Welcome back. Thats all for us tonight. Tomorrow is the big day the floats, the parades, and the inauguration ball. That will be all right here on cnn as president barack obama is inaugurated for a second time. I cant wait. Good evening, everyone. A big night tonight as washington gets ready for an even bigger day tomorrow, as many as 800,000 people expected. Tomorrow morning, president obama will make the journey from the white house to this end of pennsylvania avenue up here to capitol hill. Then at noon hell rest one hand on a pair of historic bibles and be sworn in. Hell address the world and be welcomed into the history books. For the first time in a long time, the First Time Since the Ronald Reagan second inauguration, it will all be a formality. Thats because it happened on the 21st but law requires the president s and Vice President s be sworn in on the 20th. So today, the 20th, in two quiet ceremonies they were. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Barack Hussein obama, do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States. The office of president of the United States. And will to the best of my ability. And will to the best of my ability. Preserve, protect and defend. Preserve, protect and defend. The constitution of the United States. The constitution of the United States. So help you god. So help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. Thank you mr. Chief justice, thank you so much. Chief Justice Roberts administering the oath. Last time, the chief justice fumbled the words, this time he nailed it. President obama using a family bible today. Tomorrow hell use the lincoln bible. A lot to talk about tonight, Vice President biden took the oath earlier, his residence the naval observatory. Supreme Court JusticeSonia Sotomayor doing the honors there. It, too, went off without a hitch. Yesterday during a surprise appearance at the iowa inaugural ball the Vice President did well, sort of a joe biden. Im proud to be president of the United States. But im prouder to be excuse me. A few seconds later he corrected himself. Just a short time ago, he, his wife and president obama spoke around town. The president s subject was hair, specifically Michelle Obamas new bangs. First of all, i love Michelle Obama. And to address the most significant event of this weekend, i love her bangs. She looks good. She always looks good. President obama just earlier tonight. Raw politics looking ahead to tomorrow and, of course, looking ahead at the next four years, we have a team of professionals here, who have seen a lot of president ial history being made. Republican consultant Margaret Hoover joining us, ari fleischer, former president clinton adviser and mastermind, paul begala and president of rebuild the dream is here as well. Paul, you wrote an article in the daily beast i think it was today, you basically said, the president should say all the right things in his speech tomorrow about coming together and unity, and then he should go out and be ruthless . Yes, yes. He famously hosted Steven Spielberg and daniel daylewis and the stars behind the movie lincoln. That is the lesson of lincoln, in his first inaugural he talked about appealing to better angels of our nature, then we went to war. He tried. President obama has tried. President s have to try to change the culture in which theyre placed. In this case, this division we have in the country is not going to be healed. It wasnt healed by president clinton who desperately wanted to. It wasnt heal by president bush. It has not been healed by president barack obama. You run the country with the climate you have not what you want. He should be ruthless . I think he has to pursue his agenda the way president lincoln did, with yes, with relentless commitment but, of course, hell say president s have to be unifying figures, but i think the central political miscalculation was he actually thought his mere presence would bank those partisan fires. Thats not so. When the president is talking about unity and working together tomorrow paul begala is going to be saying yadda, yadda, yadda in his head. Do you buy that, that he should say one thing well, i think the more eloquent way to say this, is i think he needs to say that he wants unity. But not unity at all costs, theres something more important than people just getting along in this town. There are people hurting in towns across america. They deserve a better economy. He has to show the willingness to work with anybody, but also the willingness to work against anybody who stops him from doing a good job as president of the United States. That was missing last time. Isnt that what republicans who say compromise is a dirty word and its important to stand by your principles . Well, i love paul, hes outing the president s second term. Its the fundamental issue. Is he going to strike deals with the president or does he decide that the only way to get things done is to defeat the republicans in the midterm election, to just run on politics, tactically maneuver, defeat republicans, dont worry about the nation, and do what he wants to do in the final two years . I am for striking deals, if you watch that movie, lincoln, youre for striking deals im for cutting deals, but im not just for saying everybody should come together because here i am. Kumbaya. When you say be ruthless, if a republican, if a Tea Party Member said be ruthless people would be screaming at you. I said relentless but anderson said ruthless. I wasnt quoting. Im sure i did use that word. What that means is cutting deals. Instead of saying lets reason together, give them something and take something. In other words, do the realistic sometimes unpleasant work of running the country. And this is the magic that the movie lincoln illustrated. The passage of the 13th amendment happened in a far more polarized congress than the Current Congress we have. If they can do anything president obama is not going to have a major legacy piece in terms of legislative achievement if he doesnt have republican support. Something has got to be struck. You dont see republican support. If you look at these polls, hes got 55 support overall among democrats. But among republicans lets take a look at this, approval 55 . If you look at how it breaks down among democrats, 9 in 10 democrats approve of him. That number one in ten. Thats going to be the case for any president you have. The trick is, you have still find areas of Common Ground. Its going to have to be medicare and medicaid, the things that are making the nation go bankrupt. These are sacrosanct for the democrats. Heres what i think. First of all, i think that this president has figured out what it takes to get republicans to come with him, i think he spent too much time trying to be too nice. Its amazing to me to hear conservatives say he never reached out. If youre a democrat, you say he was reaching out to them more than he was reaching out to me. Now he says, listen, the tougher i am, the more likely ill have some republicans come with me. He was tough on the debt ceiling. He was tough on the fiscal showdown. When he got tough, finally boehner had to let republicans go his way. I think he wants unity, but the path to unity is not kumbaya, its being tough and being clear about what he wants to get done for the country. Second terms have not worked out how most president s think theyre going to work out. Something happens, president bush the financial crisis, president clinton the impeachment. Nixon, reagan, iran contra. Paul, another thing you said, the inaugural is another blueprint etched in sand . This guys awesome. The great philosopher who the first to say, stuff happens. He cleaned it up. Its a family show. President bush, who ari served, president bush, in his first inaugural never mentioned terrorism. That was the topic that dominated his term. I reread eisenhowers inaugural, he gave a stirring speech about the cold war and confronting communism. Probably the most important thing he did in his second term is send troops into little rock. Not into berlin, but little rock to enforce desegregation. He signed the first civil rights law since the civil war. He hardly spoke about that in the second inaugural. He mentioned it, but hardly. I think these president s have no idea what theyre about to encounter and thats the nature of life. And outside events end up shaping the legacy. The president s maximum political power and validation is right now in this moment and in the next year, and the question is, did he strike while the iron is hot, and take to the tendency which will be to appeal to the Democratic Base and try to ram something through, or does he do something which may be against his nature and try to reach out to republicans, work with maybe marco rubio on immigration, and try to have a real legacy. I think back to your former boss, i have Political Capital to spend and im going to spend it. Do you see the same thing for president obama . I do. And the interesting thing is, mandates are that which you create as the president. You can create more and do more if you do well. If the economy comes back and you can convince people to come with you. But theres a wild card here. And its iran. Nobody needs to forget iran will be a major issue. President obama will likely have to wrestle with in a serious way. We want to thank you all. Well continue to talk to you throughout this hour. We have breaking news now. You can almost hear the celebrating in baltimore. Because just moments ago, the ravens beat the patriots and are heading to the super bowl. The 49ers inched out their opponent for the trip to the super bowl. Jim harbaugh played for a string of nfl teams. It is the first time in history this has happened. Brother on brother matchup will be a heavy story line in the leadup to the game. Well have a lot more coming up over the course of this hour, more inauguration coverage ahead. Let us no he what you think. Follow me on twitte twitter andersoncooper. Ill be tweeting. The next four years, how has president obama changed the country and how has washington changed the presidency . Is this the same man he was four years ago . Jodi cantor wrote a story about it, and joins us next. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our childrens children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey in. President obamas first inaugural address four years ago, were back in the first few hours of president obamas second term. Four years ago, of course, at a time of crisis, he offered hope and promised change. Four years later, some of that change is in himself. New york times jodi cantor has written about it. Shes written a bestseller, the obamas with us also tonight david gergen, hes seen president ial change from nixon to clinton. Youve been writing about the obamas since they first came into office. The role that Michelle Obama plays for president obama in the white house, what is that role and how has it changed, if any . Its about the overall vision, this is not a first lady who bursts into the west wing saying, we have to do this and this and this policy. I heard shes rarely seen. Rarely seen, the constructive thing to remember, is that she never wanted her husband to be a politician. And if he was going to be a politician, she didnt want him to become a regular politician. They talk a lot about getting past the washington noise, about why they came to washington. What they wanted to accomplish. Early in the administration there was some tension over that, because she had one idea over what kind of president her husband should be, and some advisers had another. That has softened now, but we still see from her this kind of defining aspect, its almost like shes the guardian of the ultimate obama mission. This is what youre here to do, here are the standards i expect everybody to live up to. When she was talking to the french first lady she called life in the white house hell. Is that correct . Theres been controversy over whether that is true or not. This is somebody who was a Hospital Executive in chicago, who led a totally normal life who was catapulted into the national spotlight. What i found reporting my book, though, the great surprise of my reporting is that Michelle Obama was like the kid who didnt want to take the class, and then got the a plus. And some obama aides said she ended adjusting to this life better than her husband did, because she kind of figured out the job of first lady, and even learned to exploit some of its limitations and really made it work for her. David . Yeah, i wanted to ask you, i found it an interesting piece, one of the most insightful i read about the obamas. Thank you. You wrote something very striking and that is that he tells others who may be seeking this job, that its really hard to get change in washington. You said he has, quote, a contracted sense of possibility. That is to think smaller about what he might do. And yet in the same piece you outlined the agenda hes setting forward tomorrow in his state of the union, which is huge. Hes been having these think big sessions in the white house with his people. How does one reconcile this contracted sense of whats possible with the big agenda . I think that is the suspenseful question about this second term, right . If we have so much trouble just with these budget fights in congress, and coming to common agreement when the states when the United States faces a looming fiscal deadline, how are we going to do something on guns if thats the president s agenda, might there be a possibility of climate change, legislation, et cetera, et cetera. These are huge difficult questions that this president faces. How does he reconcile that . Youve worked in the white house for a lot of different president s, do you think the obamas experience in the white house is that much different than other president s and first ladies . I think its very similar what president s recently have experienced. George w. Bush came hoping to change the environment. Bill clinton came thinking he could change it. The last person who began to sense there were greater possibilities was reagan, that was almost a different political age. It was harder to govern then. You also think about, had the clintons and how bill clinton he seemed to revel in politics, the reaching out to people. In the article, i found it fascinating that the obamas havent had bill and Hillary Clinton over for dinner. I i mean, shes all the things that bill clinton did during the campaign, all the work that Hillary Clintons done, theyve never had a dinner at the white house with them . I think this is something outsiders find difficult and surprising. The obamas can be vivacious, charming they have great public personalities. What people in washington see but i think people all over the country dont necessarily see it, theres an intro version there, a selfprotectedness. The obamas said both when the president became famous in 2004 and again when they came to washington, no new friends, which is the opposite of what we expect from politicians. They generally succeed by making everybody their friend. Some people like to be president because they enjoy the office, other people relish power. And isnt it true, after meeting with people, he likes down time by himself. Absolutely. If we are looking at when this presidency happens, in some sense this presidency take place at 10 00, 11 00, 12 00 at night, the second floor study in the private residence when the president sits for hours and hours. He turns over the problems of the presidency in his own mind. He writes about them in order to organize his thoughts. Thats when he really makes decisions. Does he enjoy being president . People have asked me that question again and again. There are things about it i think he certainly enjoys, and we can see him taking a greater relish in them. A very surprising moment you may have noticed is when he did that appearance on new years eve, right before the fiscal deadline, look, he hates budget fights, we know that. He was away from his family, during their holiday vacation, that was no fun, and yet the guy had a huge smile on his face. And that i think is something new were seeing from barack obama, somebody used a great word to describe him recently. They said bloody minded. You use that word. Somebody used that word to me and i repeated it in the newspaper. Bloody minded in his fight with the public. Exactly. It goes to what paul begala said about being ruthless. Yes, absolutely. Thank you both. Tomorrow this time, more inaugural balls will be underway. Theres a lot happening right now. President bill clinton set a record for them in 1997, attending 14 inaugural balls on the night of his swearing in. Do you know who started the tradition of inaugural balls . Well tell you that answer, next. So this weekend as we look ahead to the next four years, we should absolutely take some time to truly enjoy this next few days. I mean, the last one was kind of fast. So weve all agreed were going to take some time to just breathe in and enjoy it. That was first lady Michelle Obama about two hours ago tonight. Today was the 57th inauguration of the u. S. President , just the seventh time the official date fell on a sunday. What we have been watching today even well see tomorrow is a ritual that all americans grow up watching, of course. No two inaugurations are alike, but theyre bound by tradition, and that matters. The constitution sets the date and spells out the oath every president takes. As for the tradition that seems so familiar, lets take a look at where they came from. In 2008, more than 1 Million People flooded the streets of washington, d. C. , to celebrate an event that in many ways remains unchanged since washington was first inaugurated in 1789. Here he is taking on a new post that the world had never heard of before. Mak