THIS BEING PHILADELPHIA, it wasn't all that surprising that "George Washington" and "Thomas Jefferson" were among the couple thousand people gathered at Independence Visitors' Center yesterday to watch Barack Obama's inauguration as president of the United States.
Philadelphia is the place, after all, where history's first peaceful transfer of power took place, when John Adams took the oath of office in Congress Hall in 1797 - and which the two actors dressed as the first and third presidents re-enacted yesterday morning.
There was no better place to be reminded by the 44th American to take that oath that "America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbears, and true to our founding documents."
With that, President Obama - President Obama! - signaled clearly that he is renouncing the extreme claims of executive power made by his predecessor, and returning the nation to the constitutional road that we the people started down 210 years ago.
"The time has come to . . . choose our better history," said Obama - to remember what that history has taught us: The power of our Constitution, our democracy and our spirit has always been, and will be, greater than the power of our arms.
In the days leading up to this moment, some members of the outgoing administration claimed "keeping us safe" as their greatest achievement. But President Obama unmistakably rejected yesterday the false 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," the president said. "Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
"Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please."
That is the United States that, for all their faults, Washington and Adams and Jefferson set in motion, the one Lincoln preserved and FDR and JFK renewed. In the few weeks since Nov. 4, an astonishing sense of unity has taken root in a nation that, just a few months before, was bitterly divided. From 53 percent of the vote, President Obama now commands the approval of 83 percent of the people, evidence to support his claim that "the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."
And yesterday, millions of Americans came together as one - from the frigid Mall in Washington to thousands of small house parties around the nation, to classrooms in the inner city to barracks in Iraq. We came to celebrate the man whose eloquence and intelligence, savvy and strength has brought him to the pinnacle of world power. We also came to celebrate ourselves and our shared legacy. And we came to celebrate the soaring hope that has accompanied this most recent, and remarkable, transfer of power. *