President Barack Obama’s re-election was joyous for many at McCormick Place Tuesday night, but as it compared to his 2008 rally at Grant Park, the atmosphere was a complete let down to many.

Sure, the optimism and ride for change is not the same as it was four years ago due to what a lot of people view as failed economic policies and lack of coordination within the houses of Congress, but in general, an abundance of people felt that the rally just didn’t compare.

“The Grant Park rally was better. There was a billion people there and it was quick and easy to cover,” said Jeff Hartvigsen, a multimedia producer at Crain’s Chicago Business.

The theme of the night was to “move forward” and Obama stressed in his speech that “the best is yet to come” for America and that the country must work together to get America right regardless of gender, political party, race or ethnicity.

The people in the audience varied in ethnicity. It was an overall fairly young crowd, with the exception of a spot designated for handicapped people. The 10,000 didn’t feel like many at all. It was a lot of people, but the spacing was such that they were all packed in a few basic designated areas.

The celebrity buzz was far less than in 2008. Oprah was not in the front row and Eva Longoria was weeping in tears at home, but there was support from celebrities like Will I Am and Angela Bassett, as well as local politicians such as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

“I enjoyed the president’s speech very much,” said Kara Bergerson, a Chicago resident and diehard Obama supporter. “He was very optimistic and I think in his second term the nation will rally around him more. The Grant Park rally was great, but I feel we know more about what the president can and will do now.”

The rally at McCormick Place had significantly fewer people than the one in Grant Park in 2008. While approximately 240,000 people filled Grant Park, McCormick was limited to around 10,000. The crowd got riled up every time Obama won a key swing state, but after being declared the winner of the election around 10:15 p.m. CT, the crowd erupted. There were chants of “four more years” ringing through the air.

 “The atmosphere was better in 2008. It was about 70 degrees and outside,” as opposed to 30 degrees, rainy and inside. “There was so many more people and it was just better,” said Dakarai Turner, a DePaul student who attended the rally.

The President’s final words of the night before he left the stage were, “We are and always will be the United States of America.” The crowd erupted and set the stage for four more years of President Barack Obama.