Nothing is impossible
"Anything is impossible in America", Barack Obama tells hundreds of thousands of supporters in Washington
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Monday, 19, Jan 2009 09:20
"Anything is possible in America," Barack Obama has told hundreds of thousands of supporters in Washington ahead of his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States.
Taking to the podium where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years previously, the president-elect, who will be inaugurated on Tuesday, insisted that America would prevail, despite an economy in recession and two wars being fought overseas.
"I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," Mr Obama said.
"There is no doubt that our road will be long," the president-elect told cheering supporters at the Lincoln Memorial, "that our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard.
"I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today."
Earlier, Mr Obama arrived in Washington after retracing the steps of Abraham Lincoln, another president to hail from Illinois, as he made the seven-hour journey from Philadelphia to Washington by train.
Thousands of people lined stations along the 220km route to catch a glimpse of the man who will make history when he becomes the first black president of the US on Tuesday.
Mr Obama, 47, was greeted with cries of "we love you" throughout the route; often replying with the words "I love you back".
Speaking in Baltimore, Maryland, to a crowd of 40,000 people, he captured the euphoric mood by saying: "Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but just the beginning.
"Let's seek a better world in our time."
Mr Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on Tuesday. Today a welcome concert is being held at the Lincoln Memorial, while both men will be encouraging people to engage with their communities as they mark Martin Luther King Day on Monday.