President Barack Obama's Complete Inaugural Speech
President Barack Obama's Complete Inaugural Speech
* 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 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. And 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 wether our gouvernment is too big or too small...
* ..but wether it works.
* Wether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage...
* ...care they can afford and retirement that is dignified.
* When the answer is yes, we intend to move forward.
* When the answer is no, programms will end.
* And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account...
* ...to spend wisley, reform bad habits,
* ...and do our business in the light of day...
* ...because only then can we restore the vital trust between the people and their gouvernment.
* Nor is the question before us wether the market it 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 watchufull eye...
* ...the market can spin out of control.
* The nation cannot prosper along...
* 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 properity.
* On the ability to extend opportunty to every willing heart.
* Not out of charity...
* ...but because it is the surest route to our common good.
* As for our common defence...
* ...we reject as false the choice between our saftey 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 men.
* A charter expanded by the blood of generations,
* whose ideals still light the world...
* ...and we will not give them up for expediate's sake.
* And so to all the other peoples and gouvernments 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!
* 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 to as we please.
* Instead they knew that our power grows through its prudent use.
* Our security emanetes 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 priciples once more, we can meet those new threats,
* that demand even greater effort...
* even greater cooperation and understanding between nations.
* We will begin to responibly leave Iraque to its people...
* ...and forge a heard-earned peace in Afghanistan.
* With old friends and former foes we will work tirelessly...
* to lessen the nuclear threat...
* ...and roll back the spectre of a warming planet.
* We will not apologize for our way of life.
* Nor will we waver in its defence.
* And for those who seek to adavance 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 stength, not a weakness.
* We are a nation of Christians an 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 chapters stronger and more united...
* ...we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass...
* that the lines of tribes shall soon dissolve...
* ...that as the world grows smaller our common humanity shall reveal itsself...
* ...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 mutal respect.
* To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict,
* or blame their societies' 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 nurse 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 recourses 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 gratidude...
* those brave American 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 honour them not only because they are the 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 precisly this spirit that must inhabit us all.
* For as much as gouvernment can do...
* ..and must do...
* it is ultimatly the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
* It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levies 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 fire-fighter's courage, to storm a stairway filled with smoke...
* but also a parent's willingness tu 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 succes depends...
* ...honesty and hard work...
* ...courage and fair play...
* ... tolerance and couriosity...
* ...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 responsiblity.
* 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 see gladly...
* firm in the knowlegde, 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 citicenship.
* 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.
* So. let us part this day in rememberance...
* ...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 abandonded.
* The enemy was advancing, the snow was stained with blood.
* In 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 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 break 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 with 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.
Saving Money in Plain English
18/01/09 18:48 Filed in: video | Common
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