President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden react during the inaugural parade on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, in Washington. President Barack Obama dances with first lady Michelle Obama in the presidential box during the Inaugural parade Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, in Washington. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk in the Inaugural Parade after the ceremonial swearing-in for the 57th Presidential Inauguration on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. President Barck Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk in the Inaugural Parade after the ceremonial swearing-in for the 57th Presidential Inauguration on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Sally Buzbee, AP's Washington bureau chief, unpacks one piece of President Barack Obama's inaugural address. I'm not like you. You're not like her. She's not like him. Yeah, so what? We can - must - still find common ground. That was the point of the somewhat subtle argument used today by President Barack Obama to make a basic point: Government officials shoulder a responsibility to take action and solve problems, even if they disagree on some basic beliefs. "Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life," the president asserted in his inaugural address. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. But, he said, even if Americans can't settle "centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time," officials do have the responsibility to take action to try to make progress on the immediate problems the country faces. The idea that liberty can be defined in different ways and that there are different paths to happiness has particular resonance, of course, in a country that is becoming ever more diverse. Polls show that increasing diversity makes some Americans uncomfortable. But beyond that sweeping philosophical point, the president's argument also had a clear, pragmatic - and more immediate - political purpose: to unite people who are deeply dug in on their beliefs and harness their energy to seek common ground and practical solutions. For now, decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle," the president said. It's a highly relevant point for a president who must will spend the next several years trying to seek compromise with politicians who believe things quite different than he does. By Sally Buzbee President Barack Obama is fond of saying: "We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good." His point: sometimes we have to settle for half a loaf. Well, that's what he got in Washington today during his second inauguration - in attendance, that is. Turnout was "definitely above 800,000" and possibly up to 1 million people, according to Chris Geldart, who directs the District of Columbia's homeland security and emergency management agency. That estimate is based on aerial views of how the crowd filled sections of the mall. That's about half of the 1.8 million people who showed up for Obama's first inauguration in 2009. A look at the issues that those who govern the country will face during Barack Obama's second term. Up now: the climate. President Barack Obama is picking a fresh fight on climate change, saying in his inaugural address that a failure to act to curb it would betray future generations. He's hoping to tackle the issue - and live up to his prediction during the 2008 campaign that he would. But addressing the matter will be difficult. The president has acknowledged that climate change was pushed to the back burner during his first term while he dealt with wrenching economic challenges and spent much of his political capital on reforming health care. But now he appears to be trying to make the case for action by pointing to the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, annual wildfires and droughts rivaling the Dust Bowl. Says Obama: "Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought and more powerful storms." Even amid the natural disasters, any attempt to respond to global warming faces a daunting prospect in Congress, where legislation narrowly cleared the House in 2009 but died in the Senate. Republicans control the House now and many Democrats in the Senate view the issue with suspicion - especially about a half-dozen Senate Democrats facing re-election next year who represent states carried by Republican Mitt Romney. When Obama won enough support in the Democratic primaries to secure the 2008 Democratic nomination, he said future generations would look back at that night as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." Heading into his second term, one of the main questions is whether he meets that test. It was at 6:31 p.m. tonight, just before the inaugural parade ended, that the bagpipers passed the president's reviewing stand playing their oddly compelling medley of "America, the Beautiful" and "God Bless America." One wonders whether Irving Berlin ever considered what it would be like to hear his famous song in bagpipe. Barack Obama began the second term of his presidency today in many ways. You could say he began it leading a fractious nation (many did). You could say he began it with daunting tasks at hand (certainly true). Or you could say, quite accurately, that he began his second four years as leader of the free world by spending quite a bit of time listening to unusual and diverse versions of American musical standards. The works of John Philip Sousa, who was born on Capitol Hill in 1854, turned up more than once, and one wonders how many people these days can identify "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896) anymore. "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (1831) made several appearances, too, with few people perhaps considering that it shares a melody with Britain's "God Save the Queen." This after some high-ticket performers tried their hands. James Taylor pulled off a very affecting "America the Beautiful" (first published in 1910). Kelly Clarkson chimed in with an offbeat "My Country 'Tis of Thee." And Beyonce belting out "The Star-Spangled Banner"? Electric. The inevitable "Hail to the Chief," of course, which was first used for the president in the early 1800s, popped up regularly through the day, and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1861) echoed through the streets of Washington more than once as well. If you were watching and listening, you heard the best of the American songbag presented in ways as varied and diverse as America itself. Exciting stuff. Too bad the parade's over, though. A few more minutes and who knows? We might have been treated to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" - on the Australian didgeridoo. Inauguration Watch follows the events of President Barack Obama's second inaugural. Look for short items and photos throughout the day. Up now: the deficit. President Barack Obama devotes one word - "deficit" - to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term. But it's the paragraph that follows in his inaugural address that foreshadows what's to come: more hard bargaining and more last-minute deals driven by a conviction that he wields an upper hand. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of 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 says. The commitments we make to each other - through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security - these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. This was the language of his re-election campaign. And while his address contained no reference to either political party, his pointed rejection of "a nation of takers" was an implicit reminder of the ill-timed surfacing of Mitt Romney's declaration that Obama's support came from the 47 percent of American voters "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." Jim Kuhnhenn - Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn President Barack Obama got his start in politics as a community organizer nearly 30 years ago on Chicago's South Side. He hasn't stopped organizing since. He didn't waste much time after delivering his second inaugural address to implore his backers to join his campaign's new nonprofit organization, Organizing for Action. The president said in an email to supporters that the group was the "next step in our grassroots movement and will be crucial to finishing what we started." "If you haven't already, say you'll be a part of it," Obama wrote, directing supporters to a web link with more details. The nonprofit, which will raise money from corporate and grassroots donors, is an unusual creation, essentially morphing a presidential re-election campaign into a nonprofit organization built to back up Obama's efforts in Congress. Organizers of the group, composed of top Obama aides, have vowed to build support for the president's plans on gun control, immigration and climate change. The group will operate outside the confines of the White House and Obama's political arm, the Democratic National Committee. It sets up a test of whether Obama can turn his political army into a powerhouse grassroots lobbying machine for his agenda - in other words, whether the community organizer-turned president can organize the country behind his goals. These folks know how to keep warm. At the Canadian Embassy, a couple hundred guests lined up on the chilly open promenade of the embassy for that country's native treats: a fried dough delicacy of Beavertails, beer and hot cider. "We love Obama!" said Pam Hooker, co-owner of Ottawa-based BeaverTails Canada Inc., as she handed out the fried dough to the embassy crowd from a bright red food truck parked on the embassy grounds. Her husband Grant Hooker says they created the "ObamaTail" version of the flat, oval-shaped fried dough, topped cinnamon sugar, whipped cream and chocolate and maple topping. "President Obama insisted on having one" when he visited Ottawa in 2009, Grant says, but "security whisked him away after we handed him one, and we never got to hear back on what he thought of it." The Canadian embassy had an ideal vantage point overlooking the parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue. It also offered stunning views of the Capitol and National Mall. Talk among the diplomats and military officers, in a mix of English and French, veered from talk of how Canadian troops would be out of Afghanistan by 2014, to hopes that the US Congress and the White House would see eye to eye and avert another fiscal cliff drama. "We think of ourselves as being at 'center ice' here on Pennsylvania Avenue halfway between the Hill and the White House," says Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer. Center ice is an ice hockey term, for the center of the rink between the two goals. "We are hoping for similar balance between the two in 2013," he said with a smile. Kimberly Dozier - Twitter http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier There are some people, powerful people, who aren't happy to have a black man as president. And they are going to keep fighting him every step." - Curtis Martin, 75, at a Martin Luther King Day rally at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. Jeffrey S. Collins - Twitter http://twitter.com/jscollinsap Could this be a sign of Biden 2016? President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were out of sight after walking parts of the presidential inauguration parade. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, filled the void, working the cheering crowds that lined the streets of Washington D.C. It was a powerful symbol - and an enormous opportunity for a man who is leaving the door open to his own presidential run. Biden took full advantage, waving presidentially to the crowd, glad-handing with onlookers, and even running across Pennsylvania Avenue at one point to shake hands with a group of onlookers. And what does it say about Obama's personal preference for his successor in 2016, with a full slate of Democrats in governorships, in Congress and even in his own cabinet likely thinking about throwing their name into the ring for the open presidential seat in 2016? How many presidents have let their vice president walk alone - with the real president nowhere in sight - during the president inauguration parade, one of America's most-watched spectacles? Jesse J. Holland - Twitter http://twitter.com/jessejholland President Barack Obama had an interesting greeting for his former congressional colleagues as he entered the Capitol for his swearing in. "I miss this place," he said with a big smile as he greeted leaders of the Senate and House. Obama served in the Senate for four years as an Illinois Democrat before becoming president in 2009. What he didn't say: Congress - and particularly the Republican-controlled House - made it difficult for him to get his agenda passed in the first term, and is likely to continue doing the same in the second term. Check out this picture of him arriving earlier today. http://yfrog.com/oc50boqrj Alan Fram - Twitter http://twitter.com The hulking structure paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. didn't exist during President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009. It opened two years later, and this time it was a popular stop for people honoring the slain civil rights leader on the day of his remembrance as well as on the day of Obama's second public swearing-in. Nicole Hailey, 34, had driven with her family from Monroe, N.C., a six-hour drive they started at midnight. She says her family made a point of coming to the MLK memorial before staking out a spot for the swearing-in ceremony. She says: "We're just celebrating freedom." Jon Barton, 61, and his wife Brooke Stephens, 59, of Roanoke, Va., had knocked on doors to get out the vote for Obama. On Monday, they were visiting the MLK memorial before heading to the mall. "When you grew up in the 60s, this means a lot," Stephens said while looking at the statue of King. And Kona Brown, 45, of Annapolis, Md., and her friend Donna Thomas, 45, of Fort Worth, Texas, were both visiting the memorial for the first time. Brown called it beautiful and emotional, because it brought back stories of the Civil Rights movement she was told growing up. "What better day to come see the memorial?" she said, adding that King had helped pave the way for Obama to become president. Jessica Gresko - Twitter http://twitter.com/JessicaGresko AP Political Editor Liz Sidoti's wrap-up on what we learned today from the president's second inaugural address. At the outset of a second term, this is an empowered Barack Obama - one who made clear that he knows he has political capital, and that he plans to spend it. He signaled that he's ready - or, rather, that he has a duty - to tackle big challenges. And that he wants Republicans to walk with him in that endeavor. But he also indicated that he has core beliefs on which he won't compromise. Like the notion that government can be a tool - not THE tool - for solving what ails the nation. And the need to curb climate change. And the fact that all people are created equal, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. And, finally, that you don't always have to see the world the same way to get things done. In doing so, he's suggesting that he has a responsibility to press his agenda even if the deeply divided nation - and its equally fractured leaders - refuse to heed his call to come together to address the nation's problems. Talk about a road trip. Mattece Mason traveled with eight members of her family - three generations - in a 12-passenger van from Tulsa, Okla., to New York City for a night, and, finally, to Washington, D.C. for the festivities. After the ceremony, the 34-year-old Mason sat on a bench with three of her daughters and traded impressions of the day. It was just momentous. I think the second inauguration of this president was even more important than the first. Because it was based on his credentials, you know? Mason said. Twelve-year-old Sanaa added: "It made me feel good. I got to see Obama! And 8-year-old Jada said: "I got to see the president AND Beyonce." Asked about Michelle's hair, the mother and daughters screamed and gushed about how much they loved the first lady's new bangs. Mason said her 14-year-old daughter Aubrianna told her that she wanted bangs now, too. That made me feel great because my girls have such a role model. A first lady they can emulate. Jocelyn Noveck - Twitter http://twitter.com/jocelynnoveckap Yes, Mr. President. We can see you. As band after band passed by the White House viewing stand, a standing President Barack Obama bobbed his head and bopped to the beat, a giant grin on his face. His wife, Michelle Obama, and daughters Sasha and Malia did a bit of chair dancing, and craned their necks to see the performers. They, too, eventually stood up, and followed Obama - bobbing their heads and clapping their hands.