President Obama waves at the crowd as he arrives to deliver his first inaugural speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on January 18, 2009. / JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Obama sworn in for second presidential term 
 
 This afternoon, amid the pomp and pageantry of the inauguration festivities, President Obama will take the podium for the second and final inaugural speech of his life. But in crafting a speech inevitably meant for the history books -- or potentially on the base of an impressive marble statue -- the president, like all second-term presidents, faces an uphill battle: With the notable exception of Abraham Lincoln, who delivered his second inaugural speech as the Civil War waned and slavery neared an end, few in U.S. history are remembered for this particular address. 
 
 "Sometimes you have what you think is this really magnificent language, but no one remembers it," said David Kusnet, a former speechwriter for former President Bill Clinton. "An inaugural is a specific kind of speech. You want to have an impact on the events that are about to happen and you also want to leave a legacy for the future. But it's not a stump speech. It's not a partisan speech. It's not a policy speech." 
 
 In other words, according to historian Douglas Brinkley, "they're not substantive." 
 
 "They're like Hallmark cards," he said. "Filled with sentimental, feel-good, uplifting, patriotic language." 
 
 For a second-term president, writing a speech that crystallizes the contemporary political situation in a meaningful historical framework is particularly challenging: After all, unlike for an incoming president, who may still be riding off the optimism of a campaign, an incumbent has likely already faced political and legislative setbacks. The audience already knows some of the president's practical limitations, whatever his rhetorical prowess. 
 
 "If a first inaugural is a statement of purpose, a second is often a statement of principle," said Leonard Steinhorn, a communications professor at American University and expert in presidential speechwriting. "The country knows the president, and they expect things from him. They expect to be inspired. They want an affirmation of his values." 
 
 This year, Mr. Obama's inauguration falls on Martin Luther King Day; August also marks the 50th anniversary of King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. And earlier this month, America celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Mr. Obama, who has spoken frequently about the influence King and Lincoln have had on his intellectual education, has plenty of historical references with which to frame his ideas. But it's yet to be determined whether that's a blessing or a curse. 
 
 "I think the challenge for the president and his staff would almost be to sort out all the history that's hovering over this moment," said Kusnet. "There will be a lot of history in the air about the challenge of having this really be one America." 
 
 Brinkley argues that while Mr. Obama could "riff off of King," he'd be better off invoking the words of former President Franklin Roosevelt, who, like Mr. Obama, spent much of his first term fighting to help the nation recover from a devastated economy and low national morale. 
 
 "It's a little predictable if you're just going to talk about Martin Luther King. He's done that every single year on MLK Day. This is the speech where you're trying to get your words carved into stone. You're raising the bar in rhetoric." 
 
 Even so, Steinhorn points out that calls for unity -- such as an address invoking King or Lincoln might inspire -- have defined Mr. Obama's political career. He was launched into the political spotlight in a 2004 speech decrying the ghettoization of "red" America and "blue" America, and has throughout his presidency stressed the need for bipartisanship. 
 
 Previewing Monday's inauguration ceremony 
 
 "I think with the political civil war we've been having, and the increasing political vitriol, the president is going to want to talk about ways to knit back together a culture of civility," Steinhorn said. "I would be surprised if he doesn't do that, and dial back to one of the most important second inaugurals ever, where Lincoln talked about healing and coming together and the importance of that." 
 
 Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, argued Mr. Obama should try a new strategy -- particularly in light of what he characterized as the president's lackluster first attempt. 
 
 "It was not the man meeting the moment," he said. "It was too airy and nonspecific. The words didn't resonate. They didn't connect with the big challenges of the day, or the persona Obama had become." 
 
 This time around, he argued, the nation has even less appetite for the kind of "airy rhetoric" to which most presidents might be prone in this sort of speech. 
 
 "Let's not pretend that everything is goodness and light. Just get down to it and say, here's what I want to do in my remaining four years," he said. "We've heard all the inspirational speeches we need from Barack Obama. Now he's got to go for the legacy, and you only do that by winning on the specifics of the policies." 
 
 Ultimately, history will judge the success of Mr. Obama's speech. But Kusnet argues that, at the very least, Mr. Obama will have a rapt audience this afternoon. 
 
 "I think it may be that the burden and the opportunity for Obama are greater than for some of his predecessors," Kusnet said. Amid the ongoing battles over the economy, gun control and immigration, and amid the bitter tension in Congress, he argued that "people are paying attention right now to what the president says and does." 
 
 "I think people will be listening," he said. "If the president says something worth remembering it will be listened to now and remembered later. And he does have a genius for, when it's an important occasion, saying something worth hearing and worth remembering." ||||| To win public support 
 
 “Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four years in America's history, so that on its 200th birthday America will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a beacon of hope for all the world.” ||||| By Alexis Simendinger - January 21, 2013 
 
 Four years ago during his inaugural address, Barack Obama said America’s politics and policies could bring the country together. At the moment he took the oath, he was convinced he was the president to do it. He saw himself as an emblem of healing, a leader with ambitions to tackle neglected problems head on, and an orator who could use words to inspire change. 
 
 “On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics,” he said at the Capitol in 2009. “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” 
 
 Monday’s inaugural speech won’t be quite as declarative about being a repairer of the breach, to borrow a biblical allusion President Clinton included in his first inaugural address. Election results, no matter how decisive, do not by themselves settle Washington’s “worn-out” politics, and President Obama has become Exhibit A. 
 
 A number of House Republicans have sent their regrets for Monday’s ceremony, suggesting that even a moment of undeniable history cries out for Miss Manners in the Twitter age. President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, will not attend Monday’s ceremony, citing the elder Bush’s delicate health. But Bill Clinton will be there, as will President Jimmy Carter. Even as Obama takes the spotlight on the Capitol steps, pundits will train their lenses on the VIPs, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, beginning a 2016 guessing game as 2013 begins. 
 
 The sea of inaugural attendees will be lively, but on a chilly national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, the pomp is likely to attract mostly activist Democrats, African-Americans and younger Obama supporters to the pedestrian-only National Mall. 
 
 With his left hand on two bibles, one used by Abraham Lincoln and the other by the Rev. King, Obama will present himself as both a unifying force and a combative warrior for American ideals embedded in his second-term agenda. 
 
 The president will have an hour to be policy-specific in his State of the Union address on Feb. 12. But in Monday’s shorter remarks, he will return to his larger complaint that Congress and the president simply must join forces to restore jobs, promote a growing economy, lower deficits, and modernize federal benefit programs. Obama will profess to be a uniter, even as he strategizes to divide House Republicans using the force of American public opinion. 
 
 He will argue that Americans’ first responsibility is to protect its children, including from gun violence. In a nation built by immigrants, Obama will say that 11 million people who are in this country illegally deserve an invitation to apply for citizenship in a reformed and reasonable system -- not just because it’s right, but also because the economy needs their labor. And as commander-in-chief, the president will say the United States seeks to stop global threats without starting new wars, and while spending less on war-making programs. 
 
 Obama sees his two addresses to the American people as something of a rhetorical diptych, according to his top aides. 
 
 “He’ll talk about those founding values and principles that have always guided our country so well. . . . It’s a hopeful speech,” White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told RCP Sunday, using a description popular among senior Obama officials as they made the rounds of media interviews. 
 
 “He’ll talk about the opportunities ahead and how even though we may not agree on all issues with the Republicans, and both sides of the aisle, we should be able to find common ground, and . . . let’s not put our short-term political interests ahead of what’s good for our country,’” Jarrett continued. ||||| Senior White House adviser David Plouffe said Sunday to expect a "hopeful" inaugural address from President Barack Obama that will lay out his vision for the second term. 
 
 "It's going to be a hopeful speech," Plouffe said on CNN's "State of the Union." "What he is going to do, I think, is remind the country that our founding principles and values can guide us in a modern, changing world." 
 
 Plouffe, who is expected to leave the White House at the end of the month, said the president will also urge action where there is common ground. 
 
 "He will lay out his vision for his second term and where he thinks the country needs to go in the years ahead, the values undergirding that," Plouffe said. More specificity will come in the State of the Union address on Feb. 12, when Obama offers up "a detailed agenda and blueprint." 
 
 "We view these speeches as a package," he said. 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, David Plouffe, Inauguration 2013
– President Obama will take to the mic at noon today to share his vision for the next four years with the country, and while guns, immigration, and other big issues loom, those tuning in should expect generalities rather than details. The AP spoke with aides who say there's no new policy in the speech, which is par for the course, a former speechwriter tells CBS. "An inaugural is a specific kind of speech. It's not a stump speech. It's not a partisan speech. It's not a policy speech." The result is akin to a "Hallmark card," quips a historian. "Filled with sentimental, feel-good, uplifting, patriotic language." David Plouffe said yesterday on CNN that Obama's "detailed agenda and blueprint" will come in his Feb. 12 State of the Union address. "We view these speeches as a package," said Plouffe, per Politico. The words he and other insiders are bandying about? "It’s a hopeful speech," Valerie Jarrett told Real Clear Politics, one that emphasizes "those founding values and principles that have always guided our country so well." The other big story line of the speech: It's obviously Obama's second such address, and as author Ronald C. White Jr. writes for the New York Times, "second inaugurals have not fared well in American history." He argues that the only exception to the rule was Abraham Lincoln's March 5, 1865 speech ("With malice toward none, with charity for all..."), which succeeded because he broke three second-inaugural commonalities. He kept it to a slim 701 words (everyone from Jefferson to Clinton to George W. spoke longer during their second go-round); used "I" only once; and wasn't predictable (he didn't address expected topics like how the Confederacy should be treated post-defeat). Click for today's inaugural timeline, or build your own inaugural address.