In what would come to be known as the Great Recession 8 million Americans lost their jobs, and real net worth of households dropped 22 percent. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many.” A financial crisis had gripped the nation.

“Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. “Our economy is badly weakened,” Obama said. Osama bin Laden, the man behind the history-altering attack, continued to elude capture even as he encouraged his followers to launch more terrorist strikes. The resulting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had claimed thousands more American lives. Although more than seven years had passed since the 9/11 attacks shook the very foundation of this nation, the smoke had not yet cleared from our collective memory. Obama’s message of hope was badly needed. He was now the 44th president of the United States, after winning a historic election by some 10 million votes.

With the Capitol, that symbol of democratic freedom and power as a backdrop, the message of hope was delivered.īehind the podium, one man stood alone - Barack Hussein Obama, the 47-year-old son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas after taking the oath of office. An estimated 1.8 million people huddled in the cold, and tens of millions more around the world watched and listened on TV. These words of optimism rang out from banks of speakers, echoed across the West Lawn of the Capitol and down the length of the National Mall on a cold and blustery day in January 2009.

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear.”

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