White House briefly has two presidents

Washington: One January in four is out of the ordinary in Washington, filled with the ritual of swearing in a new or familiar president.

This one unfolds in a rare time of peril and possibilities intermingled - a black man's historic achievement, generational change, two wars, a collapsing auto industry, an economy with a seemingly bottomless need for bailout.

Never mind Obama's deferential mantra that the US only has one president at a time. In essence, the nation has two at the moment.

Middle East conflict? See Bush. Economic crisis? Obama is the go-to guy.

"The people's business cannot wait," Obama says.

As Obama balances politics and economics one waits to see what he does, knowing that his is the face of January looking forward.