Four more years are here.
After running up the national debt by $5.8 trillion and taking 13 vacations over 83 days, President Obama will begin his second term with an official swearing-in today.
His first term, like those of other presidents, was marked by hundreds of numerical milestones — and CBS News reporter Mark Knoller tracked them obsessively:
After four years, the unemployment rate stands at 7.8 percent — exactly where it stood in January 2009. It peaked at 10 percent in October 2009 and began a slow decline to land right back where it started.
Obama’s 22 pardons were the fewest granted by any commander-in-chief since James Garfield, whose presidency lasted just 200 days in 1881. Obama denied 1,019 pardon requests.
He vetoed just two bills passed by Congress.
He took 836 flights on Air Force One and 801 on the Marine One helicopter.
He went on 113 golf outings, 52 of them at Andrews Air Force Base.
Today’s official swearings-in for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be private, with ceremonies adhering to the Constitution, which decrees that the new term must begin on Jan. 20.
The 800,000 people expected to attend tomorrow’s public inaugural festivities are about a million fewer than four years ago.
The pomp and circumstance is to include performances by Beyoncé, James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson.