ABSTRACT
On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama took the oath of office as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Given that Obama became the first African American president, the extraordinary attention given to his inauguration within the United States, as well as around the world, was not surprising to even the most casual of political observers. Historically, a presidential inauguration represents an important political ritual for American citizens, serving as a time of renewal of faith in the U.S. constitutional system of government by witnessing the peaceful transition of power from one leader to the next. It is also the one day on the political calendar on which partisanship is mostly set aside, and the events surrounding the incoming president are filled with optimism.
