Obama sounds themes of hope at Lincoln Memorial

WASHINGTON - Two days before his historic inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama honored the nation's war dead and visited an esteemed black church yesterday before attending a star-studded celebration of his presidency at the Lincoln Memorial, a free event that drew hundreds of thousands and previewed the throngs expected tomorrow.

The rollicking concert, titled "We Are One" and broadcast live nationwide, was intended to underscore Obama's call for hope and national unity, twin cornerstones of his unprecedented candidacy for the presidency. The president-elect emphasized those themes in a brief speech to the massive, multicultural crowd, which stretched more than a dozen blocks from the Lincoln Memorial well past the Washington Monument to the National Mall.

Obama, greeted by roaring cheers, declared that because the nation stands behind him, he is hopeful and undaunted by the sobering challenges before him. But he used the occasion to strike another theme that has emerged in his recent remarks: managing expectations of those eagerly anticipating his presidency.

"Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our resolve as a nation," he said. "But despite all of this - despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead - I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that the dream of our Founders will live on in our time."

Standing alone in front of the statue of the seated Abraham Lincoln, Obama said that he drew hope from the great men symbolized by the setting - George Washington, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech there 45 years ago.

"And yet, as I stand here today, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you - Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there," Obama said.

The event, which featured performers as diverse as hip-hop artist Will.i.am and country star Garth Brooks, was the highest-profile preinaugural event so far. The crowds also seemed to justify some officials' predictions that perhaps as many as several million people could gather tomorrow to witness the swearing in of the nation's first African-American president.

Obama takes office with challenges that would give pause to most world leaders: a staggering economy, the prospect of double-digit unemployment, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The economic challenges were underscored yesterday when several of Obama's key advisers and political allies appeared on news talk shows. David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist, told CNN that a priority would be to "put the brakes" on the nation's 7.2 percent unemployment rate, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would prefer that President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy end before they are due to be terminated in 2010, a position that puts her at odds with the incoming president.

Obama started his day on a somber note, traveling with Vice President-elect Joe Biden to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. After honoring America's war heroes, Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters attended services at Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in downtown Washington, one of the city's oldest African-American churches.

At the Lincoln Memorial, the vast crowd cheered when the president-elect and his family appeared on large video screens set up as far away as the National Mall. Performers such as Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, and Forest Whitaker delivered short speeches calling for volunteer service, as well as reflections on national unity and highlighting diversity in the nation's history.

Yesterday's celebration seemed to underscore Obama's legacy as an African-American: In 1963, King delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial. In 1968, protestors pitched tents around the memorial's reflecting pool to call attention to poverty in America.

Those at the event yesterday seemed to recognize its historic nature - even those who had to watch it on jumbo TV monitors a quarter-mile from the main stage in chilly, overcast weather. Spectators, who traveled from as far away as California, Kansas City, and Brazil, said they wanted to be part of the moment and take in the energy.

Bonnie Bayuk, 64, rose before dawn to make the journey from her home in New Haven and stood by the Washington Monument to take in the show.

Bayuk, who said she lived in Washington during the tumultuous 1960s, said she had been to the mall before for antiwar demonstrations and other protests against the government, but this visit was unique on an entirely new level. "This is the first time it's all about joy," she said.