Obama's Inauguration Day: The 7 best moments and memes

President Obama was ceremonially sworn in for his second term on Monday, a day replete with symbolism — reciting his oath of office, Obama rested his hand on Bibles owned by Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on MLK Jr. Day — a historic speech, and solemn poetry and pronouncements about the importance of America's peaceful quadrennial transfers (or re-upping) of power. Inauguration Day was also a big party, with some great performances and mini-iconic moments — or, as New York's Joe Coscarelli puts it, "the first all-out meme election was followed by the inaugural meme inauguration, with every vaguely funny or touching moment GIF-ed, screenshot-ed, and played back for posterity." Here, seven of those lighter moments from America's 57th presidential inauguration:

1. Jennifer Hudson belts out the First Couple's first dance song

In 2009, the newly sworn-in president and First Lady Michelle Obama had their first dance of the evening to Beyoncé singing the Etta James classic "At Last." This year, Jennifer Hudson had the honor of kicking off the inaugural ball, sticking with the classic R&B genre by nailing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Obama, who earlier in the day earned the scorn of MSNBC's talking heads for his "dad" dancing, fared better at the Commander-in-Chief Ball. "Hudson's powerhouse vocals provided the soundtrack to Barack and Michelle Obama's first dance," says Jessica Sager at Pop Crush, "but the Obamas were quite the sight and stole the show," especially Michelle in her red Jason Wu gown.

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2. Beyoncé doesn't need your help

Obama's short inaugural meditation on collective action and equality was followed by a longish inaugural poem, and then the national anthem, performed flawlessly by Beyoncé. It was pretty clear from the crowd reaction which of the three performances the people liked best.

About halfway through the song, Mrs. Jay-Z either had technical difficulties with her ear monitor or, as BuzzFeed's Lauren Yapalater and most other commentators prefer to believe, took the stupid ear piece out "because she's Beyoncé and doesn't even need it."

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3. Michelle Obama throws an epic eye-roll at John Boehner

After Obama's fairly partisan inaugural address, "Obama and congressional Republicans actually seemed to enjoy each other's company over an elaborate three-course lunch in the Capitol's opulent National Statuary Hall," says Manu Raju at Politico. "They traded jokes and toasted one another," and for at least a few moments, bipartisanship reigned supreme. Sort of. Michelle Obama apparently didn't like one of the jokes House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) shared with her husband, says Max Read at Gawker. Check out the First Lady's "hall-of-fame shade-throwing moment" at Boehner — "and take notes — this is master-class material."

[Tumblr: Mattyrab]

4. Malia photo-bombs the First Couple kiss

Michelle Obama wasn't the only member of the First Family to have her facial antics memorialized by social media. Daughters Sasha and Malia earned the cheers of Twitter and the rest for basically being normal teenage and tween kids, yawning while their dad talked about hiring more math teachers and spending much of the inauguration with smartphones in hand. Here, Sasha is trying to get a photo of her parents kissing, when Malia sticks her face in the photo. "Malia Obama is a skilled photobomber," says BuzzFeed's Michael Hayes, approvingly.

[Twitter: Mike Hayes]

5. Al Roker scores a Biden handshake, drops mic

Perhaps nobody was as excited on Monday as NBC morning weatherman Al Roker. Roker is apparently a big fan of Joe Biden, and he was so pleased that he got the vice president to ignore the Secret Service during the inaugural parade and sneak over for a handshake, he did a mic drop (defined by Urban Dictionary as "when a performer or speaker intentionally drops/throws the microphone on the floor after an awesome performance.")

6. Fox celebrates Blue Monday

While the on-screen talent at MSNBC was cheerfully gearing up for Obama's big ceremony Monday morning, their colleagues at Fox News were celebrating a different notable fact about Inauguration Day: It was "Blue Monday."

This is a real thing, says Patrick Frey at The Inquisitr. In 2005, British scientist Cliff Arnall used a "questionably 'scientific' formula" to determine that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. So conservatives took to social media to propose wearing black and moping around, and the hosts of Fox and Friends opted to talk about the "drab weather, holiday bills, and resolutions that we have not met," over a chyron that reads "Bring on the Blues."

7. James Taylor does his thing with "America the Beautiful"

While Beyoncé arguably stole the Inauguration with her spirited rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Kelly Clarkson poured her heart into "My Country Tis of Thee," some people prefered the more low-key, less pyrotechnic vocal stylings of James Taylor. His performance of the other patriotic anthem "has been described as 'pleasant' and 'nice,'" says Madeleine Davies at Jezebel. And it was. His choice of wardrobe, however, didn't quite match the occasion.

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