"Let us strive on to finish the work we are in..."

Tomorrow, Barack Obama will take the oath of office as part of the 56th presidential inauguration. After he concludes the oath, Obama will deliver the most widely anticipated inaugural address at least since Franklin Roosevelt's in 1932. George Washington, although not constitutionally required to do so, began the tradition of inaugural addresses by speaking after taking the first oath of office. Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address -- delivered near the end of the Civil War -- is generally considered the best:

Fellow Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is inscribed in its entirety on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C....

This interactive map to tomorrow's activities, includes the parade route and the locations of events, celebrations, and points of interest. The diversity represented by the events reflects the coalition that catapulted Obama to victory and that represents the best hope for change...

Historian Eric Foner explains how Lincoln's greatness as a politician led to his greatness as president, as well as how the dynamics the anti-slavery movement are relevant today:

The destruction of slavery during the [Civil War] offers an example, as relevant today as in Lincoln's time, of how the combination of an engaged social movement and an enlightened leader can produce progressive social change...

Click a trip over to Mouse Medicine for a great video of musicians from around the world singing a traveling version of "Stand By Me." Unsurprisingly, two of the singers are New Orleansians...

Today's must read is "The Audacity of Hoops," Alexander Wolff's fine Sports Illustrated article about the importance and meaning of basketball to Barack Obama:

Basketball's appeal, Obama told HBO's Bryant Gumbel last year, lies in an "improvisation within a discipline that I find very powerful." With its serial returns to equilibrium -- cut backdoor against an overplay; shoot when the defense sags -- the game represents Obama's intellectual nature come alive...

Barak o-Balla!!...

Speaking of hoops, NBA analyst Charley Rosen gives out his midseason grades. Western Conference snobs (including me) take notice: The teams in your conference are at or below expectations while the East is coming on strong...

Today would have been Martin Luther King's 80th birthday. Here is the peroration of his final speech, given the day before his assassination at age 39:

To see and hear the complete "I have a dream" speech, click here.