Obama to be sworn in for 2nd term at White House

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Monday is President Barack Obama's big day, but memories of Martin Luther King Jr. will loom large over the festivities.

A quirk in the calendar pushed Obama's swearing-in onto the national holiday named for the slain civil rights leader. Obama will deliver his second inaugural address looking out across the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial -- where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech nearly 50 years ago.

The swearing-in is a function of the calendar and the Constitution, which says presidents automatically begin their new terms at noon on Jan. 20. Because that date fell this year on a Sunday -- a day on which inaugural ceremonies historically are not held -- organizers scheduled a second, public swearing-in for Monday.

Obama is using King's Bible in the ceremony. And the inaugural parade includes a float honoring King.

Obama says King is one of two people he admires more than anyone in American history. Abraham Lincoln is the other.

The president says the movements Lincoln and King represented are the only reason it's possible for him to be inaugurated.

Obama will take the official oath of office Sunday surrounded by family in an intimate inauguration ceremony at the White House.

A crowd of up to 800,000 people is expected to gather on the National Mall to witness the second inauguration.

Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in Sunday in a small, early morning ceremony at the Naval Observatory, his official residence.