Obama To Possibly Close Gitmo Through Executive Order
CHETRY: That's John Legend singing at the Democratic National Convention. He is also going to be part of the star-studded lineup to help kick off Barack Obama's inaugural in Washington. Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, U2, James Taylor, they are all among those set to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. The event is called "We Are One: The Obama Inauguration Celebration." It will be heavy on music and history. It's going to be shown exclusively on HBO. And there's also great anticipation about Barack Obama's inaugural address. Many expect it to stand with some of the greatest ever presidential inaugural speeches. It's of course a tall order even for a gifted speaker like Barack Obama. CNN's Jim Acosta is live for us in Washington with more on of course the expectation and what exactly he is going to say when he takes the oath of office. Hi there, Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. That's right. To say that Barack Obama gives good speeches is sort of like saying Brett Favre throws touchdowns. The guy's got game and he is going to prove it here about a week from now. And he's got some big shoes to fill, roughly the size of those shoes up on the Lincoln Memorial. And Barack Obama's inaugural address may be more than just the speech of his lifetime. Historians and speech writers say it could be one for the ages if he could just rise to the occasion.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America.</s>ACOSTA (voice over): Barack Obama's path to the presidency started with a speech, ended in triumph.</s>OBAMA: Change has come to America.</s>ACOSTA: Now the stage is being set for an address that's destined for the history books.</s>ANDREI CHERNY, FORMER SPEECHWRITER: There's a pretty good certainty that you'll have schoolchildren reading this speech hundreds of years from now because of this moment in American history.</s>ACOSTA: Former Clinton-Gore speechwriter Andrei Cherny expects to hear echoes of</s>FDR -- ROOSEVELT: That the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.</s>ACOSTA: Who also waged an epic economic battle against the Great Depression. Cherny gave the young man, who's helping craft Mr. Obama's inaugural address, Jon Favreau, his first speechwriting gig.</s>CHERNY: I think you are going to hear hope, but it's going to be a hope that is tempered by the reality of the situation, and that's actually a more honest kind of hope.</s>ACOSTA: The incoming president has also studied his Lincoln.</s>OBAMA: There's a genius to Lincoln that is not going to be matched. People then point to Kennedy's inauguration speech.</s>KENNEDY: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.</s>ACOSTA: Kennedy, to many, the gold standard of the television age.</s>KENNEDY: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.</s>LARRY SABATO, PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLAR: In all of American history, we probably have a dozen lines that are remembered from all those addresses by all those presidents.</s>ACOSTA: Presidential scholar Larry Sabato says Barack Obama's challenge is to measure up to the moment, the nation's first African- American president in the midst of a national crisis.</s>SABATO: When you consider it's the day after Martin Luther King Day, that inevitably, he will echo John F. Kennedy, that it's almost impossible for Obama to fail.</s>ACOSTA: One question is whether Mr. Obama will use the occasion to detail a laundry list of proposals for the nation. But historians caution, inaugurals are meant to inspire even during difficult times and there will be plenty of time for detail in the State of the Union. And, Kiran, when we're out there one week from today, it will be interesting to note, and I talked about this with Larry Sabato yesterday, when Barack Obama stands up there and gives that inaugural address, he will be looking right at Abraham Lincoln, who, in his second inaugural address, vowed to bind up the nation's wounds, and Barack Obama faces a similar challenge now.</s>CHETRY: It is amazing. The symbolism will certainly not be lost on historians and those of us alike. But, you know, the other interesting thing that Larry Sabato talked was the fact that there are only a dozen quotable lines, you know...</s>ACOSTA: That's right.</s>CHETRY: throughout our history, and Barack Obama had one of his own where he said we're not a black America or a white America, we're the United States of America, when he gave that speech at the DNC, so...</s>ACOSTA: That's right. That speech is what got his career started essentially. That was what got him on this meteoric rise. And -- and you're right. He is going to have this huge occasion here to really crystallize where the nation is at this moment, and we're all sort of waiting in anticipation as to what he is going to say. I have to say, I tried in vain yesterday to reach out to some of Obama people to find out, you know, can we get any hints here? I got to tell you, I got nothing, Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Yes, they don't want to give it away. Of course, not.</s>ACOSTA: Yes.</s>CHETRY: Jim Acosta, good to see you this morning. Thanks. You can watch the inauguration with your laptop as CNN.com is teaming up with Facebook for special in-depth coverage. You can be part of history by logging on to facebook.com/cnn.</s>ROBERTS: Well, as power gets ready to change hands in Washington, the talk isn't all about Barack Obama and President Bush. So, why all of the love for Abraham Lincoln ahead of Barack Obama's history-making inauguration? We'll explain. And it's a rare opportunity for homeowners to dramatically reduce their mortgage costs. Gerri Willis will tell us how you can do it in the first installment of her "Housing Survival Guide." It's 25 minutes after the hour.