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President Barack Obama plunges on his first day in office into the task of governing a nation he vows to change, calling together US economic and military leaders on Wednesday to address America's daunting challenges.

A day after claiming his place in history as the first black US president, he is faced with pulling the US economy out of its nosedive even as he moves on his promise to withdraw American forces from Iraq while sending still more soldiers to America's other war in Afghanistan.

In addition to meeting with his advisers, Obama welcomes public visitors into the White House, as Congress scrutinizes his economic revival plan and takes up the nominations of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state and Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary.

A new poll underscored the sense of anticipation that accompanied Obama into office.

The Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey found that by a 3-1 margin, people feel more optimistic about the country's future now that Obama has been inaugurated, including 30 percent of Republicans.

"Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins ... Together, I am confident we will write the next great chapter in America's story," Obama declared on Tuesday night at the Commander in Chief Ball, one of 10 official inaugural celebrations that kept him and first lady Michelle Obama up into the early morning hours.

Obama's Democratic Party now controls both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time since 1994, providing a chance for the new administration to succeed if he can work in concert effectively with lawmakers.

The capstone to four days of inaugural festivities takes place at the Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday morning, with a national prayer service that is a tradition dating to the time of George Washington, the country's first president. Obama and his wife were to welcome hundreds of members of the public to a White House open house, part of his pledge to make government and those who govern more accessible for the governed.

A meeting with his economic team was planned to assess his approach and plot the way forward. Taking over the White House with 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars in stock market savings lost, Obama said that turning around the limping economy is his first and greatest priority.

Congress already has given him a second installment of financial-industry bailout money, worth $350 billion, and is fast-tracking a massive economic stimulus bill of $825 billion or more.

"Fortunately we've seen Congress immediately start working on the economic recovery package, getting that passed and putting people back to work," he said in a television interview. "That's going to be the thing we'll be most focused on."

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