[Photo Credit: Reuters]

By Richard Tofel, ProPublica, Jan. 21, 2013

As we did four years ago, we asked Richard Tofel, ProPublica's president and author of a book on President Kennedy's inaugural address, to provide instant analysis of today's speech. Here are his thoughts:

In 2009, in the flush of his first election, Barack Obama declared in his inaugural address that, "What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply." Today, perhaps chastened by the trials of governing and the difficulty of gaining election a second time, he did not so much acknowledge that the cynics of 2009 had been right as devote himself to trying, one more time, to move the ground beneath them.

The critical portion of the address seemed to be this: "Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time…. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate." Whether such a call, even with the president's present strength and confidence, will shift the ground will be the great question of the next period in our politics and history.

The speech centered on the two fundamental American texts, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Obama quoted the heart of Jefferson's Declaration verbatim, and then turned repeatedly, as his organizing rhetorical device, to the opening words of the Constitution: "We, the People." By the speech's end, seeking a call to action and perhaps a counterweight to the polarization of Washington, "we, the people" became "you and I, as citizens."

Along the way, in addition to drawing on the words of Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr., Obama managed to reference Lincoln four times in two paragraphs, adverting to the Gettysburg Address ("government of, and by, and for the people"), Lincoln's second inaugural ("blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword"), the "House Divided" speech ("no union… could survive half-slave and half-free") and Lincoln's second message to Congress ("made ourselves anew"). The one source not quoted in the speech, in a striking departure from inaugural tradition, seems to have been the Bible.

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Okay, Beyoncé didn't simply perform The Star Spangled Banner, she...let's just let Caity over at Gawker describe the performance:

"The initial moments of Beyoncé's inauguration performance were fraught with confusion, after she opened her mouth to sing the national anthem and everyone realized that God had replaced the artist formerly known as Beyoncé with an actual living angel whose voice was more heavenly than a thousand Hallelujah choruses."
...
"Then all of a sudden, in the middle of the song, something crazy happened: Beyoncé went rogue.

If you take a look above right around the 1:45 mark, you'll notice that Beyoncé casually removes her earpiece, mid-line, without missing a beat. It was later reported that she was plagued by audio problems throughout the song.

At this point in the performance, Beyoncé is, as they say, "singing blind." She no longer has any way to tell if she is singing on key, except for the fact that she is Beyoncé and "off-key" is the one note that exists beyond her range."

In the video above, it's about the 1:35 mark when the earpiece comes out.

Bravo, Beyoncé! Bravo, Caity!

Dressed for the occasion in an American flag-themed costume, Katy Perry took the stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday night for the Kids' Inaugural: Our Children, Our Future.

First Daughters Sasha and Malia Obama had front-row seats to the show, which is dedicated to America's military families and streamed to military bases across the country. The event, hosted by Nick Canon, also featured Usher, Far East Movement, and members of the Glee cast.

Katy Perry closed out the night with "Firework," "Part of Me," "Wide Awake" and "Teenage Dream."

"I'm very proud to be here ... and to see the Obamas and the Bidens here for four more years," she said.

President Obama was quietly sworn into office for a second term just before noon in a brief and intimate ceremony, ahead of Monday’s far showier public inaugural celebrations. First Lady Michelle Obama, along with daughters Sasha and Malia stood at Obama's side.

The ceremony, which lasted less than two minutes, satisfied the Constitutional requirement that the president’s swearing-in take place by noon on the Jan. 20 after an election.

The oath was administered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the White House Blue Room, an elegant space with a sweeping view of the South Lawn.

Take a behind the scenes look at the construction of the floats for the 2013 Inaugural Parade.