In a small, private ceremony on Sunday, President Barack Obama who surrounded by his family, took the official oath for his second term in office.
As he recited the 35-word oath administered by U. S. Chief Justice John Roberts, Obama placed his hand placed on a family Bible.
"I did it," Obama,51, said immediately afterward as he hugged his wife, Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia. "Thank you, sweetie," he said to his wife when she congratulated him.
Obama will be sworn in publicly on Monday on the steps of the U. S. Capitol where a crowd of between 600,000 and 800,000 people are expected to gather.
He won a second four-year term on Nov. 6 in a campaign against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
However, as the country's first African-American commander-in-chief, Obama begins this new term facing many of the same problems that have previously hounded his administration. They include high unemployment, crushing government debt and a deep partisan divide over how to solve the issues.
(Reuters)
