Everything is ready for the solemn ceremony of inauguration of the 44th US President. For the first time in the course of the 200-year-old history of the country an African American is going to become a president. In the American capital flow of visitors from their own country and from abroad broke all the records. According to some data their number may exceed 2 million. So far it was the inauguration of Lyndon Johnson in 1965 that drew the attention of 1.2 million people. Whereas only 300 thousand spectators attended George Bush's both inaugurations.

Four thousand policemen will be keeping order in the streets of Washington during the official ceremony. Composite forces of colleagues from other cities of the country as well as 11.5 thousand national guardsmen will be helping them. And how many people all over the world will be watching on TV the US President taking the oath is almost impossible to predict. One thing is certain - their number will exceed that of the sport fans.

However, some kind of tension is felt in all this euphoria. America has always surprised the world, and an attempt of assault on the President exactly during the inauguration is viewed as a possible scenario in Washington. Here it is not even necessary to invite "Al Qaeda"; America has enough racists. And the chief question is if the USA will be able to finally get rid of racism and welcome the black President who, after all, is half white. According to the US Constitution US Defense Minister is not to attend the inauguration of US President. In case anything happens to the President and Vice-President during the ceremony it is exactly the Defense Minister that is to assume the president's office.

In the eyes of the whole world just now America became the country its founders wanted to see: democratic and free. It is not surprising that the United States is worshiped more by foreigners than by her own citizens. As the Financial Times writes, "People in other countries know that Mr. Obama looks nice and speaks well, that he is black, that he opposed the Iraqi war and that he believes in dialogue. And they know, above all, that he is not President Bush. And this last point is crucial."

Truly, in contrast to George Bush Obama speaks well, his Administration seems to consist of professionals. But it is just a first impression. How Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will deal with the inheritance left by Bush is still a question, especially because the inheritance is rather painful and burdensome. There is another dangerous point too: Joe Biden may "not find common language" with Hillary Clinton, and this topic is already much spoken about in Washington. But all this is still ahead. Today the 44th US President will pronounce: "I, Barrack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the US Constitution."

It would be appropriate here to recall Obama's latest interview with the Washington Post: "There is an entire generation that will grow up taking for granted that the highest office in the land is filled by an African American. I mean, that's a radical thing. It changes how black children look at themselves. It also changes how white children look at black children. And I wouldn't underestimate the force of that."

However, as far as the hopes of the US Armenian community are concerned in the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, this too depends on the role the United States pretends under Obama. If he follows the policy of George Bush, whose actions were abridged a freedom with respect to Turkey, everything will remain as before. However, the latest steps of Turkey with respect to Israel during the operation in Gaza, and also the forthcoming local elections, in which the Islamists will most likely gain a victory, may lead to reconsideration of the US foreign policy. Well, reconsideration of foreign policy is inevitable one way or another: hardly will the charters hurriedly signed with Georgia and Israel by the leaving administration, work at their full potential under Obama.

And lastly, the inaugural addresses of the US Presidents are, as a rule, remembered by one key sentence. So far the most famous phrase has been pronounced by the 35th US President John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Most likely, Barack Obama will say something similar or he may just limit himself with his pre-election slogan: "Yes, we can."