Inauguration Day: Barack Obama to be sworn in for second term as US president

Barack Obama is due to be officially sworn in for his second term as US president in a small ceremony at the White House.

Although the US Constitution requires the oath of office to be taken by noon on January 20, as that falls on a Sunday the public inauguration will take place on Monday.

Barack Obama will take his official oath in the White House’s Blue Room.

The public ceremony with pomp and circumstance will follow a day later.

Thousands of workers and volunteers have been working to finish construction for Monday’s celebration, with white tents, trailers and generators being set up along the Washington Mall’s parade route as nearby buildings were adorned with red, white and blue bunting,

For his part, Barack Obama rolled up his sleeves and donned gloves to spend Saturday sprucing up a school with other volunteers, as part of a National Day of Service kicking off the inauguration ceremonies – similar to the way he spent the day before his first presidential inauguration in 2009.

Barack Obama urged volunteers to honor the memory of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, whose birthday, a national holiday, falls on Monday. This year is the 50th anniversary of Luther King’s march on Washington.

In 2009, nearly two million people crammed into Washington to witness President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in Washington for that event – a smaller number than the 1.8m who flocked for the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president in 2009.

They will crowd onto the Mall leading to Congress wrapped up against the cold, to see their president take the oath of office on the steps of the flag-draped Capitol and listen to his speech.

The day will include music from Beyonce and Fun, parades, black tie balls and very tight security.

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