My fellow citizens:\u00a0 I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you’ve bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I thank President Bush for his service to our nation as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.\u00a0 The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.\u00a0 Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>So it has been; so it must be with this generation of Americans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.\u00a0 Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.\u00a0 Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.\u00a0 They are serious and they are many.\u00a0 They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.\u00a0 But know this America:\u00a0 They will be met.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We remain a young nation.\u00a0 But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.\u00a0 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:\u00a0 the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given.\u00a0 It must be earned.\u00a0 Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less.\u00a0 It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.\u00a0 For us, they toiled in sweatshops, and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip, and plowed the hard earth.\u00a0 For us, they fought and died in places like Concord [<\/span>1] <\/span>and Gettysburg<\/span>2<\/span>, Normandy<\/span>3<\/span> and Khe Sahn<\/span>4<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the journey we continue today.\u00a0 We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.\u00a0 Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.\u00a0 Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, or last month, or last year.\u00a0 Our capacity remains undiminished.\u00a0 But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed.\u00a0 Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.\u00a0 The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift.\u00a0 And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.\u00a0 We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.\u00a0 We’ll restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.\u00a0 We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.\u00a0 And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.\u00a0 All this we can do.\u00a0 All this we will do.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward.\u00a0 Where the answer is no, programs will end.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.\u00a0 Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.\u00a0 But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.\u00a0 The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.\u00a0 Our Founding Fathers — (applause) — 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.\u00a0 Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span>5<\/span>, know that America is a friend of each nation, and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity.\u00a0 And we are ready to lead once more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.\u00a0 They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are the keepers of this legacy.\u00a0 Guided by these principles once more we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations.\u00a0 We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.\u00a0 With old friends and former foes, we’ll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.\u00a0 We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 For the world has changed, and we must change with it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we consider the role that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who at this very hour patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains.\u00a0 They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We honor 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our challenges may be new.\u00a0 The instruments with which we meet them may be new.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 These things are true.\u00a0 They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is demanded, then, is a return to these truths.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.\u00a0 This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.\u00a0 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 in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The capital was abandoned.\u00a0 The enemy was advancing.\u00a0 The snow was stained with blood.\u00a0 At the moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words to be read to the people:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“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].”<\/span>6<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

America:\u00a0 In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words.\u00a0 With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.\u00a0 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you.\u00a0 God bless you.\u00a0 And God bless the United States of America.<\/span> [9] [10]<\/span><\/p>\n

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