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Obama's Inauguration Day is a day for MLK Jr., too

9:33 AM, Jan 20, 2013   |    comments
  • U.S President Barack Obama gives his inaugural address during his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
    
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WASHINGTON -- 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.

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.

The Associated Press