President Obama’s daughters Sasha, left, and Malia watch the Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C.
Supporters of all races and backgrounds joined together to root for the new president.
“To the conductors who make our trains run and to the workers who lay down the rails; to the parents who worry about how they’re going to pay the bills next month on the commute to work, and to the children who hear the whistle of the train and dream of a better life—that’s who we’re fighting for. That’s who needs change,” Obama told supporters.
Along with family and friends, 41 regular Americans joined Obama and Biden on their train ride.
“Now, it falls to us to pick ourselves up, to reach for the promise of a better day, and to do the hard work of perfecting our union once more,” he told supporters of his incoming administration.
Former U.S. Secretary of State General Colin Powell hosts a press conference on January 9, in Washington, D.C., to announce the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s ‘Renew America Together’ initiative asking Americans to volunteer for community service the Martin Luther King holiday.
President George W. Bush, center, welcomes President-elect Barack Obama to the White House for an elite luncheon today, where he was officially welcomed as “one of the boys.” Joining them were former President George H.W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter. It was the first time since 1981 that all living presidents have been together at the White House.
President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama prepare daughters Sasha and Malia for their first day of school. The family is currently staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C., until they can move into the White House after the inauguration.
Seven year-old Sasha Obama peers out the window of a Secret Service vehicle as she departs Sidwell Friends School after dropping off her sister Malia, on the first day of school in Washington, DC. The incoming first family are staying at the luxury Hay-Adams Hotel, with a view of the White House before moving to the president’s official guest home, Blair House, on January 15.
President-elect Barack Obama returned to Hawaii for the homegoing services of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, 86. “Toot”, as he affectionately called her, passed away at her home in Hawaii following a long battle with cancer on the eve of the U.S. presidential election this past November.
Obama seeks closure in the passing of his beloved grandmother who he often referred to as his “rock” and the one who taught him about hard work.
Here he scatters her ashes into the water at the Lanai Lookout, a scenic area of coastline on the southeast corner of Oahu, Hawaii. This is the same place that Obama scattered his mother’s ashes following her death more than ten years ago.
Obama and his sister spread the ashes of his deceased grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, in Honolulu on December 23, 2008.
“She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility,” Obama and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said in a statement immediately following her death.
President-elect Barack Obama looks on as Gary Gisner, Obama’s pick to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, address the press. Also on hand is newly veteran financial regulator Mary Schapiro, who will serve as the first female chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Obama returned to Hawaii this week to attend the memorial services of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. Dunham helped raise Obama from the age of 10 while his mother was working in Indonesia and helped put Obama through private school in Hawaii while instilling in him the hard-work ethic that helped him win the historic election.
Obama names former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack agriculture secretary at a press conference. Vilsack, like Obama, is in favor of renewable energy and has a strong interest in developing the nation’s alternative fuel industry.
President-elect Obama and Vice-President-elect Joe Biden look on as newly named Education Secretary-designate Arne Duncan addresses the press. Duncan, a Chicago school superintendent, is credited with improving achievement in the Windy City while earning the respect of teachers and their unions.
President-elect Barack Obama introduces Senatory Ken Salazar of Colorado as his incoming interior secretary. Salazar, a Democrat, was a farmer and rancher before entering politics. From 1999 to 2004, he was Colorado’s attorney general before winning his Senate seat, reports the New York Times.
Obama, along with Biden, left, and newly named Education Secretary-designate Arne Duncan, visits students at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago.
Obama speaks to students at Chicago’s Dodge Renaissance Academy.
Vice-President-elect Biden, President-elect Obama and Education Secretary-designate Duncan are all smiles for a class picture while visiting Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago.
Chicago students are happy to take a picture with the president-elect and Arne Duncan, the newly named education secretary.
President-elect Barack Obama announced at a press conference on Monday that he is confident that we as a country will be ready to begin the journey towards a new energy frontier once he officially becomes president on January 20th.
Obama chose Lisa Jackson as his Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Jackson has spent years working in public service at the local, state and federal level. As Commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, she has helped make her state a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new sources of energy.