Written by Sommer Mathis, Jen Chung and Aaron Morrissey

10:45 a.m.: Here we go, America. Jill Biden and Lynne Cheney kicked things off by exiting the White House together and entering their vehicle in the motorcade, followed by then Michelle Obama and Laura Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney was then wheeled out in his wheelchair, with Joe Biden by his side. Barack Obama and President Bush got into “The Beast” together, and now the motorcade is heading toward the U.S. Capitol as we type.

10:51 a.m. Valerie Paschall reports from down at the Swearing-In Ceremony: “Ted Kennedy looks surprisingly healthy. Or at least, less like the crypt keeper. Lieberman is getting booed. Not even Bush 41 got that treatment.”

11:02 a.m. We hear a lot of screaming and cheering! The Supreme Court is shuffling in now. According to Michael Beschschloss, this is the time first a Chief Justice will swear in a President who voted against his confirmation.

According to Fox News, First Lady Laura Bush gave Michelle Obama “a journal and a pen…so the latter can write about her time in the White House.” No word on what Michelle gave Laura earlier. First Lady Laura Bush and Michelle Obama will lead the procession into the ceremony.

11:06 a.m. CNN showing the March of the Former Vice Presidents. Dan Quayle still looks too young to be there.

11:09 a.m. EMBARRASSING: NBC’s Brian Williams was talking about Reggie Love, Obama’s personal aide, but the camera was actually pointing to Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother. Williams claimed he was mistaken because he saw Reggie earlier in the morning.

11:15 a.m. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton and former Presidnet Bill Clinton. Bubba, looking a little mopey, cracks a smile.

From Amanda Mattos at the ceremony: Massive laughter to the announcement: ‘Please Be Seated.'” Yeah, right. Two million people find this hilarious.

11:19 a.m. NBC cameras spot Bush twins, with Jenna’s husband, as their grandparents, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, make their way down the stairs. The Carters came in just before Bush 41 … so we guess Nancy Reagan isn’t here today.

11:24 a.m. CBS is featuring the moving trucks at the White House, as Katie Couric calls the workers moving things in and out a “band of elves.” CNN has the Bush twins entering after the Clintons — a pretty marked difference in the amount of cheering going on there. Also, why are none of these people wearing hats? It’s a wind-chill factor of 10 degrees out there!

11:26 a.m. Sasha and Malia sighting! They look totally adorable. Featuring a fine bi-partisan outfit pairing of blue and red (or pink?).

11:30 a.m. Jill Biden and Michelle Obama are making their way to the stand. They both look amazing. Michelle’s dress is by Isabel Toledo, a Cuban-born American designer. If you can’t see on TV, make sure to check out her awesome green shoes.

11:35 a.m. Tom Brokaw says unfortunately newspapers will say tomorrow that Cheney had a “Dr Strangelove” appearance because he’s in the wheelchair. Thanks for the idea, Tom!

Bush 43 gives a woman with a headset a low-five on his way. He slapped her hand pretty stiffly.

11:40 a.m.: CNN has shot of Obama walking toward the entrance. He looks very serious — can’t imagine what he must be thinking. CBS pundits remind us that Obama will be using “Hussein” in his oath — well, duh. That’s part of his friggin’ name.

His speech is expected to run 18-20 min, factoring in applause.

11:44 a.m.: Obama! Everyone is going crazy! From Meaghan Gay: “Even the crowd at the WWII memorial is chanting, O-Ba-Ma!”

11:47 a.m. Sen. Dianne Feinstein gives the call to order. She makes some brief remarks, and now controversial pastor Dr. Rick Warren takes to the stage. Audible boos. Very few cheers. Oof.

CBS pans the crowd — it looks like roughly 1/2 crowd is actually bowing heads for Warren’s invocation. Most others just look kinda bored/uncomfortable.

11:53 a.m. Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Sporting the Queen of Bows on the Queen of all Hats.

Naturally, Aretha is just absolutely nailing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” And, now I’m crying.

11:55 a.m.: Joe Biden is sworn in first. Must be awfully sunny there on the platform – he is squinting pretty badly. NERD ALERT: Lincoln’s Bible bears a striking resemblance to the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead movies.

12:01 a.m. You’ve gotta think the other three insanely well respected musicians on the stage are a little annoyed by the teenage girl-style “whooo!” cheers that Yo-Yo Ma received. But this arrangement is just stunning.

12:05 p.m. Obama stumbles just a bit on his oath…hey, he’s got a lot on his mind! That does it though, nothing “elect” about it, Ladies and Gentlemen, President Barack Obama!

12:08 p.m. The speech begins. We’ll do our best to keep a Hankie Count of how many people we see on TV bawling their eyes out.

Obama isn’t stumbling on the speech itself. “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”

BTW, did Sen. Feinstein make a mistake? We thought the oath came first and then the classical music… wonder what happened there.

12:24 p.m. Obama calls for “a new era of responsibility.”

“Our power grows from its prudent use,” Obama said, delicately taking former President George W. Bush to task. “America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

12:26 p.m. The speech ends. We’ve put the full text, as prepared for delivery, below the jump.

12:31 p.m. Poet Elizabeth Alexander: “Say it plain, that many have died for this day.” Hankie Count now off the charts — impossible to keep track.

12:33 p.m. Dr. Joseph Lowery gives the benediction.

Check this out: the first Obama White House blog post at whitehouse.gov went live at 12:01 p.m.

From CBS’s overhead cameras, it looks like some people are already starting to file out of the Mall, trying to get ahead of the crowd and maybe get to the parade route.

12:39 p.m. And with the conclusion of the The Star-Spangled Banner, thus begins the next wave of crushing crowds moving about the District of Columbia.

President Obama is now escorting former President George W. Bush to a helicopter, which will take him to his new, private life in Dallas.

12:43 p.m. OK, the overwhelming consensus is that Chief Justice Roberts was the one who made the Oath of Office gaffe, not Obama, who merely paused to allow Roberts to fix his mistake. According to presidential history expert Douglas Brinkley, on CBS, something similar happened at Herbert Hoover’s inauguration.

12:47 p.m. We’ll conclude this live-blog session here, and start a new thread just before 2:30 p.m., when the parade kicks off.