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Obama says ‘freedom must be secured’ during 2nd swearing-in ceremony

President Obama places his hand on a bible held by Michelle Obama as he is ceremonially sworn in for a second term by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 44th President of the United States.

President Obama places his hand on a bible held by Michelle Obama as he is ceremonially sworn in for a second term by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 44th President of the United States. (EPA)

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President Obama waves as he walks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha, first lady Michelle Obama and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, to St. John's Church today.

President Obama waves as he walks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha, first lady Michelle Obama and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, to St. John’s Church today. (AP)

President Obama began his second term with a hard-hitting speech that called for collective action on climate change, gay and voting rights, immigration reform, gun control, equal pay for women and other issues on the Democratic agenda.

“For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts,” he said to applause.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law,” he added.

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“Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity.”

The president also ridiculed those who think strong government “makes us a nation of takers.”

“A decade of war is now ended. An economic recovery has begun,” he said in wintry cold on the Capitol’s west front in Washington DC.

He warned that the nation faces “hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and reduce our deficit.”

“But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future,” he added.

Obama said “we must act” even if our work is imperfect. He says we cannot afford to delay.

In a message that could be aimed at the divided Congress where battles await him in his second term, Obama is cautioning against mistaking absolutism for principle, substituting spectacle for politics or treating “name-calling as reasoned debate.”

Even so, Obama said that today’s accomplishments will be partial, and it will be up to people four, 40 or even 400 years from now to advance them further.

In the 20-minute address Obama also touched on foreign affairs, promising to work for democracy in Asia and Africa and pursue peace in the Mideast, and various domestic issues.

But before he delivered the speech, aides cautioned that Obama would not be outlining new policy but rather speaking in broad terms about what he wanted to achieve in his second term.

Specifics are expected in State of the Union address on Feb. 12.

Schumer kicked it off the ceremony with a speech about the 150th anniversary this year of the Capitol’s dome. The dome was constructed during the Civil War and was half complete when detractors cited the country’s troubles as a reason to halt it.

“To President Lincoln, a half finished dome symbolized a half divided nation,” Schumer said.

But Obama tried to set the tone for the day on Twitter. “We have a chance to finish what we started. Our work begins today. Let’s go,” he tweeted.

Obama and his family began the day worshipping at St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House. Then in an unusual gesture, he invited Republican and Democratic leaders, including his main political opponent in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner, for bipartisan coffee at the White House.

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Schumer (D-NY) chaired the pre-speech festivities, which included James Taylor singing “America the Beautiful.”

“Wow,” Schumer said after Kelly Clarkson sang towards the end of the ceremony.

It was the second time Obama was sworn in for his second term. Chief Justice John Roberts conducted a private swearing in on Sunday.

Obama’s second inaugural lacked the electric enthusiasm of his first, when 1.8 million people crammed onto the National Mall to witness the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president. Far fewer people attended this year’s inauguration — officials estimated up to 700,000 people — but the crowd still stretched from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. And shortly before the president spoke, U.S. Park Police announced that the public viewing areas on the Mall were full.

Security was tight across Washington, with streets closed off for blocks around the White House and Capitol Hill. Military Humvees and city buses were being used to block intersections. Volunteers fanned out near the Mall to help direct the crowds.

The event was called “inspirational” by those in the crowd.

“It was inspirational,” said Vanessa Grant, of Bronx, who came with her husband and his aunt, Willena McRay from Tampa, Fla., for the inauguration.

“It was hope – togetherness, ethnicity. He laid it all out,” said Grant.

McRay, 75, was also on the National Mall for the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

“We’ve come a long way from King’s March on Washington to President Obama,” said McRay. “Martin must be smiling down on us.”

Denise Chen, 48, said she took a Greyhound Bus from Brooklyn to Washington to be a part of history and hear Obama’s speech.

“He’s a role model. He’s a very calm person. He’s friendly, courageous,” Chen gushed about Obama.

Many others made the trek for the monumentous occasion, including David Richardson of Atlanta and his two young children, who were among the earlygoers who headed to the Mall before sunrise.

“We wanted to see history, I think, and also for the children to witness that anything is possible through hard work,” Richardson said.

Wendy Davis of Rome, Ga., was one of thousands of inaugural attendees who packed Metro trains. Davis came four years ago as well but was among the many ticketholders who couldn’t get in then because of the massive crowds.

“I thought I was early last time, but I obviously wasn’t early enough,” she said.

By 8 a.m. thousands of people were also waiting in security lines that stretched a block to gain access to the spots along the parade route that were accessible to the general public without a special ticket.

The cold weather was easily tolerated by Marie-France Lemaine of Montreal, who received the trip to the inaugural as a birthday present from her husband. She headed up an Obama advocacy group in Quebec that cheered on the president from north of the border.

“The American president affects the rest of the world,” she said.