As the Wall Street Journal reports: "On a day rich in history, Barack Obama took office Tuesday as the 44th president of the US, urging Americans to stand together amid the 'gathering clouds and raging storms' of war and recession." In his Inaugural Speech, Obama declares: "As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake."