Pupils witness Obama inauguration

Anna and Lewis were both supporting Barack Obama before the election

Two school pupils from Dundee will join celebrities, politicians and well-wishers to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the USA.

Anna McDonald and Lewis Smith, both 17 and from St Paul's RC Academy, received their invitations in August - before it was known who the new leader would be.

However, both were pleased that Democrat Mr Obama won the vote.

About 2m people are expected to gather in Washington DC to watch Obama take the oath of office.

Anna and Lewis were invited along as part of their involvement with the Congressional Youth Leadership Council.

'Piece of history'

They went to America in the summer to take part in a Global Young Leaders Conference, which teaches young people about other cultures, business and politics.

The US election caused a few rows in Anna's house because her father was a John McCain supporter, while she backed Obama.

She said: "I think he's a very charismatic man and I think he commands a lot of respect from everybody.

"I think he's somebody who could really connect to the people, he's not just a figure that they can't relate to.

"I'm really looking forward to it because it is witnessing a piece of history."

For Lewis, Obama had "already established himself as an iconic figure of the same kind of calibre, if not more, as JFK".

But he said it was important the even though he transcended the usual stereotype of a politician, "people still focus on the substance and his actual policies rather than just the person himself and they don't get carried away with the hysteria".

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