Transcript (en)

Barack Obama, 47 years old, he will be the first African-American president of the United States. For those who lived through segregation, who lived through the Civil Rights era, it felt like the fulfillment of everything they thought the country could be. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America. It was just overwhelming. You could see the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was already thinking about the responsibilities that had just flowed to him. And the gravity of the moment was very, very palpable. Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime. The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term but America I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there I promise you we as a people will get there All of us who are watching in the United States and around the world, we're really privileged to have this front row seat to history. I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear. Tomorrow the President of the United States gets down to real business and the enormous challenges facing him and the country on the foreign policy, national security front, and also on the economic front. It's a rare day when a President goes to the Capitol to meet only with members of the other party. Hello, everybody. President Obama did just that to actively seek bipartisan support for his $825 billion economic stimulus package. We had a wonderful exchange of ideas. Obama believed he'll somehow be able to reach across the aisle. Runs up against the reality of politics in 2009 when he takes office. H.R. 1, as amended, passes. It's a victory that came with almost no Republican support. Zero on the House side, three in the Senate. A long way from those hopes of bipartisanship.