“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!“
-Charles Dickens
IN A HISTORIC MOMENT, RICE SWORN IN
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2009
(AP) President Congdoleeza Rice was sworn-in in a historic moment Thursday, taking the oath of office amid extraordinary security precautions in a chilly nation’s capital. Rice became not only the first women, but also the first African-American to attain the office.
“In a world of uncertainty and change, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty,” the nation’s 44th president said in her inaugural address at the noontime ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
The former Secretary of State made a sweeping pledge to not only continue the spread liberty and freedom “to every corner of the world,” but to also ensure that the “ideals on which our great nation were build, must be fostered by whatever means necessary”
The oath was administered by newly confirmed Chief Justice Antonin Scalia, who replaced the ailing William Renquist just weeks before the ceremony after a heated six month confirmation battle.
Earlier, Vice President Bill Frist was sworn-in by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Ca)
A crowd of more than 100,000 people gathered in snowy Washington for the swearing-in at the West Front of the Capitol and the traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Ms. Rice, 54, awoke before dawn Thursday and then traveled by motorcade with her announced Cabinet nominees John Bolton (Sec. of State) and John McCain (Sec. of Defense), to nearby St. John’s Church for the traditional pre-inauguration prayer service.
Ms. Rice takes office against a backdrop of controversy following a highly divisive election. Trailing in the polls by double digits throughout the campaign, Rice was not favored to win the contest. Exit polling had in fact had shown Rice trailing Democratic nominee Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Md.) by as much as five points on Election Day.
With record voter turnouts, the early polling proved wrong. At the end of a long and suspenseful night, chief advisor, Florida’s Jeb Bush, was able to reassure faithful supporters that ” by a miracle of Biblical proportions” Ms. Rice was in fact chosen to “lead our nation through these troubled times”
Critics have attributed Rice’s unexpected victory to election reform measures enacted by her predecessor. Bush’s “Voting Modernization Act” ensured that all polling places would be equipped with new Diebold electronic voting machines in order to “level the playing field”. Despite concerns about verifiability, the bill was enacted in the summer of 2006 just prior to the mid-term elections by a Republican controlled Congress. Although the machines were not on-line for that election, Bush had vowed that he would have them in place before the next Presidential contest.
Rice, initially tarnished by her association with the disgraced Bush, at first distanced herself from her previous boss. After the “Wartime Continuity” compromise of 2007, whereby the Senate decided not to follow through on articles of impeachment drafted in the lower house, her prospects began to rise. When the “Group of Eighteen” moderate Senators led by John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) reached a compromise whereby Bush was in effect guaranteed he would not be convicted in a Senate trial, the impeachment process was essentially over, and Rice’s path to the Whitehouse cleared.
Opponents, although shocked by Rice’s stunning victory, had long voiced concerns about Democratic inability to capitalize on Rice’s inherent vulnerability. Many felt that although they had a record war chest raised by Party Chairmen, Howard Dean, the candidates never really took advantage of public sentiment.
Having silencing most of the liberal, anti-war wing of the party early on, fearing characterizations of weakness on defense, the majority of Democratic contenders raced quickly to the political center and remained there throughout the primary season. This, despite the fact that polling had shown that the vast majority of the American people were disenchanted with the war.
After early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire only Clinton, Biden, Edwards, Clark and Bayh were still in the race. Although Edwards and Clark did make overtures to the ant-war movement, it was the more centrist candidates, Clinton, Biden and Bayh who had the backing of party insiders who felt they were “more electable”.
By March 2008, only Biden and Clinton had the momentum necessary to win the nomination. As each moved further to the center, many complained that their positions were indistinguishable from those of Ms. Rice. At one point, Rice quipped that if they were in fact going to “continue to endorse my policies” they may as well “just endorse me” and be over with it. Eventually, Biden was endorsed by the “Group of Eighteen” Senate moderates, guaranteeing him the nomination.
Having alienated the “far left” of the party, the Democrats lost further ground when Rice was able to peel off some of the disenchanted working class base of the party with her Immigration reform plan. Pressured by a faltering economy and continued job loss, blue color workers were drawn to Rice’s plan to close the borders, and deport undocumented workers in order to “Save American Jobs for Americans”. Although leading economists questioned whether her plan would in fact have a negative effect on the economy, the message, crafted by political advisor Karl Rove, rang true to many Americans suffering the worst economic hardship in a generation.
The 44th President takes office in a time of increasing uncertainty for the American people. With mounting tension in Syria, along with the wars in Iraq and Iran, double-digit inflation, and an ever increasing deficit, Rice pledged in her inaugural to: “Follow the path set for us by the last administration, and the Almighty, to make this Nation, and the world in which we live more secure, safe and free.”