WASHINGTON – Markedly smaller than four years ago but still enthusiastic, a crowd of several hundred thousand flocked to the National Mall early Monday, preparing for the public celebration of President Obama’s second inauguration.
At 9 a.m., the Washington region’s mass transit agency had counted 189,000 riders on its rail system, somewhat less than half of the record-setting crowd that jammed trains four years ago but more in line with previous second inaugurals.
Hazel Carter, 90, of Springfield, Ohio, attended the last inauguration and wasn't going to miss this one. "I prayed, God, just let me keep breathing until the inauguration," she said with a laugh.
"The crowd isn’t nearly the crowd of the first time. The anticipation isn't what it was,” she said. “It's a little more subdued, but beautiful. Beautiful. I love it."
Seated next to her, Thelma Lawson, 61, a nurse from Chicago, said she had not attended the swearing-in four years ago, "but now I am so excited because I'm in the midst of what is history being made twice.”
As is typical with inaugural celebrations, the crowd was heavily dominated by the president’s supporters. And in keeping with the intense enthusiasm that Obama’s presidency has generated among African Americans, it was disproportionately black. Several spectators commented on the special significance of the swearing-in taking place on the nation’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance.
"It's particularly special that today is the MLK holiday," saidDavid Anderson, 43, who traveled from Tampa, Fla. "It's kind of predestined. You can't get better than that."
Ed Jennings, 44, who sported a knitted Obama cap, said he anticipated the president would urge unity in his inaugural address.
“It'll be a summary of where this country is. There was a fierce debate about where our country is going, and he won," he said.
The sense of history and civic celebration extended even to Obama’s political adversaries in Congress.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he expected most Republicans to attend the inaugural ceremony, a historic moment regardless of party. He noted that he had prime seats for Obama's first inaugural and regretted not snapping any photos of the proceedings.
"I'm going to try to this time," he said.
While the event may be lower-key than the massive festivities surrounding Obama’s first swearing-in, it nevertheless arrives at a key moment in his presidency.
Four years ago, Obama took office with the country in the midst of two wars and the worst economic crisis in more than half a century. His second inauguration arrives with one war over, the other winding down and the economy recovering, but with Washington dominated by a bitter political stalemate that reflects a deep partisan divide in the nation.
Obama is expected to use his inaugural speech -- typically one of the most-watched events of a presidency -- to address that divide, aides said.
"He is going to talk about the fact that our political system doesn’t require us to resolve all of our disputes or settle all of our differences," senior Obama political advisor David Plouffe said Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union." "But it does impel us to act where there should be, and is, common ground."
Obama officially took the oath of office on Sunday in a low-key ceremony at the White House, shortly before his second term officially began at noon. In keeping with a tradition of not holding the public inauguration ceremony and parade on Sundays, the president is scheduled to repeat the oath at the Capitol on Monday.
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