BARACK OBAMA'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
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From: Bruce Schuman
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 11:35 AM
Subject: Barack Obama's Inaugural Address
ID: 266830

Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

Following is the transcript of President Barack Obama's Inaugural
Address, as transcribed by The New York Times:

Thank you, thank you.

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 forbearers, 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 short-cuts 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 Sahn.

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.

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.

And those of us who manage the public's knowledge 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. The 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 the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not
out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common
good.

(APPLAUSE)

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

Our founding fathers faced with perils that 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 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 we are
ready to lead once more.

(APPLAUSE)

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not
just with missiles and tanks, but with the 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'll
begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-
earned peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes, we'll 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."

(APPLAUSE)

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
nonbelievers. 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.

(APPLAUSE)

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.

(APPLAUSE)

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, honesty
and hard work, 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
60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can
now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

(APPLAUSE)

So let us mark this day in 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 nine 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.

(APPLAUSE)

And God bless the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)