A national milestone; Inaugural opens new chapter in U.S. history.

• Position: EDITORIAL - Editorial

COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION

The election of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States on Nov. 4 was a defining moment in American history. His swearing-in at noon today constitutes a remarkable milestone on this nation's journey toward a society in which, as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it, people are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

The election of the first person of African-American descent to the presidency is a heartening measure of the progress in racial relations since the shameful era of slavery and more than a century during which African-Americans were cruelly consigned to second-class citizenship codified in law. In that sense, today's inaugural is a source of pride for Americans of all creeds and national origins.

Few presidents have assumed office carrying a heavier burden of expectations than does Mr. Obama. Long before taking the oath of office he was being compared to towering stewards of the presidency such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. While he does not face crises as dire as did those presidents, the...