Barack Obama's lofty inaugural ideals run into reality

President Barack Obama's lofty ideals from his inaugural address ran smack into reality Tuesday on the first working day of his second term.

Twenty-four hours after Obama pledged to tackle climate change and called for gays and lesbians to be treated equally under the law, the White House struggled to back up his sweeping rhetoric with specifics, raising questions about how much political muscle he'll put behind both issues.

Republicans were already signaling their unhappiness with Obama's agenda.

"The era of liberalism is back,'' said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. 'If the president pursues that kind of agenda, obviously it's not designed to bring us together.''

Obama, standing before hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall on Monday, had vowed to "respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.''

But in the White House briefing room a day later, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said he couldn't speculate about future actions. He said that while climate change was a priority for the president, "it is not a singular priority.''

On gay rights, the president had declared that the nation's journey is ``not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.''

But Carney said the president was speaking about his personal views and would not take federal action on same-sex marriage, which he continues to see as a state issue.

Even with his last election behind him, Obama has politics to weigh as he considers just how much effort he'll put into pursuing climate change legislation and a gay rights agenda. Both issues are backed by the president's liberal base but opposed by many Republicans and conservative Democrats.

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