Reference

American FlagThe American Presidential Inauguration 2009

Barack Obama took the oath of office of President of the United States of America on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. New Zealanders viewed the United States inauguration ceremony live on a number of television channels in the early morning of Wednesday 21 January.

  • TV One and TV3 screened coverage from 5.30 am as part of their breakfast programmes Breakfast and Sunrise.
  • Those with access to Sky were able to see extended coverage of the event from CNN and Fox News from about 4am.
  • Triangle TV which is available to Christchurch viewers via TelstraClear cable (Channel 50) and Triangle’s sister channel, Stratos Television, which broadcasts nationwide via Sky Digital (Channel 89) and Freeview (Channel 21) screened coverage from Arabic news network Al Jazeera from 4am to 9am.

The inauguration took place at the west front of the US Capitol building in Washington. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr administered the oath, for which President elect Obama used Abraham Lincoln’s Bible. Also present were members of the US armed forces, since the President is also Commander-in-Chief. It's a day filled with ceremony, guards, salutes, parades, speeches, inauguration balls and it was Obama’s opportunity to declare his administration’s intent not just to the American people but to a huge world audience.

The New York Times has articles about the Presidential Inauguration including:

Election coverage

Tuesday November 4 was Election Day in America. Democrat candidate Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America.

Primaries

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain brought the drama of American politics to our television news and newspapers as they campaigned from town to town in Iowa, New Hampshire and the other primary states. The first primary was Iowa on January 3 and the presidential election was on November 4, 2008.

The conventions at which the parties nominate their presidential and vice-presidential candidates have now been held. Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate and John McCain caused a sensation with his selection of Sarah Palin. Candidates often announce their candidacy early in the previous year and begin campaigning and fundraising straight away so the successful candidate will have slugged it out for nearly two years to reach the glittering prize.

Our Internet Gateway recommends

Vote 2008
News and background information and resources about the elections from PBS, the American Public Broadcasting System.
USA.gov Voting and Elections
Information about the electoral system, how to register and vote, how to volunteer in a campaign. From the official United States' government website USA.gov.
Federal Election Commission
The duties of the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections.
GOP.com
The Republican National Committee - includes an overview of the party and its platform.
Democratic National Committee
Official Democratic party website.

Candidate's websites

Looking at the candidate's websites shows some interesting contrasts in approach to the selling of their candidacies.

Democrats:

Republicans:

Resources in our libraries

The drama of the Presidential election has attracted writers and filmmakers over the years. A recent example which is great entertainment and conveys the drama of American politics is the television series The West Wing. In the long running show (seven series) the drama of three presidential elections is conveyed including in the final two series a detailed dramatisation of the primary and presidential campaign of Governor Matt Santos.
All the President’s Men is the story of the Watergate affair as uncovered by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward.

The candidates have already attracted the writers:

and have also been in print themselves:

Blogs and online news media

If you want to jump into the crazy world of political blogging, Wikipedia lists a number of leading American political blogs. Huffington Post, Instapundit, Daily Kos – they are all there, but be warned – it can get wild and woolly. Probably better to check out some leading media websites: