Inaugural Presidential Address.
by Barack Hussein Obama.
This is Michael Hart"s transcription of President Obama"s Inaugural Speech.
It was typed my hand on a new computer, so there may be more errors than I would have liked if my old one hadn"t died last night.
We will be combining this with other versions that will be coming in and a few references to the official version, but we will stick to what was said as opposed to the official script. My paragraphs will not always be the same length, punctuation not always the same, etc.
My fellow Americans, I stand before you today, humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation [applause pause], as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
44 Americans have now taken the presidential oath. 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 vision or skill of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding doc.u.ments.
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 with 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/shattered???, our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings brings new evidence that the way we use energy strengthens our adversaries and threatens our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.
Less measurable, but no less profound is the sapping of confidence across our land, a nagging fear that America"s decline is inevitable, 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! [applause pause]
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 strangles 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 n.o.ble idea, pa.s.sed on from generation to generation, the G.o.d given promise that ALL are equal, ALL are free, and ALL deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
[longer pause for applause]
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 travelled 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 until 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 pa.s.sed.
Starting TODAY, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. . .
[long applause pause]
. . .for everywhere we look there is work to be done.
The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay new foundations 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 to day 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 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, the nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.