“I did it,” Obama said as he hugged his wife, Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia. “Thank you, sweetie,” he told Michelle when she congratulated him. “Good job, Dad. You didn’t mess up,” 11-year-old Sasha Obama told her father.
It was a low-key start to the first African-American U.S. president’s second term, which is likely to be dominated – at least at the start – by budget fights with Republicans and attempts to reform gun control and immigration laws.
Obama, 51, will be sworn in publicly on Monday outside the West Front of the Capitol overlooking the National Mall in front of as many as 800,000 people, a much bigger ceremony replete with a major address and a parade.
Downtown Washington was all but locked down with heavy security. Many streets were closed, lined with barricades. Police sirens blared. Outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, an elaborate presidential viewing stand encased in bullet-proof glass was set up for Obama and other VIPs to watch the parade.
Let’s look at some Inauguration cereminies of The US Presidents.
President Warren Harding inauguration, 1921 As President Barack Obama prepares to take his second oath of office, we’re looking back through our archives at other presidential inauguration ceremonies Daily News photographers have snapped through the years. From Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address to President Bill Clinton’s swearing in, take a look back in history … Dressed in fancy top hats and overcoats, Woodrow Wilson (l.) and the newly-elected President Warren Harding ride to the Capitol in Washington D.C. for Harding’s inauguration in 1921.President Calvin Coolidge inauguration, 1925 Thousands of people brave cold temperatures to crowd Capitol Hill for the inauguration of President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. The ceremony was the first one to ever be broadcast to Americans via radio.President Franklin D. Roosevelt inauguration, 1937 After being elected for a second term as President, Franklin D. Roosevelt waves to the crowd outside the Capitol during a rainy ceremony in 1937. Because of the inclement weather, the Inauguration Committee of Congress had considered holding the ceremony indoors until F.D.R cut short their discussion.President Dwight D. Eisenhower inauguration, 1953 Monty Montana, a cowboy from California, rises from his saddle to throw a rope around President Dwight D. Eisenhower during the 1953 inauguration ceremonies. In the background, former President Herbert Hoover raises his arm to protect himself from being hit by the lasso.President John F. Kennedy delivers his inaugural address after taking the oath of office at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 1961. During his historic speech, Kennedy wagged his index finger as he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.President Bill Clinton inauguration, 1997 President Bill Clinton clasps hands with his wife Hillary as the couple marches down Pennsylvania Avenue with daughter Chelsea following his second inauguration ceremony. It was the same walk Clinton had made four years earlier after taking his first oath of office in 1993.President Barack Obama inauguration, 2009 With his wife Michelle holding the Bible at his side, President Barack Obama takes the oath of office as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. It’s an act the President will repeat on Jan. 21, 2013.
It is good that people of the lower income groups will be eligible for for Insurancecover under Federal Mandate.
English: President signing the Medicare Bill at the in . Former President is seated at the table with President Johnson. The following are in the background (from left to right): Senator , an unidentified man, , Senator , Vice President , and . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
However a curious side show is the fact that one of the main arguments against the lower Income Group being asked to get coverage and if they failed to do so, fined.
And the objection is ‘ if the federal government could compel people to buy health insurance, it could compel them to buy almost anything, with broccoli becoming the central example in court arguments.’
How silly can one be on Social Health care for the people, that too belonging to lower income group.
If people can be forced for their welfare at their expense for their benefit, it is for their good.
At least they will have spent on a good buy.
However the States get a leeway for some time.
But the ball is set to roll.
Finally The US seems to be coming out of the rut-that of ‘of the Rich, for the rich and by the Rich’
“The decision was a striking victory for the president and Congressional Democrats, with a majority of the court, including the conservative chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., affirming the central legislative pillar of Mr. Obama’s term.
Many observers called the case the most significant before the court since at least the 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling, which decided a presidential election. In addition to the political reverberations, the case helps set the rules for one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the economy, one that affects nearly everyone from cradle to grave.
The decision did significantly restrict one major portion of the law: the expansion of Medicaid, the government health-insurance program for low-income and sick people. The ruling gives states some flexibility not to expand their Medicaid programs, without paying the same financial penalties that the law called for.
The debate over health care remains far from over, with Republicans vowing to carry on their fight against the law, which they see as an unaffordable infringement on the rights of individuals. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has promised to undo it if elected.
But the court ruling is a crucial victory for the law that will allow its introduction to continue in the coming years. Passed in 2010, the law is intended to end the United States’ status as the only rich country with large numbers of uninsured people, by expanding both the private market and Medicaid.
The key provision that 26 states opposing the law had challenged – known as the individual mandate – requires virtually all citizens to buy health insurance meeting minimum federal standards or to pay a fine if they refuse.
Many conservatives considered the mandate unconstitutional, arguing that if the federal government could compel people to buy health insurance, it could compel them to buy almost anything, with broccoli becoming the central example in court arguments.
It remained unclear whether the court officially upheld the mandate or chose a more technical path that effectively allowed it to stand.
The mandate’s advocates said it was necessary to ensure that not only sick people but also healthy individuals would sign up for coverage, keeping insurance premiums more affordable. The law offers subsidies to poorer and middle-class households, varying with their incomes. It also provides subsidies to some businesses for insuring their workers.
The law requires states to expand Medicaid coverage for poor and nearly poor households. In all, tens of millions of people are expected to gain insurance from the law, according to the Congressional Budget Office, as part of a march toward universal coverage, a goal that has eluded legislators and presidents – including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton – for generations.
The decision came on the last day of the term, which the justices extended by three days to deal with the crush of major issues. On Monday, the court delivered a mixed ruling on an Arizona law intended to crack down on illegal immigrants, which the Obama administration opposed.
Under Chief Justice Roberts, the court has delivered a series of major victories to conservatives, including the Citizens United campaign finance decision, which on Monday it declined to reconsider. In next year’s term, it could take up other major issues, including affirmative action, same-sex marriage and the Voting Rights Act.
The health care ruling came three months after an extraordinary series of oral arguments in which the differences on the bench, if not the ultimate outcome, were disclosed in sharp relief.
Until those arguments, many observers – within the White House and beyond – had seen the law as likely to survive a legal challenge that even many Republicans once viewed as a long shot. But the skeptical questioning of a majority of the justices – and Justice Kennedy in particular – called that view seriously into doubt.
Rulings by appeals courts had split on the question, with two upholding the law and one striking down the mandate. A fourth appeals court deferred consideration of the law until 2015, reasoning that the courts lacked jurisdiction until the first penalties enforcing the mandate became due.”
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