Mon, January 19, 2009
Music rang out from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in a star-studded open-air concert...opening with Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising." Days away from becoming the 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama joined his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, clapping to the beats of Stevie Wonder.
Tens of thousands braved the winter cold to take in the two-hour concert...crowding around the reflecting pool on Washington's National Mall...as performers including Mary J. Blige, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Beyonce and U2 belted out tunes from the memorial steps.
Obama echoed the concert's title, "We are one."
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, saying (English): "."If we could just recognize ourselves in one another, bring everybody together, Democrats Republicans Independents, Latino, Asian, and Native American, black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not, then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearn for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process."
Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday.
Katharine Jackson, Reuters.
