Gates to the Inaugural Ceremony open at 7 a.m. CST. Although temperatures are expected to start out in the low 20s and snow flurries are possible during the day, about 2 million people are expected to attend the ceremony.
The inaugural festivities are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. CST on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. The Inaugural Ceremony will include:
• Musical selections of The United States Marine Band, followed by the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
• Sen. Dianne Feinstein provides call to order and welcoming remarks. The California Democrat is the incoming chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee - the first woman to hold the post. She has served in the Senate since 1992.
• Invocation by the Rev. Rick Warren: His selection sparked protests from the gay community and the National Organization for Women. Warren backed a recent ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in his home state of California.
• Musical selection of Aretha Franklin. Obama sang a bit of her hit Chain of Fools to the queen of soul at a Labor Day rally.
• Biden will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
• Musical selection of John Williams, composer/arranger best known for movie scores such as Star Wars and Jaws. With Itzhak Perlman, (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet).
• Obama will take the Oath of Office around 11 a.m. CST, using President Lincoln's Inaugural Bible, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. It will be the first time a president is sworn in by a chief justice whose confirmation he opposed. In 2005, Obama voted against Roberts after President George W. Bush nominated the then-appeals court judge as chief justice.
• Obama gives the inaugural address. The speech is expected to be the most widely watched inaugural address ever.
• Poem by Elizabeth Alexander: A professor of African-American Studies and English literature at Yale and the author of four books of poems. She is America's fourth inaugural poet. She will read an original poem at the inauguration.
• Benediction by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery: Lowrey is a black Methodist civil rights leader who founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK.
• The national anthem by The United States Navy Band, the Sea Chanters.
• After Obama gives his inaugural address, he will escort outgoing President George W. Bush to a departure ceremony -- Bush and his wife plan to leave the Capitol in a helicopter -- before attending a luncheon in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.
• The 56th Inaugural Parade will then make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House. More than 10,000 participants will follow the new president down the 1.5 mile route, from NASA astronauts and U.S. Border Patrol representatives to high school marching bands and Girl Scout troops.
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Even though I wouldn't have voted for Barack Obama, if I had been eligible to do so, I am nevertheless more than a little excited about his Inauguration.
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