Inauguration

WASHINGTON --The main inaugural ball was set to be held Monday night in a cavernous basement hall of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where as many as 30,000 guests were expected.  After sponsoring 10 official balls in 2009, the presidential inaugural committee opted for just two this year: one massive party open to the public, and a smaller Commander-in-Chief Ball for military families. President Obama and the first lady were expected to make appearances at both.

Amid the pomp of Monday's inaugural ceremonies were a number of visual non-sequiturs, and most of them involved Jay-Z -- at least those not involving the sight of a former American Idol winner up there.  There he was, in the same frame as Sen. Al Franken, comedian and former Saturday Night Live writer. The rapper was shown filing out with wife Beyonce, who'd just nailed an assured performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner," while behind him former Republican vice presidential candidate and avowed AC/DC fan Sen. Paul Ryan tried to hide a star-struck grin.  For all the Jay-Z coverage, those tuning in late might have mistakenly believed there'd been some sort of Brooklyn coup, especially as the rapper signed autographs near the podium later.

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands congregated on the National Mall on Monday, many bundled in gloves and scarves against the cold. Some stopped in front of street vendors to buy buttons with President Obama's face on them, inaugural coffee mugs or wool hats with Obama spelled in glass beads. There were cheers when the crowd saw the presidential limousine on the Jumbotron as it arrived at the Capitol. Some took a detour away from the stage on the West Front of the Capitol where Obama would give his second inaugural address, and went to see the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial as the nation also celebrated the birthday of the slain civil rights leader.

One mark of a competent chief executive - especially one responsible for leading a nation - is an ability to learn from past mistakes. On that count, President Obama's omission of classical music from his second inauguration ceremony on Monday (barring last-minute additions to the announced musical lineup of Beyoncé , Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor singing, respectively, “The Star Spangled Banner,” “My Country 'Tis of Thee” and “America...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's supporters at his inaugural address, though less numerous than in 2009, were nonetheless riding high following his speech Monday. With crowds spilling out into neighboring streets from the National Mall, audience members reflected on the personal significance of their presence. Dr. Rashmi Murthy, 36, of Miami applauded Obama for his notably strong tone on global warming and gay marriage during his inaugural speech. “Now, he has nothing to lose,” she said, hinting at a hope among supporters that Obama will leave no stone unturned during his second go-round in the White House.

In about 550 words, Richard Blanco's inaugural poem created a metaphorical country and took it through the journey of a metaphorical day. “One Today” was an intimate and sweeping celebration of our shared, single identity as a people, and Blanco recited it in a voice that was both confident and tenderly soft-spoken. Blanco built his poem on a foundation of the concrete and the everyday. He began with people going to work and school in “silver trucks heavy with oil or paper - bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us, on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives…” And then he placed these ordinary people in a recognizably American landscape of “one ground.

WASHINGTON - Allowing that "our journey is not complete," President Obama offered a robust liberal vision of America in his second inaugural address, embracing gay rights, action on climate change and a substantial role for government even as he acknowledged the challenges of a bitterly divided nation. An ocean of American flags waved under overcast skies and hundreds of thousands of faces tilted up just before noon Monday as Obama stood on the Capitol's West Front and repeated the oath of office in America's 57th presidential inauguration.

Lupe Fiasco has been nominated for a Grammy Award but it is unlikely he will be named entertainer of the year -- at least if President Obama's fans get to vote. Fiasco was asked to leave the stage at a Sunday night pre-inauguration concert in Washington after the 31-year-old rapper performed an antiwar song. Known as the StartUp RockOn inauguration event at the Hamilton Live Theater, the concert featured Fiasco (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco), who has not been shy about criticizing Obama before.

In the weeks after President Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan, when I was a young reporter at the Washington Post, I was assigned to cover a luncheon on Capitol Hill honoring Patricia Derian, Carter's assistant secretary of State for human rights. Reagan's inauguration was days away, and Derian was facing a room full of dejected Democrats and longtime human rights activists. Some were nearly in tears. And since Derian was relinquishing her post, she had every reason to be the most bummed in the room.

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the president's former pastor whose sermons touched off a firestorm in the 2008 political campaign, urged Monday that President Obama heed the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and transform the country into the world's “No. 1 purveyor of peace.” Wright, in the capital but skipping the inauguration, recalled a speech by King during the Vietnam War, when the civil rights leader denounced the U.S. as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” During his first run for the Oval Office, Obama parted ways with Wright, now pastor emeritus at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.