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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Well, from the studio, I'm going to go out again to talk to NPR's Linda Wertheimer. She is at a place that has a very good view of the activities there on the Mall. That happens to be the Canadian embassy. And just one thing: the West Front of the Capitol is decorated in red, white and blue. That is the backdrop for President Obama's second Inauguration. And Linda has seen every Inauguration since the second time President Richard Nixon was sworn into office, his second inaugural. Good morning.

Staten Island's PS22 student choral group performs as people file onto the National Mall hoping for a glimpse of President Obama later.

Steve Inskeep talks with Michele Flournoy, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration. Flournoy weighs in on foreign policy challenges facing the president in his second term.

Four years ago, the National Mall was packed with record crowds. People gathering as President Obama prepares to take the oath of office and deliver a second inaugural address share some of the same sentiments as the crowds from 2009. But the crowds — and the vendors — are less numerous.

NPR hosts and correspondents check in at the Capitol as Inauguration Day festivities get under way.

Join "It's All Politics" blogger Frank James and other NPR journalists to talk about the day's events and the issues coming up in President Obama's second term.

Copyright 2013 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

See what NPR users want President Obama to remember in his second term — then send us your own thoughts. And chat with NPR reporters about the day's events and the issues looming in Obama's second term.

Copyright 2013 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

The big "get" goes to Katie Couric.

While Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o has spoken to ESPN — and said he did not participate in the hoax about a "dead" girlfriend who turned out to be neither real nor dead — that wasn't on camera or recorded.