President-elect Barack Obama's path to the White House 
Follow the path of Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, from his birth in Hawaii in 1961 to the White House on Inauguration Day 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Last month, ProPublica obtained the public financial disclosure forms of many Obama administration officials and cabinet members. The Takeaway wanted to know a little more about the assets of those involved in crafting and enforcing domestic economic policy.

More about President-elect Barack Obama and his appointees...

The election of Barack Obama brought, for the first time, a black family to the White House. But more than that: there’s a new black family in the neighborhood. Long a haven of ambition, achievement, community and art, Washington D.C.’s black community hasn’t always had an easy relationship with the White House. To take a look at how the new residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue might interact with D.C.’s black community we are joined by Patrik Henry Bass, Books Editor at Essence Magazine and author of Like a Mighty Stream: The March on Washington, August 28, 1963.

The photographer Patrik Henry Bass mentioned? Addison Scurlock. And the National Museum of American History has an impressive online archive of his work.

President Obama launched a media blitz yesterday, doing so many prime time interviews you would think it was campaign season again. This time, though, he was touting his economic stimulus plan. Every stop on his media tour was peppered with questions about his two failed Cabinet nominations. For a look at the latest on the Obama stimulus and the nagging questions over Daschle, we are joined by April Ryan, the White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks.

After the dramatic appointments of replacement Senators in New York and Illinois, is the nation ready for another one? President Obama would like to nominate New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican, as Secretary of Commerce. But, Sen. Gregg will only accept the nomination if the New Hampshire governor, a Democrat, will replace him with another Republican. It's party politics at its finest and Josh Rogers, a reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio, is here with all the details.

Click here for more on Obama's cabinet picks.

President Barack Obama has been compared to great American leaders from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy, Jr.. But in a forthcoming piece in The New York Times Magazine, writer Matt Bai argues that the danger of looking back at history for parallels is that you fail to look forward. He joins us now for a sneak peak at his article.

When President Obama needed to appoint an envoy to the Middle East, he turned to former senator George Mitchell. Why? Because Mitchell has a long track record of facilitating peace among warring parties. One of his most noted successes was in establishing peace accords in Northern Ireland. So who better to tell us what those sitting across the table from Sen. Mitchell can expect than Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein? He joins us to give his perspective on facing Mitchell and what Mitchell faces in the current conflict in the Middle East.

President Obama gave his first televised interview last night, but his audience was far from home. Instead, Obama chose to speak to the residents of the Middle East via the Dubai-based television network Al Arabiya. He did his best to show that Americans are not the enemy and pledged to extend a hand to the Muslim world. For the reaction to this interview we turn to BBC Correspondent Jon Leyne in Tehran, Iran.

Watch the President's interview on Al Arabiya:

One of President Obama's first acts in office was to begin the process of closing the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay and work to either release or bring to trial the 245 detainees there. But in Afghanistan, 600 prisoners from the war on terror await the Obama Administration in a cavernous, makeshift American prison at the Bagram military base north of Kabul. Eric Schmitt of the New York Times joins us to discuss the fate of these prisoners.

For more, read Eric Schmitt's article, Afghan Prison Poses Problem in Overhaul of Detainee Policy in today's New York Times.

The 20-year-old single "Don't Believe the Hype" by hip-hop icons Public Enemy has been a constant thought of mine in days up and through the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. The seminal political rap tune instructs black Americans, and others, to look beyond contrived media stereotypes to explore the complexities of black males and the negotiation of social and political spaces.

Having this lyrical tome — however dated — as a backdrop in considering the celebration of so many blacks on the election of President Obama can be helpful.

In cutting to the quick of Obama, there is an appreciation of him as articulate (I hated that reference to me by condescending teachers in school), self-disclosing and a brilliant, disciplined political mind. His list of personal and professional positives represents much of the best in the black community. And to see him appreciated so grandly gives us, and obviously many others, a sense of hope that we can be seen beyond the boxes that so often separate us from being seen as whole.

This is not to say that Mr. President is all-the-way on point. He is a politician. One who has manipulated circumstance, situation and stakeholders in ways that politicians do, and that's OK as long as there is an understanding of it all.

Just before the election of Mr. Obama to the presidency I opined that I'd sipped the Kool-Aid. I explained that I was a true believer, but only halfway. As with many who experience marginalization in this country, I believe in the ideal of American democracy — I dare say many black folk do. However that ideal has not been, nor is it now bound in one individual, no matter how cool and competent.

So, with President Obama there is true belief. His social standing and thoroughness gives us an opportunity to bet on black. He has allowed Us to step forward in this pivotal point in history.

Nonetheless, 'politics' is still 'politricks,' and we'd be wise to consider the words of Chuck D.

President Obama had a second busy day in office. He immediately named former Senate majority leader George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East and former United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke as envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. This move makes it clear foreign policy is a priority for the new President. We're joined by Daniel Levy director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation for his take on these appointments. Mr. Levy was a member of the official Israel negotiating team at the Oslo B and Taba talks in 1995.

Newly-minted President Obama had a full day of work yesterday firing off executive orders left and right. Richard Wolffe, the senior White House correspondent for Newsweek, joins us for his inside-the-Beltway view of Obama's first day in office.

Part of President Obama's busy day was a do-over of his Presidential Oath of Office after Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the line during the Inauguration.

Yesterday marked President Barack Obama’s first full day in office and he certainly had a full docket. Two wars, an economic recession, government ethics, White House pay freezes. He even took the oath of office. Again. All in a day's work for the 44th President. For more we return to Capitol News Connection's Todd Zwillich.

President Obama’s cabinet is almost confirmed. Despite a last minute delay, even Hillary Rodham Clinton was able to be confirmed as the new Secretary of State. The latest roadblock? Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder, had his confirmation postponed, which may not bode well for a cordial working relationship between the President and the Congress. With more on the confirmations and the comings and going on Capitol Hill we turn to Todd Zwillich reporter for Capitol News Connection.

The crowds at the Inauguration as viewed from space. Shot courtesy of NASA.

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.

Follow Takeaway Political Director Andrea Bernstein to her prime, second-row seat at the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
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"I'd rather get a stimulus than a recovery."

"Look at this mob. It looks like a Will Smith movie here."

"Don't forget this is the city that greenlighted a trillion-dollar bailout and two days later couldn't figure out where the money had gone."

"Log cabin republicans? There are six, and they all hate themselves."

Watch Mary Beth Williams' collection of images from the Inauguration.

Now safely inside and thawed (minus about seven layers of clothing) I’ve been listening to NPR, where the consensus seems to be that the speech was dark. But I found it strangely hopeful. After all, the revolutionary warriors made it through the icy waters, the soldiers whispering from Arlington are calling a nation to serve “something larger than themselves.” I find these encouraging words for dark times. But on the metro line waiting to leave the Capitol area, the emotional highlight of the day seems to have been the words “so help me God.” As one eight-year-old told me, on her way to the parade, “I liked it when he read the Bible.”

Read a transcript of President Obama's inaugural address and discuss it in The Takeaway's "user-annotated" document viewer.

Countless hours to arrive in Washington, six hours in sub-freezing temperatures, and some folks with tickets couldn’t even get in after the blue gate was shut down. Then it was a two-hour line just to get in to the Capital South metro station. Did it matter? Nope. A family from Rochdale Village, Queens, had a Plan B — they went to Cong. Gregory Meeks’s office in the Raeburn House Office Building — heated, with snacks — and watched it on TV. A young man from Scranton slipped in by walking around the crowd, but his friends were not so lucky. One woman from Philadelphia was relegated to the streets, far from the jumbotrons, where she clung to the event by listening to the cheers for the mall. She didn’t care, either. “We came a long way to get here,” she explained. “Oh,” I asked “Where are you from?” “No,” she corrected, “I mean a long way, in years.”