spent almost 30 seconds gazing back at the sea of spectators, but it gave way to fist pumping and kids taking kissing pictures of their parents. as for michelle obama's outfit, it was by american designer thom browne. whether you like it or not, it could have been worse. imagine these other designed by browne, instead of the obamas, it could have been the inauguration of the monster. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> i don't know about you, kate, but i had a great time watching all of this, the serious, the not so serious, and now people are going to go out there and have a few laughs. >> quite a day from the official ceremony on the west front of the capitol to all of the fun we have been having covering the parade and watching the president watch the parade from the reviewing stand. quite a day, and it's not even over yet for them. >> piers morgan, anderson cooper, erin burnett are getting

ready to cover some of the fun, blacklife tie inaugural balls. they're only just beginning. >> only just beginning. there's a live picture we're seeing of one of the balls. the next question, what is everyone wearing? >> and we want to know hot the first lady will be wearing. of course, you will see it live here. that's it for us. thanks very much for watching. our coverage continues right now. a president who has been tested for four long, hard years, renews his oath to a nation still struggling and still divided. >> i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear. >> a gallant celebration of democracy and a promise of better days ahead. >> my fellow americans, we are made for this moment and we will seize it so long as we seize it together. >> tonight, we'll take you live to the inaugural ball for all of the glamour, the celebrity, and

the fashion. it's the ultimate party to mark the next chapter in presidential history. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> cnn's coverage of the inaugural convention, from the first salute, to the last dance, and the hard work that begins tomorrow. >> with passion and dedication we answer the call of business, carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom. and good evening, everyone. we're coming to you live from the national mall on this historic day in washington, d.c. you're looking at a live picture of our capitol here. i'm anderson cooper. good evening. hundreds of thousands of people gathered this morning from the foot of the u.s. capitol to the lincoln memorial to witness

history. the second inauguration of president barack obama. the 57th u.s. presidential inaugural. as he walked off the platform, the president paused, telling everyone he won't do this again, and he looked back. a reflective moment to start his second term. before the real business begins tomorrow, tonight, it is all about the celebrations. the inaugural balls. we're going to take you to erin burnett and pierce mas morgan. >> we got the good assignment here. maybe hard to hear. >> best gig in hollywood. washington, any way you like. >> that's right. there are going to be ibt 40,000 people coming to where piers and i are here tonight. this is it, this ball and the one upstairs, those are the two the president is going to be attended, and they have all of

the hot acts. >> the inaugural ball is on this floor, and it's currently the biggest disco you have seen in your life. 35 people will be swilling and guzzling around here. upstairs, the commander in chief ball. a little more exclusive. you will see stovy wune stevie y perry, and they'll be around the two balls and the president and first lady will be dancing at both balls, we're told. the first dance, probably upstairs at the commander in chief ball. last time, it was "last dance" etta james. this time, no one knows. tension is mounting, but it should be very exciting. >> the one upstairs, the commander in chief ball, is for the military. downstairs, a lot more people. the general public was allowed to buy tickets for $60. very egalitarian. we have also celebrated americans who have won the medal of honor. that should be really special, and this year, more than 25

medal of honor recipient will be attending that ball. vice president joe biden and his family will be joining us tonight. >> we have the star of "west wing." and i don't know about you, anderson, but it was a real day of history, and the sense i got from president obama, this is a man who is headed towards a second term now and has a determination that he's going to try to push through the things he really cares about. that's what i thought the real theme of his speech was today. >> it was a very different speech than we heard four years ago, and it's informed by this being martin luther king day as well. in his second inaugural, which was delivered today on the west steps of the capitol building, he reflected that this generation of americans heals itself through crisis. by the steadfast tone of his words, he may have been refli

reflekting on barack obama. he made his message strikingly clear. >> reporter: there was something about this inauguration day that signaled something different. >> i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear. >> reporter: when the nation swore in its first black president to a second term on a holiday celebrating one of its foremost civil rights leaders. >> while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing. >> reporter: it was as much an inauguration as a cross cultural celebration. a place where a puerto rican woman raised in a housing project swears in a catholic environment from scranton, pennsylvania, where a gay cuban immigrant reads his home about a rising sun shining equally on all of us. >> my face, your face. millions of faces in morning's mirrors. >> president obama tied it all together in his speech, linking his vision to the evolving

history of civil rights in the u.s. >> we, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forbearers to seneca falls and selma and stonewall. just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsong, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone. >> reporter: he swore on the bibles of abraham lincoln and dr. martin luther king jr., connecticuting both to his modern agenda. >> our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. >> reporter: his was a law that called for changes. >> he clearly doesn't want to straddle centrist views anymore,

and even when his positions are further to the idealogical left, i think this speech was a combattive speech. it was certainly, he wasn't holding back. >> our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see america as a land of opportunity. >> reporter: he walked head-long into battles over gun control, climate change, facing a tattered economy, a second term both bold and bumpy. >> progress does not compel us to settle centuries long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to saact in our time. >> reporter: time like history that was fast advancing. joe johns, cnn, washington. that's when the president turned around and said he's not going to see this again. he wanted to take one last look at the crowds. some estimated 800,000 or so.

we're not sure of the exact number, who were all there watching, staring back. president obama and the first lady honored reese chbt tradition by crawling out of the limo, strolling down pennsylvania avenue. let's take a look. the crowd before us getting even more excited when they see the first lady and president outside of their limo. waving to the tlung throngs of well wishers lined all along pennsylvania avenue. they followed the footsteps of jimmy carter and rose alyn cart who created the tradition of walking down pennsylvania avenue. they walked the entire way. president obama and the first lady got out of the vehicle twice. now, despite the partisan divide that has overcome washington in recent times, president obama sounded optimistic today as he called a nation to action.

>> we recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss or a sudden illness or a home swept away in a terrible storm. the commitments we make to each other through medicare and medicaid and social security, these things do not sap our nation, they strengthen us. they do not make us a nation of takers. they free us to take the risks that make this country great. >> let's bring in our panel of van jones, former special adviser for the president. margaret hoover, and cornell belcher, a pollster for obama in 2012. sally, we haven't heard from you. you have heard a lot in washington. i wonder what you think of this

speech and how it compared to the speech four years ago. >> it was not the soaring rhetoric i expected. it was much more meat and bones, but i think it was a speech that he probably wanted to give four years ago but didn't dare give four years ago. >> because? >> because it was out there. it was much more radical than the speech he gave ninety-four ye four years ago. i heard someone on fox news say it was a take no prisoners speech. and people were rating it in terls of liberal or left wing. he's been accused of being a socialist by his right-wing detractors. i think he really came out and said, talked about gays and talked about guns and talked about immigration in a way that you know he's believed all these years, that the people who voted for him knew that's what they were voting for, and the people who didn't vote for him knew that's why they weren't voting for him, and he just said, okay, i'm now the president four more

years, i don't have to do this again. this is what i believe and this is what i'm going to say. >> it's almost as though he took the lessons from the first term, that maybe he got pushed around too much, so this term, he's going to do the pushing. and you know, there was this debate among, especially those on the center right, is this man a progressive clothed in centrist clothing, or is he really a centrist and a pragmatist. and the answer is maybe he's both. it was take no prisoners. there was no question he was defending modern american liberalism, he was defending progressivism, and putting them in the sweep of history and tying it to the declaration of unless. >> if i could pick up on that, sort of the big thing that came out of that is we have never seen a president before, and he is uniquely qualified to do that, to tie our founding fathers or tie in martin luther king to our founding fathers and put martin luther king clearly in the moral and ideal continuum

of our founding fathers and that struggle, and then to pivot and talk about stonewall wiand selm in a way that puts it on equal footing with that. the budget battle has come and gone. we'll always have a budget battle. in 50 years from now, the pivotal and important thing will be this president's embrace of gay rights and putting it on the same level as civil rights, which is controversial. >> they are beginning to change their minds now. >> and also, we were so fortunate to hear from john lewis as well, who was the only surviving person who actually spoke at that 1963 march on washington. he said it's a civil rights issue. but you know, this was really a big deal, this speech. when he first came on the scene, people said, could this man be the liberal ronald reagan? could he be someone who could articulate liberalism in terms

that were motivating, that were deeply rooted in american values, and moved the country in his direction? i think this speech was the first signal that he has that potential. this is not just ghazi, happy talk, hope and change, kumbaya. this was him staking a claim to a different kind of patriotism. and saying that in order for us to be who the founders want us to be, we have toticontinue to include the dr. kings and the latino community and everybody else. that was powerful. >> let's take a look at a moment a lot of people have been talking ability. one of president obama's open mike moments. i did get the sense, i mean, you're saying he's not going to see this again. you got the sense in his making that speech that he's not going to make a speech like that -- he doesn't have an opportunity to make a speech like that again in this moment in history, in this

moment in his presidency, and i felt like these were a number of things he wanted to say. >> i think he was speaking to history. he has spent a lot of time looking at other inaugurals and saying what do these inaugurals say about who we were as a country at that time. he was speaking as much to the history, i'm going to weigh in on climate change, i don't want to be not on the record on climate change, i don't want to not be on the record about the lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender issue. i want to be on the record. i'm a man who stood with the future, not with the past of this country. >> one of the things he said, the way it was interesting he said it, was to kind of throw down the gauntlet to the republicans, and yet to say, we're all in this together. so it was a really neat trick that he was sort of weaving around. this is what i want, this is what i want, but you're all going to come in with me together. >> absolutism was the principle, sort of the line that breaks through.

if i can take a moment, quickly, a moment on him reflecting on that prrb for a lot of us who were part of the campaign when he was senator ideal, and it was a fun time, we sat around the table and said, if we could come in a close third in iowa, we could keep this thing going. to step back and look at sort of what this has become and what this has meant and understand that for people like me in this profession, i will never work on anything as historically significant as electing the first black president of the united states in our lives. it's an enormous moment in history, and i'm humbled by it. >> let's toss it over to erin and piers who are standing by at one of the inaugural parties. a lot of people are wanting to see what michelle obama is going to be wearing tonight to these inaugural events. >> well, i have a funny feeling she's going to look like me, in a tux. call me a betting man, but i have a feeling we'll see the president in a tux.

>> you know what the best part today? women's wear daily which follows fashion, tweeted out, there's president obama wearing the same brooks brother coat he wore last time. i thought, isn't that okay? >> very excited people, and the reason i'm so excited, we have been joined by somebody i would view played the greatest dramatic character in the history of television. and that is the man who played toby ziegler in "west wing." welcome. >> that was quite an introduction. >> i watched all seven seasons for the third time, so i can almost quote everything you have said. we don't have time, but i wish we did. let's talk about the president. you have been watching this, an amazing day of history in many ways, but a man with a purpose now, you get a sense. what did you make of the speech in. >> exactly that. he seemed to reconfirm that he's here for a purpose, he's here for a reason.

i love that he mentioned gay and lesbian equal rights. very emphatic about equal pay for women. and he's very clear to the 47% who have been left out for quite a bit of this process for the last number of years that he was, you know, redeveloping the middle class. henry ford knew that. you gotta -- you got to create a middle class that can buy the products we make. otherwise, that's a no-brainer for a lot of us. it's cleary a hard fight. >> what would toby say to president obama in the oval office tomorrow? >> probably say well done, thank you for saying my words so nicely. and let's get to work. >> get stuff done. >> what's that? >> get stuff done. >> let's get to work. i'm always reminded when i think about the legacy of a president

and where he is in history, which they were talking about earlier, putting this perspective in history. i pitched to erin sorkin at one point, when i look at the administration and what we achieved, which wasn't a whole lot of great things, little things, and i said, i want to have a speech for me. i rarely ask for, about what our legacy is, where is our great frontier, where is our new deal, where is our great society and so on? i think that's what they're probably thinking about. what more can we leave on america in the next four years without apology because there's no re-election now? let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. and we're all hoping that's what happens. >> thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> a real pleasure. >> very much so. thank you for not asking me about guns. i would get very upset. >> get upset about guns. >> you're doing it for all of us. >> i would like you to join me.

your character made one of the great speeches about guns in the west wing, pointing out that america has a huge gun problem. that was more than ten years ago. what should the president do? >> exactly what he's saying he is going to do, which is getting joe biden to figure a way out of this -- we're stuck in our lobby mess, right? we have a very powerful lobby. we have an interesting group that makes a lot of money off munitions and gun. we're a violent culture, no denying that, but when is enough enough? and when are we going to start taking measures to stop even one child from, you know, from the kind of tragedy we have experienced lately? i don't know what the answer is, but i know that most americans, republicans, nra members, agree with the very basic answers, which are the magazines and the

automatic weapons and so on. but we are very, very impassioned people who believe the second amendment is a bible. one more quick point. two different versions of the second amendment were passed. one passed by congress had a capital letter for state and militia. the one passed by the state had a lower case. so it was a compromise right from the beginning. two very different interm tashzs of what that second amendment means. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> there are two designers anxiously awaiting to see whether michelle obama wore his or her dress tonight. she had about 15 designers who send her designs. >> it will be an american designer. >> they do not know who it will be, and they will see when the world sees. the president and the first lady will be hitting the dance floor for the first dance in a couple hours. first, beyonce today with an

absolutely beautiful -- >> that was the best rendition of the national anthem i have ever heard. ♪ o say, can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets' red glare

the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ ♪ the brave

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♪ ♪ ♪ le all right, this was obviously th president as he was looking at the troops, the overview of the troops before the actual parade began. pretty amazing. one of the things i find so amazing about america's military

is how precise and perfect their training is. you know that they are trained to take 28-inch steps. >> amazing. >> and they do it, and they don't look down. >> also, americans always go on about how the british do pomp and ceremony better than anyone else, including america. i watched today a lot of the stuff going on, and i thought, america does it pretty well, too. >> really? >> you roll out the barrel for the president, and that was very impressive today. >> it was beautifully done, and it makes us all proud. whether you're a democrat or a republican or something else, proud to be an american. well, all eyes today, though, were not really on the president. >> but on the back. >> on the first lady. and the bangs. >> is it compulsory you have to like the banks because i'm not convinced. >> you don't like them? >> you can't dislike anything the first lady wears, including her hair, because she's so beautiful, but i'm not a big fan of the bangs. >> i'm not a fan of bangs in

general. i think they're hard to pull off, but i think they look great on her. she looks really hip. >> she looked great. not sure about the bangs. sorry. >> all right. if you look, there was a harper's business review that shows when michelle obama wears her clothes, if you're a publicly traded company, your stock goes up. that's power that no excellent in the world has. our own alena cho has more on what the first lady wore today, which is getting rave reviews, from what i heard, from almost every. >> reporter: is watching first lady obama's clothes are a sport, this is the big day. her choice, coat and dress, was american designer thom browne. we tracked him down at his hotel in paris. celebrating the moment. >> you can never predict, you

know, life is to happen this way, and i'm so fortunate, so honored and so proud that she chose mine. >> reporter: for this occasion, the 47-year-old designer chose fabric for the first lady based on men's silk ties. >> i had an idea that the president would be wearing navy, so i wanted to do something that would -- that she would look really good with him. and i chose a dark navy pattern, which is actually a silk jacquard fabric that i have used in my men's collection. >> so who is this man who sells his first name with an h? thom browne started his business with five sutits, appointment only in 2001. officially, he's been designing women's clothes for just two years. he's best known for redefining men's wear. >> he's the reason a lot of men are wearing smaller suits. if we see exposed ankles on a man's paunts it's probably

because thom browne invented the shrunken suit. it doesn't mean he's a well known or household name. >> people know me as a men's designer. now i think they'll start looking at my women's with a different eye. >> he also designs a line for brooks brother and one for montclair. the man from allentown, pennsylvania, stages elaborate fashion shows. >> i will never forget the time that his show involved the models climbing out of coffins. you never know what you're going to get. every time, it's a spectacle of the drama and it's complete theater. >> reporter: but brown was aware this was not the moment for that. >> i think in regards to the situations like this, you have to be so respectful to the day and what it represents. >> reporter: for browne, this moment represents a shift, name recognition, a potential for big business, and largely, he has one woman to thank. >> i think she will be one of the most important because of her support for, one, american

designers. and american designers that aren't always household names. a style icon for me is someone who has that confidence to be able to be their own person and be that true individual that they are, and i think she's definitely going to go down in history as that. >> you know, you saw thom browne popping open that bottom of champagne. he actually told me he's probably drink two bottles of champagne tonight, and a good dinner in paris before he returns to new york tomorrow morning. and well deserved, certainly. i asked him, what do you think this is going to do to your business? and he laughed and said, i don't think it's going to hurt. what's interesting about thom browne is, well, piers and erin, he in addition to be a designer, is also a very savvy businessman. he pays attention to revenue, he pays attention to sales. people who watch fashion very

closely, say if anybody was going to take advantage of this moment in the spotlight, it would be thom browne. >> thank you. i want to bring in elle's creative director. so much attention on poor michelle obama, whether it's her bangs or her address, whatever it is. i don't know how the women in the public eye can deal with it. what kind of thing will she wear? >> tonight? i think if you look at what she's won all weekend, there's been a color theme. her entire family has been color coordinated, blue is the color that has been popular this entire weekend. will she continue the trend, will she wear blue to signify this is what it's about, the second term? maybe. >> i have to ask ability the boots. for those who were not watching very closely, she had worn a pair of pumps earlier in the morning. when she got out on the parade route, she had these george knee-high navy suede -- those

are a work of art. >> beautiful, right sdm. >> and you found out they're custom made. only one pair in the world. >> one of a kind, specially made for the first lady, and i love that thom browne coat. >> she's becoming, isn't she, the most talked about in terms of fashion first lady since jackie kennedy? >> i don't think there's one designers in the world who wouldn't trip over themselves to design for her. people are so excited. >> you like the bangs? >> i love the bangs. >> you love the bangs? >> yes, i love them. >> am i allowed to not love the bangs? >> twitter has blown up about my comment about the bangs, but i don't really like the bangs. >> to your point, why is it michelle obama. you had carla sarkozy, who was a supermodel, and she always wore jewels, and samantha cameron who

also mixed high and low fashion, but no one has become the fashion icon that michelle obama was. >> i think everyone was hungry for someone in the white house to have that fashion and sensibility that jackie o. had. >> and princess diana. that's the first fashion icon since princess diana. now you have two on both sides of the atlantic really having that kind of sense that only diana had. it's a very exciting time for fashion diviners everywhere, whether you make coats or dresses or boots or bangs. >> if you really think about it, every administration previous to michelle, the first lady really aligned themselves with one designer, so there was noel no element of surprise. >> one final question i have to ask you, jason wu, he designed a dress for her for the last ball, he was not well known and he became this guy that everyone

wanted to wear, and he's a businessman. thom browne, is he going to be able to turn this -- is he going to be able to spread this? >> he already has. trust me. time will tell. >> these guys make tens of millions of dollars. a quick comment about erin's dress. >> i love erin's dress, i told her earlier, this is spectacular. >> i'm very honored. the guy is a creative director for elle. >> great to talk to you. >> the castro brothers will join us next. if i can remember which one is which. first, brad paisley playing right now at the commander in chief's ball. ♪ i can see this world as i go ♪ outside my southern comfort zone ♪ ♪ your bisqcuits and your gravy♪ ♪ you have fed me you have saved me billy graham and martha

white ♪ ♪ i can't become a drifter and i just can't wait to pack ♪ ♪ because i know the road i leave on it will always bring me back ♪ ♪ ♪ this my tennessee home and i have been away way too long ♪ ♪ i can't see this world unless i go ♪ ♪ outside my southern comfort zone ♪

♪ look away look away it's dress-like-a-president day, i'm supposed to be martin van buren. who? martin van buren! google? martin van buren. ♪

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and welcome back. i'm anderson cooper live from the nation mall. there were certainly a lot of great moments today. you're looking at a live shot of our nation's capitol, and all eyes now are turning to the inaugural parties. one of the moments, kelly clarkson singing my country tist of thee.

♪ my country 'tis of thee land where my fathers died ♪ ♪ land of the pilgrims pride ♪ from every mountainside let freedom ring ♪ ♪ and ring from all the trees ♪ sweet freedom's song

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> i can't do that. >> kelly clarkson earlier today. just one of the many performers, including beyonce and of course james taylor, who we heard from earlier. piers. >> pretty amazing that someone can come off a reality show like "american idol" and perform an inauguration sayceremony. i hear from some people that the greatest star-spangled banner comes from whitney houston. i'm not so sure. i think beyonce today was about as good as you could get. let's bring in two musical

experts, or every anchorman's nightmare because no one can tell who they are. julian castro and lucky castro. he wore his pin, so we know who is who. welcome to you both. let me start with you, if i may, julio. to all of the viewers saying, can i turn the noise down? no, i can't. that's the way it's going to be all night. it's a party. we're celebrating. everyone is celebrating. >> this is probably the most festive interview you're ever going to give. >> ever, ever. tell me about the president's speech because he covered so much from education to climate change to gun control to all sorts of stuff. the big question tonight is what can he actually prioritize and what can he actually make happen? where do you think his real priorities lie? >> he did a wonderful job today. he helped renew, rekindle the american spirit, calling us to

what has always made america great, all of us working together to forge a stronger america, and he laid out his agenda. one of economic competitiveness and investing in education, and he put climate change on the line for the first time in a long time. as well as immigration reform, talking about immigration and how they're going to replenish america. it's not going to bei easy to gt any of those thing s done, but these are the types of moments that bring americans together and there's real hope in that. >> what about if the president has to choose? gun control -- marco rubio on the republican side, putting forth, it fits well with what the president has to say. >> i think immigration reform is easier. that doesn't mean it's less

important, but it's easier, gun safety and gun control will probably come first. that said, it's going to be a heavier lift on gun suppliers. >> you must know a lot about both sides of this, that an immigration deal can get done? not just a weak around the edges kind of thing, but a real long-term fix? >> i believe it will get done. i believe the american people on november 26th gave a mandate for congress to get it done. that's why you see people from both parties speaking out in favor of immigration. >> when we got to the state of texas, in particular, they said within two presidential cycles, the red state would effectively become more democratic and turn purple. do you see that happening? >> i do. for three reasons.

texas has done better economically than most states. we had a real influx of folks moving in from other states that are moderating texas, and because the republican party has gone so far to the right, they have forgotten to invest in the basics of the global economy and it's beginning to lose the moderate community. >> piers' first highly inappropriate comment of the evening. >> that's not inappropriate. you can't dance, really? of course, you can. i bet they can. they always say things like that. waiting for the president and first lady's first dance of the night. we'll wait for what their first song is and how they dance. first, another moment from today's celebration. ♪

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♪ naked pictures of joe biden at the beach ♪ ♪ i influence kings and world leaders ♪ ♪ helped hemingway write like he did ♪ ♪ and i'll bet you a drink or two that i can make him ♪

♪ put that lampshade on your head ♪ ♪ because since the day i left milwaukee ♪ >> that's brad paisley performing earlier this evening at the commander in chief ball. we're waiting to see president obama and first lady michelle obama visiting these balls. a lot of eyes will be on what michelle obama is wearing. a lot of designers are waiting, no doubt, watching for that. president obama went out of his way to touch on climate change, something he didn't address at all over four years. he got specific, mentioning the recent wave of severe weather, pointing to climate change. here's what the president said. >> we will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.

some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms. >> i want to bring in our panel of van jones, sally quinn, margaret hoover, and cornell belcher. were you surprised to hear him talk about climate change, and really kind of go on about it? we haven't heard much over the last four years about it? >> i was certainty surprised. i don't think we have really done a good job in society right now of dealing with this question. you have a dust bowl forming right now. we have one of the biggest droughts since really the dust bowl, since the great depression, before the great depression. we had wildfires like we have never seen before all across the west. we had this massive storm, and no discussion about it. i think that was one of the great failures of the american political system, the media system, not to address this. meanwhile, the scientists are getting more and more concerned and more and more in unity.

now there's greater unity about the question of humans causing global warming, and unity among scientists about smoking causing cancer. you have the highest unity among scientists and still no action. >> cornell, you're a pollster. years ago, did politicians do polls on climate change and find out it was a dirty word? it has not been discussed in the political realm much. >> i push back on the fact he didn't get around to it in the first term. he was busy with the economy going off a cliff, but to a certain extent, it speaks to the obama coalition and to the younger voters, the younger voters, this is a really big issue. when you look at sort of what he laid out around gay issues and around climate control, this is really speaking very much to the obama base coalition. to them, the climate change, energy independence, is a top five issue. >> i think, you know, one of the problems here, you just

mentioned the economy. climate change is a huge economic issue. could be the biggest economic issue we have in the country. look at what's going on in new jersey. billions of dollars, every time there's a fire or a flood or a tsunami or a tornado or whatever. it's costing us huge amounts of money. this is a major economic problem. so it's not only that, but the religious community has taken the environment on, and they have really been working obama over on this. this is god's creation, this earth, and we are destroying god's creation. >> he used that language. that was very interesting. he used the language about taking care of god's creation and bringing in that religious language. >> that's right. >> i think this has always been his number three issue, his number four issue, but 20 years from now, this will be the number one issue people look back on and jubdge him on becaue if we believe our stys, we'll be paying the cost.

>> let's go back to the commander in chief's inaugural ball to listen to the national anthem being performed. >> performing the national anthem, under the direction of colonel larry lange, please welcome the united states air force band. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ]

>> welcome to the inaugural ball. once again, i want to say welcome to the inaugural ball! >> national anthem being performed at the inaugural ball. one of two official balls. the commander in chief ball is in the same area, the same structure as the inaugural ball. the inaugural ball is much larger. the commander in chief ball was began in 2005 by then president george w. bush. we're joined by sally, margaret, and van. we were talking before about climate change. what can the president do, what do you see him doing given him wanting to make efforts on gun control, on t