The festivities are over and today the new president and Congress begin the process of working together. President Obama has said that he will collaborate more closely with Congress than his predecessor, and that he will reach out to Republicans. How is that likely to play out as lawmakers grapple with healing the economy and taking on other major challenges like health care reform? The New York Times' David Sanger joins John and Adaora to take a look at the executive/legislative relationship as the Obama Administration gets underway.

For more, read David Sanger's new book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power.

For The Takeaway's idea of what President Obama needs to know on his first day in office, check out our Briefing Book series.

For weeks speechwriters, politicians and pundits have been forecasting the policy and prose that President Obama would deliver in his inaugural address. Now that the greatly anticipated speech has happened, we turn to contributor David Wall Rice for his assessment of the message and the moment. David Wall Rice is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Morehouse College. He joins us from Washington, D.C.

Read David Wall Rice's blog post, A speech called home.

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Miss the speech? Watch below.

What a way to start an administration. As if things weren't bleak enough already, even as President Obama was giving his inauguration speech, the Dow was plunging, taking its biggest slide ever on an Inauguration Day. Despite billions funneled to the banking system by the federal government, that's where the crisis in the economy remains rooted. How are we going to get out of this mess? Newsweek's Dan Gross give his insights on the possible ways for the new President to get things under control, and how long we can expect troubled times to continue.

Late last night the brand-new President of the United States asked to suspend the military trials of terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The request to suspend trials for 120 days will be heard by two judges on Wednesday. The move was made so that the administration can re-examine the trial process. President Obama has said he wants to close the controversial center. To explain what this suspension means, we turn to Walter White an international human rights lawyer, former chair of the Human Rights section of the American Bar Association, who is currently at the Center for Civil and Human Rights at Notre Dame Law School.

President Barack Obama is newly-ensconced in office and he is rolling up his sleeves to get down to business. He has said he wants to work closely with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to address America's current economic problems. How is this likely to play out as lawmakers grapple with healing the economy? For answers we look to the New York Times' David Herszenhorn for his take on the relationship between the executive and legislative branches in the new administration.

Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner faces the Senate Finance Committee today and it could get ugly. His confirmation hearings were delayed after it was disclosed that he didn’t pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for several years, took child care deductions that weren't accurate, and employed a housekeeper whose immigration documentation had lapsed. Don Williamson, a Washington, D.C. accountant and professor at the Kogod School of Business at American University gives John and Adaora his professional view on Geithner’s tax problems.

Who else is joining Obama's administration? See our guide to his inner circle.

When considering places to look for work cities like Rapid City, South Dakota and Idaho Falls, Idaho might not jump to mind immediately, but maybe they should. A new report out this week claims that these cities are looking pretty good job-wise, despite the economy, and are not projecting the job losses that New York City and Chicago expect. For a closer look at these numbers, we are joined by Demetra Nightingale, a professor of public policy at Johns Hopkins University.

When President Obama was sworn in yesterday, he was surrounded by family. That family was a rainbow of colors and ethnicities including his Kenyan step-grandmother, his Indonesian-American half-sister, Michelle Obama's black cousins and brother, his Chinese-Canadian brother-in-law, and a rabbi. It is quite a change from the typical white Protestant presidential family. To discuss this changing American portrait we are joined by New York Times' writer Jodi Kantor.

For more, read Jodi Kantor's article, In First Family, a Nation’s Many Faces, in today's New York Times.

A new film illuminates the celebrated and controversial life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. The Takeaway turns to filmmaker David Grubin for a look at the lessons 21st century America can learn from the trials and tribulations of this 20th century legend.


Don't forget to watch David Grubin's film "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer" when it airs on The American Experience on January 26th.

As one of his first acts in office, President Obama asked for a 120-day suspension of the military trials of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. We turn to the BBC's defense and security correspondent, Rob Watson, for a look at the significance of the move and the difficulties facing the new administration over those still being held at the prison.

The conclusion of the presidential Inauguration marks the end of what may have been the biggest party in U.S. history. Tens of thousands of people head back home today and the real work in the Capitol begins. The Takeaway checks in with two reporters who covered the inauguration. Josh Rogers is a political reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio and Ben Calhoun is a political reporter for Chicago Public Radio.