After taking over for a second term, US President Barack Obama lauded the "resilience" and "fundamental goodness" of the American people and promised his supporters to try his best to achieve the goals he set out four years ago.          "Now it's time to finish what we started -- let's get going," Obama said in an email to his supporters.         

51-year-old Obama is the first African American to hold the office. He was re-elected for the second four year term in the November presidential elections, defeating Mitt Romney of the Republican Party.         

Obama's second term started on January 20 noon, which happened to be a Sunday when all the federal offices are closed, hence the ceremonial inauguration was held yesterday.         

"I just renewed my oath of office to serve as your President for four more years. Thank you for making this possible. It's an honour to be your President," Obama said in his email yesterday.