Obama's Second Inauguration Set to be a Quieter Affair Than His First

Expecting no more than 800,000 people to make the trip to D.C.

(Reuters)—It is one of those occasions that is quintessential Washington: the inauguration of a president, a multi-day festival of patriotism, politics, optimism and self-congratulation.

All of that will be on display on January 21, when President Barack Obamais publicly sworn in for his second four-year term. But this inauguration will be far less grand than Obama's first in 2009, when a record 1.8 million visitors flooded the city to see the nation's first black president take office.