George Bush swore the United States presidential oath for a second term in turbulent times on Thursday and issued a sweeping pledge to spread liberty and freedom ”to the darkest corners of the world”.
”Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfil and would be dishonorable to abandon,” said the president, who led the nation to war in Iraq in a first term marked by terrorist attacks on the US.
In a speech delivered before a vast throng of fellow Americans spilling away from the steps of the Capitol building, Bush said he will place the US on the side of the world’s oppressed people.
”All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the US will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”
Chief Justice William H Rehnquist (80), ailing with thyroid cancer and the subject of retirement speculation, administered the oath of office. The 58-year-old president placed one hand on a family Bible and raised the other as he recited an oath as old as the Republic.
The weather was cold; security extraordinarily tight for the nation’s 55th inauguration, the first since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001. Sharpshooters dressed in black scanned the vast crowd from rooftops and hundreds of police stood shoulder to shoulder along the route of the mid-afternoon inaugural parade.
Newly sworn in, Bush offered an implied rebuttal to critics of his foreign policy and the war in Iraq.
”Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty,” he said, ”though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt.”
”We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom,” he said in remarks that were shorn of all but the most glancing references to the dominant political issues of the day.
Instead, he packed the first speech of a new term with multiple references to freedom and liberty, references to God — and a reminder of Abraham Lincoln’s long-ago admonition.
”Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it,” he quoted the 16th president.
The spread of freedom and liberty are the oldest ideals of the US, Bush said.
”Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation’s security, and the calling of our time.”
Bush, his family and congressional leaders moved into the Capitol following the mid-day swearing in and speech, joining other members of the US political elite for lunch.
The Republican-controlled Senate was convening later, with confirmation of the first of Bush’s second-term Cabinet offices were on the agenda.
Up from dawn
The president awoke before dawn in the White House, then travelled a few blocks with his wife, Laura, and their twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, to the traditional pre-inauguration prayer service.
A few hours later they journeyed 16 blocks along historic Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, where Bush stood four years earlier to take the office for the first time.
That was before terrorists struck the US, plunging the country into a challenging new era, and prompting the president to order the invasion of Afghanistan and — controversially — Iraq.
The inaugural pageantry unfolded half a world away from that conflict — a war and messy aftermath that has claimed the lives of more than 1 300 Americans and was a key fault line in last fall’s election.
Bush’s victory made him the 16th president in American history to win a second full term — an accomplishment denied his father in 1992. In the process, he led Republicans to larger majorities in the House and Senate, and has outlined a conservative second-term domestic agenda that includes major changes in social security and taxes.
But with the war a concern, he was beginning his new term with the lowest approval rating at that point of any recent two-term president — 49% in an Associated Press poll this month. Bush is the 43rd US president.
Many around the world are nervous about the intentions of a leader they regard as cocky, shallow and dangerous.
When he says world peace is best promoted by ”the expansion of freedom in all the world”, the critics wonder if he will now set his sights on Iran. Will he widen the rift with Europe? Or will he become more conciliatory, seeking to secure a legacy the world will ultimately respect?
The US Constitution commanded that Bush take the oath of office at the stroke of noon (5pm GMT). Tradition dictated the Capitol as the setting, curiosity and celebration accounted for the throng that traditionally spilled down Capitol Hill toward the historic National Mall and the monuments beyond.
Tradition, too, called for Rehnquist to administer the oath of office. His presence symbolised an ageing court — and the likelihood of political warfare with Democrats if the conservative president had second-term appointments to make.
The day was the culmination of a hard-won victory for Bush and fellow Republicans, and they were in a mood to celebrate.
For all the security precautions, officials reported no new information suggesting terror threats to the ceremony or the parade that was following.
There were small protest demonstrations at scattered locations, including one by anti-war protesters. — Sapa-AP