A round up of editorials from across the country:

Washington Post: The dawn of a new presidency is always a time of awe and anxiety. The awe comes in bearing witness to the peaceful transfer of power as a new chapter of national history unfolds. The anxiety speaks to an untested new leader and the challenges he will face. The swearing-in today of the nation's 44th president is a moment of particular extremes: enormous joy, great hope, deep fears.

Wall Street Journal: Barack Obama takes the oath of office today amid a sense of expectation and opportunity rare even for new Presidents. Partly this is due to his heritage and the historic nature of his triumph, partly to our current economic troubles, and partly to a nation looking for a fresh start after the difficulties of the Bush era. The paradox is that in order to succeed Mr. Obama will soon need to turn the opacity of his hope into clear and often difficult choices, some of which will upset his most passionate supporters.

NY Daily News: The American heart will stir this day with pride and hope as the powers of the presidency of the United States, magnificent in their promise, terrible in their burdens, are vested in a man of groundbreaking heritage and grand aspirations.

New York Post: In any other year, Obama's slight résumé might have made him an electoral footnote; this time, the hopeful message of the bright young senator from Illinois struck home with voters.

Now he has to prove himself - fast.

USA Today: The once unthinkable — an African-American president — is about to become the new reality, a symbol of America's racial progress and a reaffirmation of its place as a land of opportunity. Barack Obama's soaring oratory and improbable life story have deeply moved millions around the nation and the world.

Faith in Obama's ability to deliver change is so high that, asked about 10 campaign promises ranging from tax cuts to getting out of Iraq, a majority of respondents in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll last week said he would make good on all.

Therein lies a danger. The challenges Obama inherits — from a global economic meltdown to nuclear proliferation, terrorism, two wars and climate change — are so daunting and intractable that great expectations could be followed by crushing disappointment.

Chicago Tribune: Barack Obama's, by contrast, is momentous already. He is different from any president who has gone before, and he faces the most ominous economic crisis since the Depression. Not only that, but Obama has portrayed himself as offering a new kind of politics, aiming to foster unity rather than exploit division. He and circumstances have set a formidable standard, and he will be judged against it.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: As history shakes loose the bonds of the past, it is hard not to believe in the power of divine providence. In the living memory of some assembled in Washington, D.C., racial prejudice was enforced by law and custom.

Yet today a black man will use Abraham Lincoln's Bible to swear the oath of office -- a black man, moreover, with a foreign-sounding first and last name and a middle name that in recent years was shared by a national bogeyman.

This history-making day would have seemed beyond unlikely just a few years ago, but the point underscored by today's inauguration is that in America anything is possible. Barack Obama is living proof.

Newsday: The gathered force of change, a power strong enough to sweep peacefully aside the leadership of the most dominant nation on Earth, begins with millions of private decisions - more than 132 million of them this time - and culminates in today's public ritual of succession. Whatever the final shape of the change, this renewal itself is worth celebrating.

"You are one hot grandma." Glenn Beck to Sarah Palin, in his first show on Fox News.

This is ironic. Joe Biden is the one with the reputation for being gaffe-tastic, as he proved during the most recent campaign. But it's his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, who made the mistake today, saying in a taping of the Oprah Winfrey show that President-elect Obama had offered her husband his pick between the Vice-Presidency and the position of Secretary of State.

Lo and behold, an email appeared in the inbox this afternoon from Elizabeth Alexander, the spokesperson for the Vice-President elect:

"Like anyone who followed the presidential campaign this summer, Dr. Jill Biden knew there was a chance that President-elect Obama might ask her husband to serve in some capacity and that, given his background, the positions of Vice President and Secretary of State were possibilities. Dr. Biden's point to Oprah today was that being Vice President would be a better fit for their family because they would get to see him more and get to participate in serving more.  To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only -- to be his running mate. And the Vice President-elect was thrilled to accept the offer."

I'm sure that's exactly what Dr. Biden meant....

As an add on to the story of Ramos and Compean, President Bush has decided not to pardon Scooter Libby. Bush commuted Libby's sentence to two and a half years back in July, 2007, but many prominent conservatives - most recently Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard - have been urging Bush to pardon Libby.

As Michael Isikoff notes, the decision is "consistent with Bush's overall stingy record when it comes to using presidential pardon powers," but is has angered conservatives nevertheless:

"I'm flabbergasted," said one influential Republican activist, who had raised the issue with White House aides, but who asked not to be identified criticizing the president. Ambassador Richard Carlson, the vice chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative think tank, added that he too was "shocked" at Bush's denial of a pardon for Libby. "George Bush has always prided himself on doing the right thing regardless of the polls or the pundits," Carlson said. "Now he is leaving office with a shameful cloud over his head." Carlson, who was among those who recently weighed in on behalf of Libby with the White House and previously raised money for his legal defense fund, said that Libby had taken a "knife in the heart" from critics of the president and deserved to have his conviction erased.

Like many decisions during his eight year tenure, Bush's final acts in office - to commute Ramos and Compean's sentences but not to pardon Libby - appear to have left conservatives with mixed emotions.

Bush commutes the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Joe Compean, two Border Patrol agents who were convicted of shooting and wounding an unarmed illegal alien (who was allegedly caught in the act of smuggling a van full of marijuana) and tampering with evidence and trying to cover it up.

Ramos received 11 years, and Compean received twelve years. They will be released in March after serving two years.

Ramos and Compean have been somewhat of a cause celebre among certain portions of the conservative base, especially those animated by the issue of illegal immigration.  I have not followed the case closely, but President Bush's judgment that the sentences they received were "too harsh" and that the men have "suffered enough for their crimes" seems reasonable and justified.

Passed along without comment:

With some 22 months to go, a new PPP poll on the 2010 race for Ohio's open Senate seat finds no clear leader, though Republican Rob Portman currently leads all three Democrats. One reason is that none of the four tested candidates (Republican, former Rep. and OMB Dir. Rob Portman; Democrats, Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, Rep. Tim Ryan) are particularly well known.

Portman 42
Brunner 34
Und 24

Portman 41
Fisher 39
Und 20

Portman 40
Ryan 34
Und 26

Fred Dicker of the New York Post reports what many people suspected: Governor David Paterson has been intent on picking Caroline Kennedy from the get go. The waiting, the interviewing of other candidates, the appearance of being open minded and deliberative - it was all a show designed to manipulate the press.

A new Monmouth University/Gannett poll in New Jersey shows Governor Jon Corzine's job approval numbers back in positive territory (though still somewhat anemic) and holding just a two-point lead over a likely Republican challenger, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie:.

Corzine (D) 38%
Christie (R) 36%

Corzine leads by four points against a generic Republican (36%-32%), but fares much better against other possible Republican challengers:

Corzine (D) 45%
Lonegan (R) 29%

Corzine (D) 41%
Merkt (R) 27%

Corzine (D) 44%
Levine (R) 27%

The Republican primary will take place on June 3.

Corzine, who delivered his State of the State address on Tuesday of this week, finds himself heading into the election year with 43% of voters approving of the job he's doing as Governor, while 40% disapprove. Though less than stellar ratings, these numbers are far better than last March, when Corzine's approval rating bottomed out at 34%.

The Governor is currently viewed favorably by 49% of Garden State voters, while 38% hold an unfavorable view of him.

Fox News has published its final poll of George W. Bush's presidency. Here are the numbers:

Bush Job Approval
Current: 34%
First term average: 61%
Second term average: 37%
Entire Presidency: 51%

In related questions, 72% say they believe Bush is a "good person. Thirty percent believe history will be "kind" to Bush, 53% think it will be "cruel" to him and 12% say it will be "mixed."

Congress job approval is at 23%, up 10 points from its low of 13% back on October 8-9 of last year.

Favorable/Unfavorable Ratings
Laura Bush +63 (75/12)
Barack Obama +61 (76/15)
Michelle Obama +50 (65/15)
John McCain +35 (64/29)
Joe Biden +34 (58/24)
George W. Bush +3 (49/46)
Sarah Palin +9 (49/40)

Just for posterity, Rod Blagojevich finished with a net -52 approval rating (5/57). The good news? That was more than 20 points better than Fidel Castro. The bad news? Blago finished twenty points behind Horrible Hugo Chavez, who had an 11% favorable rating and a 43% unfavorable rating.

The mood in the country remains sour, but also optimistic. Only 20% are "satisfied" with the way things are going in the country today, while 79% are unsatisfied. Yet 77% say they're optimistic about the future of the United States over the next ten years.

As with other surveys, the Fox poll shows the public with a great degree of confidence in President-elect Obama. 75% believe he will be able to "make significant positive change for the country."

Half of those surveyed think expectations for Obama and his team are "unrealistic" while 43% say they are "realistic." Sixty-seven percent say Obama is so far "meeting" or "exceeding" expectations, 11% say he's "falling below" expectations, and another 20% say it's too soon to tell.