Obama's second inaugural address may echo his first

(USA TODAY) -- White House officials aren't saying much about President Obama's second inaugural address on Monday, but history suggests it will include echoes of his first one four years ago.

Over the decades, re-elected presidents have used their second inaugurations to reaffirm the goals they set for their first term, and suggest how they might apply in the four years that lie ahead.

FULL COVERAGE: The upcoming presidential inauguration

So don't be surprised if Obama references the bad economy and the two wars that prevailed when he took the oath of office in 2009, and how he has addressed them in the years since. Also expect a call for national unity, another staple of second inaugural addresses over time.

"The second inaugural in most cases is a response to their first inaugural," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-author of Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done In Words.

While not providing details of the upcoming address, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama is grateful for the opportunity voters have again given him.

The re-elected president "believes that we have work to do," Carney said. "And he believes that both the agenda he's put forward so far and the agenda he will put forward in the future will help this country move forward in a variety of ways. "

Obama is working on the speech by writing in long hand on a yellow pad, Carney said, adding, "I've seen some yellow pads filled with writing of late."

It's a unique opportunity for any president. Only 16 predecessors have given second inaugural addresses. (This number includes Grover Cleveland, who won two non-consecutive terms.)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech in 1937 might well be a model for Obama this time around, Jamieson said.

In 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Roosevelt called for new laws and "broad executive power" to wage war on the emergency. The result turned out to be the New Deal.

Four years later, Roosevelt gave a second inaugural address in which he reported economic progress, but cautioned that work remained. In one of the most memorable phrases of any inaugural address, Roosevelt said, "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished."

FDR's effort is an exception; most second inaugurals are forgettable.

Their distinctions tend to be trivial. George Washington's second swearing-In, in 1793, generated the shortest inaugural address in history, a mere 135 words.

Thomas Jefferson in 1805 and Ulysses Grant in 1873 used parts of their second inaugurals to engage in activity most presidents can appreciate: criticizing their press coverage. "The artillery of the press has been leveled against us," Jefferson complained.

But if Obama is looking to give the greatest second inaugural address in history, he still faces a high bar: Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Lincoln's second inaugural followed the pattern of echoing the first. When he took office in 1861, Lincoln passionately argued against the prospect of civil war.

Four years later, in words now etched in marble at the Lincoln Memorial, the 16th president spoke of approaching the end of the war "with malice toward none, with charity for all." He said he would strive "to bind up the nation's wounds," but never got the chance. In the crowd that day: John Wilkes Booth, who would kill Lincoln little more than a month later.

Both of Obama's immediate predecessors aimed high in the second inaugurations but faced difficulties in their second terms.

Clinton, who faced Republican majorities in both the House and Senate, said in 1997 that he and Congress should be "repairers of the breach" of a divisive time. That hope went by the boards with impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

In 2005, re-elected President George W. Bush devoted his second inaugural address to his freedom agenda, saying that the U.S. would "seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

Four years later, Barack Obama would be elected president in part because of mounting frustration over wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now Obama gets his chance at a second inauguration.

However he discusses his own record, Obama is likely to give voice to the notions of bipartisanship and working together.

Leo Ribuffo, a professor of history of George Washington University, said inaugural speeches tend to be "ecumenical" in nature, seeking to summon a sense of national unity and a "we're all Americans" theme.

"I will be very surprised if there's anything vaguely partisan," Ribuffo said of Obama. "I believe he'll save that for the State of the Union."