Campaign '08

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― At a time of economic turmoil at home and foreign crises abroad, millions of Americans in the nation's capital and around the country eagerly awaited Barack Obama's message of change Tuesday, hours before he will break centuries-old racial barriers to be sworn in as America's 44th president.

Reflecting on a moment during arduous presidential campaign, Obama advisor David Axelrod recalled Mr. Obama saying, "If you're going to be president, do it when it counts."

Axelrod, who was a major architect of Mr. Obama's winning campaign, told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that the Inauguration speech is set and Mr. Obama is eager to deliver it. "He knows what he wants to communicate to the people."

Culminating four days of celebration, Mr. Obama and soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama joined President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, at the White House for coffee Tuesday morning. Earlier, the soon-to-be First Couple attended traditional morning worship services at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Crowds expected to approach two million began taking shape in the nation's capital in the early morning hours, despite weather forecasts that call for bitter cold and possible snow.

By 9 a.m. the National Mall east of 14th Street had already reached capacity, the U.S. Park Police Department told D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's office.

People streamed into Washington, D.C., packing mass transit and suburban subway parking lots before dawn as out-of-towners and area residents alike headed for Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall for the swearing in ceremony.

"This is the culmination of two years of work," said Obama activist Akin Salawu, 34, of Brooklyn, New York, who helped the candidate as a community organizer and Web producer. "We got on board when Obama was the little engine who could. He's like a child you've held onto. Now he's going out into the world."

A festive atmosphere surrounded the nation's capital throughout the weekend as onlookers relished in the chance to witness history.

"There's this great sense of good will. People really wish this president well," CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said Tuesday.

"The greatest American presidents have always come when America's at it worst."

By 4 a.m. Tuesday, lines of riders formed in suburban parking lots for the Metro transit system, which opened early and put on extra trains for the expected rush. Many parking lots filled up and had to be closed.

Streets around the Capitol quickly filled with people, and security checkpoints were mobbed.

Those nearest to the swearing-in and those lining the parade route will be heavily screened and their movements restricted, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.

Cleveland and Lynda Wesley, from Houston, were on the Mall as the sun rose.

"We grew up in segregated Houston," said Cleveland, 56, a retired electronics engineer. "Houston didn't desegregate until 1967. Our formative years were in segregation. This situation is so emotional it's basically an unreal experience."

Omar Funchess' white pickup truck somehow got stuck in the crowd waiting for access to the Mall. So he took advantage of it.

Funchess climbed atop the truck bed and led the waiting crowd in various call and response cheers. He called out "Change!" and the crowd responded - after prompting - "We did it!"

Funchess, who dabbles in real estate in Charleston, S.C., said he felt the waiting crowd was restless so "it was my duty to just do something, just to amp the crowd up."

The coatless Funchess - it was in the truck, but the heat of the moment was enough for him - had been up for 30 straight hours.

"Man, I've probably got another 24 hours before I see some sleep," he said. - Seth Borenstein

Mr. Obama takes over a nation longing for change after President Bush's eight divisive years in the White House, an era that witnessed the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the beginning of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and an economic collapse not seen since the 1930s Great Depression.

Mr. Obama's ascendancy marks a milestone once unthinkable in a nation that has struggled with racial issues since its founding and where segregation was practiced in many Southern states decades ago. It takes place outside the U.S. Capitol, which slaves helped build. Mr. Obama will take his oath on the same Bible used at the 1861 inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson recalled the outpouring of emotion he displayed on Election Night when cameras captured him with tears streaming down his cheeks. "It was the joy and the dream," Jackson told CBS' The Early Show.

Jackson added that Inauguration Day marked a major milestone in the civil rights movement. Invoking the names of slain civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers, Jackson said, "We paid a price to get here."

He added of Mr. Obama: He's running "the last lap of a 54-year race."

For Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a man who endured vicious police brutality as a civil rights activist, Mr. Obama's rise to the presidency has left him in a state of near disbelief.

"Going to see and witness a black man stand and take the oath of office," Lewis told The Early Show, "I may lose control, I may have an out of body experience. I don't know what I am going to do."

In describing the massive crowd of all races and ages gathered at the Mall, Lewis said, "It is the essence, it is the making of the beloved community that Dr. King lived and died for."

Mr. Obama's election electrified millions across the globe with the hope that the new America leader would be more inclusive and open to the needs of people and governments worldwide, more collaborative and more inclined to attack problems with diplomacy than with military power.

Tuesday's ceremony is the culmination of a remarkable ascent for the 47-year-old Democrat, who moves into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth youngest president. In less than five years, he rose from a little-known Illinois state lawmaker to the nation's highest office, persuading Americans that despite his relative inexperience, he could turn around the economy, end the Iraq war and restore U.S. standing in the world.

A gifted, inspirational speaker, Mr. Obama has raised the hopes of millions as he outlined a new course for the United States. He has promised to emphasize diplomacy, seek global solutions to climate change, reject torture and shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Mr. Obama's presidency puts Democrats firmly in charge of Washington. They will control both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time since 1994.

Pre-inauguration polls show Americans believe Mr. Obama is on track to succeed and express confidence the new president can turn the economy around. But Mr. Obama has cautioned that recovery needs time, and that things will get worse before they get better.

The Obamas and Bushes will share a ride in a heavily armored Cadillac limousine to the U.S. Capitol for the transfer of power. On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back. He will be in a wheelchair for the inauguration.

Continuing a White House ritual, President Bush left a note in the Oval Office for Mr. Obama, wishing him well as he takes the reins of the executive branch. Mr. Bush plans to return home to Texas following the swearing in ceremony.

Before noon, Mr. Obama steps forward on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol to take the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. The 35-word declaration has been uttered by every president since George Washington.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)