US presidential inauguration: Obama to be sworn-in again today

Washington: After a simple quiet White House swearing-in ceremony, US President Barack Obama will take oath again on Monday in a much crowded public inauguration on the steps of the US Capitol. 

The crowd that will witness the grand event is expected to reach into the hundreds of thousands, add to it the millions of television audience. 

Before Obama, Ronald Reagan was the last president to do the same, for his second inauguration in 1985. Before him Dwight D. Eisenhower did so in his second term in 1957. 
Obama Sunday joined not only the fraternity of 21 second-term presidents, but the even more exclusive group of seven presidents whose inaugurations have fallen on a Sunday. 

Earlier, Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in for his second term by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor shortly after 8 a.m. at the Naval Observatory, his official residence. 

Donning a blue suit and a matching striped tie, Obama yesterday took the oath in a simple ceremony when Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to Obama in the Blue Room of the White House. 

For Monday’s event, the trappings were in place — the flag-draped stands ready outside the Capitol and the tables set inside for a traditional lunch with lawmakers. Across town, a specially made reviewing stand rested outside the White House gates for the president and guests to watch the traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. 

At a reception Sunday night, Obama told supporters the inauguration is a celebration of "this incredible nation that we call home," not the election results. 

"Let's make sure to work as hard as we can to pass on an America that is worthy not only of our past but also of our future," he said. 

If Obama needed a reminder of the challenges he faces, he got one from half-way around the globe. An Algerian security official disclosed the discovery of 25 additional bodies at a gas plant where radical Islamists last week took dozens of foreign workers hostage.