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WORLD> Obama Inauguration
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Cheers, tears greet Obama on train ride
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-19 07:36
Everyday Americans gathered in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware and Baltimore to cheer for US president-elect Barack Obama as he took a historic 220-km train journey to Washington on Saturday. On the journey - which launched three days of parties, concerts and shows to celebrate his swearing-in at the US Capitol on Tuesday afternoon - Obama asked Americans to be prepared for setbacks before he and his team of advisors put the struggling US economy back on track. He stressed that it would take time and sacrifice to turn the economy around. "Such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments," Obama told about 40,000 cheering supporters in Baltimore. "America faces its own crossroads - a nation at war, an economy in turmoil, an American Dream that feels like it is slipping away," Obama said in Wilmington. Emotions ran high all through the journey, which started in Philadelphia. "It's finally hitting me, because I'm starting to cry, that this is really happening," said Janice Winston, 56, one of about 250 invited guests who watched Obama leave Philadelphia's 30th Street train station. She said she was thrilled to see a black man assume the presidency before adding, "Today is a new day." Obama's train slowed to a crawl at a few spots along the route so he could step out onto the back of his carriage and wave to the crowds that lined the tracks. In Claymont, Delaware, several hundred people gathered to cheer and wave to Obama, holding signs reading "Halleluja, We Did It," and "Hail to the chief." In Edgewood, Maryland, the waiting crowd chanted "Obama" as the train rolled by. Obama was joined on the train trip by about 40 invited "everyday Americans." He and vice president-elect Joe Biden, along with their wives, visited them during the trip. "This is more than an ordinary train ride, this is a new beginning," Biden told the crowd in his hometown of Wilmington. Obama's swearing-in will cap a relatively smooth transition marred by a few missteps, including the revelation his choice for treasury secretary, New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner, failed to pay thousands of dollars in taxes. Despite the mistake, Geithner is expected to be confirmed by the Senate and lead the administration's drive to cure the ailing economy, which continues to be bombarded by dismal news in the worst recession in decades. At each stop of the train journey, Obama emphasized the need to band together to tackle America's problems and rise above "ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry". A new New York Times/CBS News poll showed Americans were confident Obama could turn the economy around and prepared to give him years to deal with the crush of problems he faces. Majorities of Americans said they did not expect real progress on the economy, healthcare improvements or ending the war in Iraq for at least two years, the poll found. His incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, told a conference of mayors in Washington the new administration was focused on making the US economy more competitive. "We have got to invest in things that work in a different way," Emanuel said. The priorities, he said, included investing in energy independence, modernizing healthcare and expanding coverage, delivering universal broadband Internet for a digitized economy and upgrading schools - all of which will add to the already staggering price tag facing the Obama administration. Agencies (China Daily 01/19/2009 page6) |
