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A presidential inauguration is an event defined by huge, sweeping optics: The National Mall full of cheering Americans; a grandiose platform in front of the Capitol building; the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. And at the centerpiece: a speech.

On Monday, President Obama will give his second inaugural address — and he faces a challenge in crafting a speech for this moment.

The last time Obama gave an inaugural address, millions of joyous people tuned in around the world, ready to be inspired by a man who rose to prominence on the incredible power of his words. The president knew that the American economy was teetering on the brink of disaster.

And four years later, the verdict on that address is pretty unanimous from former White House speechwriters of both parties:

Speechwriter Mary Kate Cary, who wrote for President George H.W. Bush: "I think most people would have a hard time quoting you a line back from it. ... It just seems like there were a lot of platitudes."

Jeff Shesol, who wrote for President Bill Clinton: "There really aren't very many lines in President Obama's first inaugural address that stood out even in the moment. ... It didn't have an animating idea. It didn't have a clear theme."

George W. Bush speechwriter John McConnell: "I had to go back and look at Obama's inaugural address to really remember lines that I had at the time paused over."

Clinton speechwriter Michael Waldman: "There's the old adage: You only get one chance to make a first impression. And I think President Obama might hope that's not true."

They all know firsthand that one of the toughest speeches to write for any president is also one of the most high-profile addresses he'll give. They generally agree that the closest thing Obama had to a standout line four years ago was not even an original: "In the words of scripture: The time has come to set aside childish things."

It's All Politics

Inauguration Mashup: The Speech In 11 Easy Steps

In a move that could head off another bruising battle over increasing the nation's debt ceiling, GOP leaders in the House plan to approve a three-month increase in the nation's borrowing authority next week, NPR's S.V. Date reports.

But, he tells our Newscast Desk, Republicans want to tie a longer-term increase to the passage of a budget that cuts spending.

His report continues:

"The plan comes from Majority Leader Eric Cantor as House Republicans wrap up a retreat in Southern Virginia.

"Cantor writes that the three-month extension would give time for the Senate to pass a budget, which it hasn't done in four years. Further, if Congress fails to pass a budget, House members and senators would not get paid until they did.

"President Obama has insisted on a longer-term increase in the borrowing authority because short-term increases would be disruptive to the financial markets.

"It's not yet clear how the Democratic-controlled Senate would react to a three-month increase. The Treasury has projected it will be unable to pay the nation's bills as early as mid-February unless something is done."

President Obama's proposed renewal of a ban on assault-style weapons is expected to be based on the legislation approved by Congress in 1994 that expired 10 years later.

But when the first assault weapons ban was approved — outlawing 19 specific weapons — it was a very different time, and Congress was a very different place.

Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, and the nation's crime rate was a major concern. The assault weapons ban was part of an extensive crime bill that included money to hire additional police, build new prisons and fund crime prevention programs.

President Clinton made the bill a top priority of his first term.

"The American people have waited long enough," he said. "We don't need to waste their time with frivolous or political amendments and delay. We don't need to take months on a task that can be done in a couple of weeks."

Then as now, Vice President Biden played a central role in the debate. In 1994, Biden, then a senator from Delaware, strongly argued in favor of banning assault-style weapons. "In case after case of murderous rampages by disturbed and violent thugs, the ability of military-style assault weapons to kill and maim not just a few but eight or 10, 14, 35 people in just minutes has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt," he said.

In 1994, former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman was Biden's chief of staff and, as such, a key player in negotiations that led to passage of the crime bill. He says he's not sure much that happened then applies nearly 20 years later.

"I think it was a very different time in 1994. I don't think there's very many lessons to learn from that," he says. "This was a very small part of a much bigger bill and people were really interested in dong something about crime. I think right now this bill is going to have to be standalone. It's going to be much more difficult than 1994."

Not that it was easy in 1994. As Paul McNulty remembers it, that August — a time when lawmakers would normally have been on their summer recess — was filled with meetings and late-night bargaining.

McNulty, who went on to become deputy attorney general and is now in private practice, was then working as a House Republican staffer. He says the crime bill nearly died on a procedural vote.

"The gun control issue was the top issue that had stirred up a lot of controversy at that point," he says.

Lawmakers argued over how to define the ban, and which specific weapons and features it would apply to. They eventually settled on a list of 19 guns and agreed to sunset the law entirely in 10 years. Those concessions were necessary to win support for the ban.

Perhaps the biggest difference between then and now: In 1994, there were House Republicans who backed the crime bill.

"There were a group of Republicans, approximately 40 or so, who represented more moderate districts, districts in the North, Midwest, where they weren't in complete opposition to an assault weapon ban," McNulty says.

In fact, 46 House Republicans voted for the 1994 assault weapons ban — a total that's unimaginable now.

In the November election later that year, Republicans won control of Congress, which some have attributed to Democratic support for the crime bill. While that's a matter of debate, it's clear that Congress has had little appetite for gun control measures since then — a dynamic President Obama hopes will have been changed by the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.

"In 1968, Apollo 8 went to the Moon," starts writer Frank White, who coined the expression "Overview Effect" to describe the deep changes that astronauts experience once they see Earth from space. "They didn't land but they did circle the Moon; I was watching it on television and at a certain point one of the astronauts casually said: we are going to turn the camera around and show you the Earth. And he did. And that was the first time I had ever seen the planet hanging in space like that. And it was profound," he continued. A recent short documentary, Overview, collects statements from many astronauts who have had this unique experience.

It is a breathtaking video, and one with a very strong message for our collective future.