Obama sworn in

U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the public oath of office to start his second term as the American leader.

As many as 800,000 people gathered Monday on the National Mall in Washington, waving American flags and cheering after Obama took the two-century-old oath from Chief Justice John Roberts. Obama promised to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution “to the best of my ability.” That is a smaller number than Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 when nearly 2 million people came to see the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president.

“Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution,” the president said during his inaugural speech.  “We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.  What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago.”

The president called on Americans to put their political differences aside and work together to solve the country’s problems.

“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,” he said.  “We must act.  We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.”

Earlier, President Obama attended a church service and then headed to the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building for his public inaugural.

Obama was officially sworn in Sunday in a private ceremony at the White House, to meet the dictates of the U.S. Constitution that the country’s president be sworn in on January 20. But with the date falling on a Sunday this year, the major public inaugural activities are on Monday, including Obama’s inaugural address from a podium on the West Front of the Capitol overlooking the teeming masses on the Mall.

Obama took the oath Monday using two historic Bibles – one owned by 19th-century president Abraham Lincoln, and the other by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968.

Monday’s inauguration coincides with the federal holiday marking King’s birthday.

Inaugural events

After the ceremony Monday, Obama and his wife, Michelle, are dining at the Capitol with congressional leaders, then riding in the inaugural parade, returning to the White House in a motorcade.  They likely will get out of the car and walk part of the way, as they did four years ago.

Later, the Obamas will attend two official Inaugural balls, in contrast to the 10 balls that were held in 2009.

Vice President Joe Biden, who retook his own oath again Monday, joined the president Sunday for a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and attended church with him on Monday.

Both leaders also took part in a National Day of Service on Saturday as part of several days of events related to the inauguration.