs. Obama, accompanied by their daughters, Sasha and Malia, walked in and took seats set aside in the second row, the Association Press reported.

“Understand that God has prepared you and God has placed you,” the pastor, Derrick Harkins, said in his sermon. “And God will not forsake you.”

This service doesn't sound much like the Obamas' usual type of church service.

Derrick Harkins is no Jeremiah Wright: "Understand that God has prepared you and God has placed you. And God will not forsake you... Oh, and God damn America."

On the day before the nation commemorates Martin Luther King Jr., children at the service delivered lines recalling the slain civil rights leader. “Martin Luther King walked so that Barrack [sic] Obama could run,” said one boy, who was followed by another proclaiming: “Barack Obama ran so that all children could fly.”

All children will fly thanks to Obama?

Yes, expectations are high.

"We Are One" is much easier said than done.
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Video.