💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 981.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 08:21:43. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address

2009-01-21 10:23:11

By The Associated Press The Associated Press Tue Jan 20, 5:04 pm ET

Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as delivered.

OBAMA: My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you

have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank

President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and

cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been

spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet,

every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At

these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision

of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to

the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at

war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is

badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of

some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the

nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered.

Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings

further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and

threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less

measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land a

nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation

must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and

they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know

this, America they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose

over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false

promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have

strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to

set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit;

to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble

idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all

are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure

of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is

never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts

or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted for

those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and

fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things

some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have

carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans

in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the

whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy

and Khe Sanh.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till

their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as

bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the

differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful

nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis

began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed

than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains

undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and

putting off unpleasant decisions that time has surely passed. Starting today,

we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of

remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy

calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act not only to create new

jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and

bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind

us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield

technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will

harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our

factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to

meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions who suggest that

our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For

they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women

can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to

courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them

that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no

longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too

big or too small, but whether it works whether it helps families find jobs at

a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the

answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will

end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account to

spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day

because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their

government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.

Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis

has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control

and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The

success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross

domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend

opportunity to every willing heart not out of charity, but because it is the

surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and

our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we

can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the

rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals

still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And

so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the

grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that

America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a

future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with

missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They

understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do

as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use;

our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example,

the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can

meet those new threats that demand even greater effort even greater

cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly

leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With

old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear

threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize

for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek

to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to

you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast

us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a

nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. We are

shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and

because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and

emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but

believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall

soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall

reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of

peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and

mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or

blame their society's ills on the West know that your people will judge you

on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power

through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are

on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing

to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your

farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed

hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say

we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor

can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world

has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble

gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts

and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen

heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only

because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit

of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.

And yet, at this moment a moment that will define a generation it is

precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and

determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the

kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of

workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which

sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a

stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child,

that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new.

But those values upon which our success depends hard work and honesty,

courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism these

things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of

progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these

truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility a

recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves,

our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather

seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the

spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence the knowledge that God calls on us to

shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed why men and women and

children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this

magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might

not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a

most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have

traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small

band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The

capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with

blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the

father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when

nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country,

alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let

us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more

the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our

children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey

end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the

horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom

and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.