Opinion: Official schedule for the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama

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The ceremony will commence at 7 a.m. Pacific on the west front of the U.S. Capitol and will include:

• Musical selections: U.S. Marine Band, followed by the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

• Call to order and welcoming remarks: Sen. Dianne Feinsteinof California.

• Invocation: Dr. Rick Warren.

• Musical selection: Aretha Franklin.

• Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be sworn into office by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court John Paul Stevens.

• Musical selection: John Williams, composer-arranger, with Itzhak Perlman (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet).

• President-elect Obama will take the oath of office using President Lincoln’s inaugural Bible, administered by the chief justice of the United States, John G. Roberts Jr. (For an amazing historical view of that inauguration day when that Abraham Lincoln Bible was first used, click on the ‘Read more’ line below.)

• Inaugural address.

• Poem: Elizabeth Alexander.

• Benediction: the Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery.

• The National Anthem: U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters

After President Obama gives his inaugural address, he will escort outgoing President George W. Bush to a departure ceremony before attending a luncheon in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. The 56th inaugural parade will then make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House with groups traveling from all over the country to participate.

Later that day, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will host 10 official inaugural balls.

The Ticket’s past items on the upcoming inauguration are available here. Check back regularly as we will be updating whenever appropriate and, of course, covering the events as they unfold, including providing a full speech text asap. You don’t need an inaugural ticket to read The Ticket.

-- Andrew Malcolm

If Obama and Biden registered here for cellphone alerts to each new Ticket item, they wouldn’t be late for their own swearing-in ceremony come Jan. 20. RSS feeds are also available here. And we’re on Amazon’s Kindle now too.

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