Barack Obama takes oath to begin second term as US president

Today, Barack Obama took the ceremonial oath of office to begin his second term as President of the United States of America. Myrlie Evers-Williams, former head of the NAACP and the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, began the ceremony in Washington DC with an invocation that traced an historic struggle for equality.

“One-hundred-fifty years after the emancipation proclamation and 50 years after the march on Washington we celebrate the spirit of our ancestors, which has allowed us to move from a nation of unborn hopes and a history of disenfranchised votes to today’s expression of a more perfect union.”

After taking the oath, President Obama addressed the crowd on the National Mall saying more work needed to be done to uphold the promise of the founding principles of the nation.

“For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and our daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

President Obama highlighted some of the issues that may feature in his second term, saying he would work to implement health care reform, act on climate change, address economic disparity, and defend America’s people and values with “strength of arms and rule of law.”