What Will The Next Four Years Be About?

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Throughout the program today, we've been hearing from folks who braved the cold and the crowds for the inauguration. One of our producers headed over to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial here in Washington, D.C., where people from all over the country gathered to reflect on Dr. King's legacy. Today we also asked them to reflect on the next four years of President Obama's tenure. Among those gathered at the morning before the inauguration was Gloria Hassell Cummings from Greenville, North Carolina.

GLORIA HASSELL CUMMINGS: It's more than special. For these two great events to happen in the exact same day is history definitely in the making.

MARTIN: Gloria Hassell Cummings was with her family snapping photos at the monument and she shared her optimism about president Obama's next term.

CUMMINGS: I feel that he will balance the budget and that in that there will not be a cut in the Social Security, there will not be a cut in Medicare, that the middle class will be remembered as they should be.

MARTIN: Andrea Scott Williams and Joshua Williams made the trip from Eastpointe, Michigan.

JOSHUA WILLIAMS: We came because, you know, it's my wife's idea. We came just, you know, because this is, you know, this is history. We didn't get a chance to experience Martin Luther King's speech, but we get a chance to experience Obama's speech and the legacy of Martin Luther King. So we put it all in one bag and one cup and here we are.

MARTIN: Dr. King's work for equal treatment for all was on the minds of both Joshua Williams and Andrea Scott Williams when they thought about what they want to see from president Obama second term.

ANDREA SCOTT WILLIAMS: I'm looking for equality with women and, you know, the gays, you know, the lesbians, so that they, you know, everybody can be equal. And that's why we're here at Martin Luther King standing here because of the quality. So hopefully he can work out something, you know, to get everybody together as one.

MARTIN: That was Andrea Scott Williams of Eastpointe, Michigan on this Inauguration Day.

And that's our program for today. I'm Michel Martin and you've been listening to TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Let's talk more tomorrow.

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