WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama appealed for "one nation and one people" in his second inaugural address. Any notion that the country's bitter partisanship might fade, however, seemed tempered by the president's newly assertive push of central Democratic tenets: safety-net programs for the poor, equal rights for gays and minorities and government spending on investments like schools and highways.

Deficit spending, the president's biggest conflict with Republicans, got only one passing mention. And he never uttered the word "debt."

Never fear, Republicans seemed to say in response. They will press the overspending issue time and again, starting this week in the GOP-controlled House. And the outcome of the two parties' long-running conflict will help shape the government's role in coming years, not to mention Obama's legacy.