Four years ago, President Obama banned corporate and union donations from funding his first Inauguration. Not this time.
This time, the man who railed on how Citizens United would “open the floodgates for special interests” by allowing unlimited contributions from corporations and “America’s most powerful interests” ….is accepting unlimited donations to his inaugural committee from corporations. So far 20 corporations and nine unions have dropped cash on the shindig says The Hill.
Not only are the doors wide open, but the curtains are shut — from transparency, that is. Four years ago, Team Obama listed all its inaugural donors AND the amount they coughed up in a searchable database.
Four years ago, inaugural contributions were capped at $50,000. This time? Oh, don’t stop. Please don’t stop. The Presidential Inaugural Committee was offering packages for between $10,000 and $1 million — check out the invites here.
Here’s Obama railing on Citizens United during 2010. Go to about the 2:15 minute mark in the speech for the reference:
A buoyant and confident Barack Obama took the oath of office Monday for a second term as U.S. president, predicting that a resilient nation which has endured a series of crises will emerge stronger if leaders can work together for progress, including gay rights and immigration reform.
Four years after expressing grim resolve to overcome an economic crisis and military morass, the 44th president laid out a liberal governing philosophy for a second term that mixed can-do American optimism with must-do American action.
“This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience,” he said in a tautly written, crisply delivered inaugural speech. “A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.”
Obama took the oath of office at 11:50 a.m. EST from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, with his left hand on a stack of bibles including ones used by civil rights icon Martin Luther King and President Abraham Lincoln. Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who became the first Hispanic American ever to administer an inaugural oath.
The president’s 15-minute inaugural address, coming 50 years after King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the other end of the National Mall, echoed the martyred minister’s calls for equality, with a distinctive 21st century edge. Invoking the ideals of America’s founding fathers, the 44th president made history by defining same-sex marriage and legal status for undocumented immigrants as modern civil rights priorities. Obama became the first president ever to utter the word “gay” during an inaugural address.
“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” he said. “Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.”
An enthusiastic crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands braved cold winds and cloudy skies to hear Obama’s words, but the turnout was significantly smaller than the estimated 1.2 million to 1.8 million who attended the history-making inauguration of 2009, which marked the first time an American of African ancestry had become president.
While Monday’s inaugural address focused on philosophical concepts such as hope and progress, it was short on specific plans to rein in a $17 trillion national debt, increase tepid economic growth and rein in explosive entitlement spending, something skeptical Republicans quickly pointed out.
“It was a very liberal speech, checking off every ideological box of the left,” said GOP consultant Matt Mackowiak. “I was struck by how the speech completely ignored our immense fiscal and entitlement challenges.”
Some presidential scholars viewed Obama’s speech as as a liberal counterpoint to Ronald Reagan’s eloquent 1981 inaugural address, which shared Obama’s optimism but included the famous Reagan phrase, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
Obama himself gave a knowing nod to Reagan’s anti-government philosophy but reached a different ideological conclusion.
“We have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone,” Obama told a cheering crowd that interrupted his speech 25 times with applause. “Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.”
Cindy Rugeley, a political science professor at Texas Tech University, said the speech “reminded all of us of what he is about, who he is, and about the fundamental values of our country.”
“In my opinion, it was an excellent speech,” she said. “I would actually put it alongside Reagan’s 1981 inaugural in that it talked about America’s better self. He also reminded us that American exceptionalism is not defined economically but by our values.”
While Obama avoided the economic policy debates that have paralyzed Washington over the past two years, he waded into some of the other hot-button issues of the day, including climate change. The president also placed the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre into historical perspective, mentioning how American children should be safe from harm “from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown.”
The president did not specifically mention guns, gun violence or gun-related legislation. But Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that “Newtown was very much a part” of the inauguration.
“A number of my colleagues have emphasized how significant they thought it was… that the president reminded America about the tragedy and how it has to be addressed,” the Democratic senator said.
The president blazed new political trails when he linked Seneca Falls, N.Y., Selma, Ala., and the Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village, N.Y. — the sites of key events in women’s rights, civil rights and gay rights history. Obama’s embrace of marriage equality for same-sex couples would have been difficult to image even four years ago, when the new president still resisted calls to legalize gay marriage.
“President Barack Obama made history … by connecting the lives of committed and loving lesbian and gay couples fighting for marriage equality to this nation’s proud tradition of equal rights for all,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay and lesbian rights organization. “By lifting up the lives of LGBT families for the very first time in an inaugural address, President Obama sent a clear message to LGBT young people from the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains that this country’s leaders will fight for them until equality is the law of the land.”
Obama may also have had another audience in mind: the members of the U.S. Supreme Court who were seating several feet from the podium and who soon will be deciding the future of same-sex marriage.
“President Obama’s eloquent and impassioned defense of gay marriage may end up being the most memorable moment” of the speech, said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan. “This is especially true given his evolving position on the issue and the Supreme Court’s impending major decision. The president did his best lobbying job with Chief Justice Roberts and other associate justices listening attentively.”
Obama didn’t mention Democrats or Republicans in his speech — but he took several not-so-subtle digs at GOP lawmakers who have blocked much of his policy agenda for the past two years.
“The speech was not overtly partisan, but the subtext was there,” said John J. Pitney Jr., a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “When he said, ‘we cannot mistake absolutism for principle,’ he was talking about the Republican right, not the Democratic left.”
Saturday evening, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hosted a star studded event — a concert for children and service members’ families. The concerned was emceed by Nick Cannon and featured musical talents of Usher, Katy Perry, Far East Movement and Mindless Behavior.
Actress Eva Longoria, who was a co-chair of the OFA campaign, was at the heart of number of inaugural festivities. In fact, she was a co-chair of the Latino Inaugural event at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, which starred other Latino celebrities such as Antonio Banderas, Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderrama, and Marc Anthony.
The first couple of America’s pop culture, Jay Z and Beyonce, also made an appearance during the actual inauguration ceremony, as Beyonce was asked to sing the national anthem. Singer Kelly Clarkson also performed “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.”
As Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address, hundreds of thousands of Americans watched from the Capitol grounds and the National Mall. They cheered, they chanted, they looked to the nation like a sea of red, white and blue.
And when the 44th president finished his speech and walked up the marble steps of the Capitol, he paused and said, “I want to take a look one more time. I’m not going to see this again.”
As other dignitaries continued to file up the steps, Obama gazed for about 15 seconds at the assembled throng. Behind him, his daughters Sasha and Malia and his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, did the same.
Then it was over. Obama ascended the stairs and headed into the remainder of the presidency.
President Barack Obama delivers his Inaugural address at the ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Not once did President Obama use the word “gun” in his second inaugural address, which is now in the history books.
The 44th president covered 2,095 words in just under 20 minutes.
Obama did reference the Dec. 14 killing of 20 children age 7 and under and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the worst elementary school shooting in U.S. history, during his address in the broader context of progress and the role of government in society.
“Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm,” Obama said.
The president avoided a direct reference to the Second Amendment and weaved his remarks about violence perpetrated against children into a commentary about reforms to immigration policy and voting.
“That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time.”
Expect the issue of gun control reform to be less abstract in the president’s upcoming State of the Union address.
Between the president’s inaugural address call for equal rights for gay Americans, his mention of Stonewall, and the high profile presentation by poet Richard Blanco, a gay Latino, the second swearing in of Barack Obama marks a watershed moment for the LGBT community.
The president’s mention of gay rights — same sex marriage the obvious marker here — was met with joy by LGBT and progressive activists in the Twittersphere.
“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” he said in his address.
Obama also made a pointed reference to the place that marked the first public battle for gay rights:
“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.”
Walter Shapiro, @WalterShapiro, a columist for Yahoo and CJR, in a tweet, suggested that the LGBT references in Obama’s speech may be what distinguishes it in the history books: “Quick assessment — it was B+ plus speech with a historic endorsement of gay rights. That’s the milestone. Most of the rest soon forgotten.”
Welcome to our live coverage of the inaugural festivities at the U.S. Capitol. We’ll offer live analysis of President Obama’s second inaugural address and bits of analysis from our Hearst Newspapers team on the scene.
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10:50 a.m.
President Obama has arrived at the Capitol. Lawmakers, celebrities, diplomats, members of the Supreme Court and several hundred thousand Americans are on hand.
The official festivities should be underway within a few minutes.
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10:55 a.m.
The president greets the congressional leadership, shakes hands with House Speaker John Boehner, kisses House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and proceeds inside the Capitol.
Hillary Clinton is walking a bit slowly. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is steadying her as they walk down the steps and onto the blue carpet leading to the west front of the Capitol.
The parade of former presidents may be the smallest ever. Only Clinton and Jimmy Carter are here. The other living ex-presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush remain in Texas. The 41st president was recently released from Methodist Hospital in Houston and was not cleared to travel to Washington.
Jimmy Carter is the only person in the front two rows wearing sunglasses.
11 a.m.
★ ★ ★
Bill Clinton gets thunderous ovation as he is introduced to the throng. Hillary Clinton turns on the smile when she emerges from inside the Capitol.
“Hello, hey, how are you all, hi,” the outgoing Secretary of State says.
Bill Clinton is shaking hands and telling stories like a young office-seeker. He’s frequently wrapping his left arm around his wife’s shoulder.
Our team is on the scene in the press area, just below the platform where the swearing-in will take place.
“Logistics amazingly hassle-free,” reports Hearst’s David McCumber. (Follow on Twitter: @DCMcCumber)
★ ★ ★
11:05 a.m.
Now it’s time for the second family. Delaware Attorney General Joe Biden, the vice president’s son, is carrying a very large bible.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor are chatting as they await their big moments. Roberts will swear Obama in for a fourth time in four years (remember the mixed-up in 2009, followed by a red-do at the White House, then yesterday’s official ceremony and today’s public ceremony). Sotomayor is the first Hispanic ever (and only the fourth woman) ever to conduct a swearing-in for a president or a vice president. (The first woman? U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes of Dallas, who swore-in Lyndon B. Johnson at Love Field in Dallas in 1963.)
Next to Sotomayor is Justice Antonin Scalia, wearing his favorite black cap.
★ ★ ★
11:10 a.m.
The first family is here. First daughters Malia and Sasha emerge, along with Marian Robinson, the first lady’s mom, Craig Robinson, her brother, and his kids.
This can’t be Washington. Everything is running on schedule!
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11:15 a.m.
You can hear the “clomp, clomp, clomp” as the high heels make their way down the marble steps of the Capitol.
First, second lady Jill Biden. Then first lady Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama is early, so the announcement of her appearance had to be delayed for about 30 seconds.
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11:20 a.m.
The final pair: First, Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by House Minority Leader Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
A couple of rowdy lawmakers shout, “Joe, Joe, Joe.” The VP smiles. (As always.) His response: “God bless you!”
Then the man of the hour: President Obama, accompanied by House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Whip Eric Cantor, along with Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the bipartisan leaders of the inaugural festivities.
The pomp is propelling us toward the imminent swearing-in and awaited inaugural address. The Capitol grounds is a sea of red, white, blue and heavy black coats.
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11:25 a.m.
It’s time for the first kisses. The president kisses Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then the women of his family, first lady Michelle, first daughters Malia and Sasha, and finally mother-in-law Marian Robinson.
New York Sen. Schumer starts the ceremony with an official intro. He offers nonpartisan tribute to the military and equality. Whatever the challenges, Schumer says, “America prevails and America prospers.”
@NYCSouthpaw tweets: “Great speech by President Schumer”
@ZekeJMiller: Schumer started his remarks early. He has three minutes left per the schedule, and it looks like he plans to use it.
It’s clear that the president’s official name for the ceremony is “Barack H. Obama” — with a middle initial, not the middle name. That’s how Schumer introduced him. And it’s how the announcer introduced the president when he emerged from inside the Capitol.
Obamas arrive at the Capitol for the 2013 Presidential Inauguration
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★ ★ ★
11: 35 a.m.
A moving, nonpolitical invocation by Myrlie Evers-Williams, former president of the NAACP and widow of slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Her theme: “America, there is something within.”
I only wish politicians could learn to speak as concisely and eloquently.
She’s followed by the Tabernacle Choir — but not the Mormon choir, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
You see, Brooklyn’s Chuck Schumer organized the event. So his hometown choir got the job. I’ll give it to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir — it looks like the tapestry that is America. Incredibly diverse. Magnificent voices.
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” always stirs me. I’m reading “The Complete Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” and this stirring rendition of the Hymn makes me think back to those difficult days of rebellion and ultimate salvation of our Union.
★ ★ ★
A very large number of lawmakers also are playing amateur photographer today. The most prominent are Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the unofficial photog of the Senate, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington.
A few lawmakers had technical difficulties:
@petegallego “Tweeted but . . . none of my tweets went through. But . . . I also got some cool pictures to post later.”
★ ★ ★
11:43 a.m.
Now a brief word from a Republican.
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top Republican in inaugural planning, quotes “Roots” author Alex Haley: “Find the good and praise it.”
Alexander is completely nonpartisan. He sticks to patriotism and doesn’t try to make partisan points.
★ ★ ★
11:45 a.m.
It is moving to watch a Latina justice of the Supreme Court administering the oath of office. Another sign of how far we’ve come as a nation.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn has a prominent spot just behind Vice President Biden.
Biden kisses Justice Sotomayor after the oath is completed, she expresses appreciation for the opportunity to be there today.
★ ★ ★
11:48 a.m.
Folk musician James Taylor sings “America the Beautiful,” but I’m having a Separated At Birth moment. Does anyone else note the resemblance between the latter-day Taylor and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert?
James Taylor
Rep. Louie Gohmert (Getty Images)
★ ★ ★
11:50 a.m.
Bravo, Chief Justice Roberts! You got it right this time.
Wonder how many rehearsals were needed.
Roberts and Obama are joined at the hip in American history. The Obamacare decision from the Supreme Court this year was an important chapter. But there are more to be written.
★ ★ ★
11:53 a.m.
We’re a bit EARLY. The president is now delivering the inaugural address.
11:55 a.m.
First theme is togetherness. He says we hold truths to be “self-evident but not self-executing.”
I’m hearing the constitutional scholar Obama. As opposed to Scalia’s “original intent” philosophy, the president is talking about a living Republic. “As times change,” he said, “so must we.”
12 noon
Key passage:
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.
Then it’s on to a bit more divisive talk: “We reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”
He also rejects Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” rhetoric — in the president’s words today, “that we are a nation of takers.”
It’s interesting how Obama is choosing the lines of division for the next four years. On climate change, he sides with science against an unnamed foe.
“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” he said.
★ ★ ★
12:05 p.m.
“Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.”
Obama ties the gay-rights movement to the civil rights and women’s rights movements of the past century and a half.
This is the first time in the history of presidential inaugurations that a president has talked in detail about gay rights.
He quickly pivots to “Dreamers” who seek to become Americans even though they were brought into the nation illegally by their parents.
★ ★ ★
12:05 p.m.
Good cop, bad cop. First, a warning about the tone of discourse:
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
He first A bit of caution for his strongest supporters: “Today’s victories will only be partial.”
★ ★ ★
12:11
It’s over. Is this the shortest inaugural address in modern history?
Kelly Clarkson wraps things up with a soulful rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”
@DanaBashCNN: “Kelly Clarkson clearly Schumer’s pick. He is so excited.”
★ ★ ★
12:20 p.m.
Poet Richard Blanco is reading a tremendously moving poem that highlights the American Dream.
“One sky.”
Blanco notes how his mother sacked groceries for 20 years “so I could write this poem for all of us today.” And his father, “cutting sugar cane so my brother and I could have books and shoes.”
“One sky.”
Blanco’s appearance — and the subsequent benediction by the Rev. Luis Leon of St. John’s Church in Washington — underscores the presence of Latinos and Hispanic culture throughout the inaugural festivities. It hasn’t been gratuitous or an afterthought. It has been a rich part of the tapestry.
@auroralosada: “@BarackObama menciona defensa derechos gays, mujeres, reforma inmigratoria, mejor redistribución riqueza en su discurso de Inauguración”
@WaymonHudson “The whole #inauguration event was so modern, multi-cultural, inclusive, and really reflective of what America really looks like. So amazing.”
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are sworn in
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★ ★ ★
Beyonce. Our National Anthem. Just amazing! What a singer! What a way to end the ceremony!
@KatieSherrod3: #inaug2013 Two Texas women — Kelly and Beyonce.”
★ ★ ★
This is going to be an inaugural address for the history books. Its lofty rhetoric and repeated themes of equality and coming together will make it memorable. Coming 50 years after Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it probably will be added to the canon of famous civil rights speeches.
It was short of specifics, but it dealt with big themes. That kind of speech tends to be more memorable. There will be plenty of time (State of the Union, etc.) to list political initiatives of the moment.
Today’s speech was about the state of American equality, circa 2013.
Biggest surprise: his extensive section on gay rights. Having read all previous presidential inaugural addresses yesterday, I can tell you that this is a significant moment in inauguration history.
Second biggest surprise: just a short mention of “Newtown” — the Connecticut school massacre.
Obama only took a few jabs at Republicans, but I’m sure they will be duly noted (climate change, the tone of the debate in DC).
Now it’s up to the president and the Congress to act.
Here is the complete text of Richard Blanco’s inaugural poem: One Today
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper—
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives—
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.
One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.
One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.
One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us—
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it—together
Latino Inaugural 2013: In Performance at the Kennedy Center
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Vice President Joe Biden and his family made an unexpected stop at the Latino inaugural 2013 event at the Kennedy Center last night.
The unexpected guest delivered a touching speech about the power of Latinos.
“I think you underestimate your power and what you have done for America and what you are about to do,” Biden told the audience.
Humm. Where have we heard that before?
As it turns out, we heard it at the Congressional Hispanic Council Institute’s 35th annual gala few months back, when Biden delivered the keynote address.
“You are about to become and already are the most powerful force in U.S. politics. Exercise that power well and the country will embrace it,” Biden said on Sept. 13.
Last night marked the first time a vice president has attended a Latino inaugural event, further emphasizing the importance of Latino voters in future elections.
“We said from the beginning that the Hispanic community was on the cusp of realizing its place in America, one that is so richly deserved,” Biden said.
Throughout 2012, the Obama For America (OFA) campaign drew heavily on president’s star-studded collection of Latino supporters to bring out the vote and connect with Latino voters. Celebrities such as Ricky Martin, George Lopez, Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longoria were featured in various campaign ads for OFA, some filmed both in English and Spanish.
Longoria, who served as OFA national co-chair, also co-chaired last night’s event.
“The story of Latinos is the story of the United States,” she said, echoing sentiment from Biden’s September speech that “the rest of America is beginning to understand that [Latino] success is America’s success.”
Biden was not the only Democrat to appear before the Latino audience last night. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as well as San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro came out to celebrate Latinos and their part in helping re-elect President Barack Obama.
