Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama

members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellowcitizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to theenduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy.We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin orthe tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional– what makes us American — is our allegiance to an idea articulated in adeclaration made more than two centuries ago:

 

 

 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal;that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; thatamong these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

 

 

Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of thosewords with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while thesetruths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that whilefreedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.   The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of aking with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us arepublic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting eachgeneration to keep safe our founding creed.

 

 

And for more than two hundred years, we have.

 

 

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that nounion founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slaveand half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

 

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads andhighways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train ourworkers.

 

 

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there arerules to ensure competition and fair play.

 

 

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, andprotect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

 

 

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of centralauthority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can becured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise,our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants inour character.

 

 

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; thatfidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges;that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by actingalone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communismwith muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and scienceteachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads andnetworks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to ourshores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nationand one people. 

 

 

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled ourresolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending.An economic recovery has begun.  America’s possibilities arelimitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundariesdemands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for riskand a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment,and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.   

 

 

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when ashrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.    Webelieve that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a risingmiddle class. We know that America thrives when every person can findindependence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberatefamilies from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a littlegirl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance tosucceed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she isequal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.    

 

 

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of ourtime. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government,revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with theskills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the meanswill change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort anddetermination of every single American. That is what this moment requires.That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

 

 

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measureof security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost ofhealth care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that Americamust choose between caring for the generation that built this country andinvesting in the generation that will build its future.  For weremember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty andparents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.

 

 

We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky,or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we liveour lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness,or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each otherthrough Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap ourinitiative, they strengthen us.  They do not make us a nation oftakers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

 

 

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are notjust to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat ofclimate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children andfuture generations.  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgmentof science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires andcrippling drought and more powerful storms.

 

 

The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimesdifficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. Wecannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and newindustries, we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economicvitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways, our crop landsand snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded toour care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers oncedeclared.

 

 

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace donot require perpetual war.    Our brave men and women in uniform,tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage.Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know toowell the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice willkeep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are alsoheirs to those who won the peace and not just the war; who turned sworn enemiesinto the surest of friends — and we must carry those lessons into this time aswell.

 

 

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of armsand rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differenceswith other nations peacefully –- not because we are naïve about the dangers weface, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.

 

 

America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of theglobe. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to managecrisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its mostpowerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from theAmericas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel usto act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hopeto the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out ofmere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance ofthose principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity,human dignity and justice.

 

 

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that allof us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guidedour forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guidedall those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this greatMall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaimthat our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soulon Earth. 

 

 

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. Forour journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earna living equal to their efforts.    Our journey is not complete untilour gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we committo one another must be equal as well.   Our journey is not completeuntil no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcomethe striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity– until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in ourworkforce rather than expelled from our country.   Our journey isnot complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills ofAppalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for andcherished and always safe from harm.

 

 

That is our generation’s task — to make these words, these rights, thesevalues of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on everycontour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same wayor follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us tosettle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but itdoes require us to act in our time.   

 

 

For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannotmistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treatname-calling as reasoned debate.   We must act, knowing that ourwork will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will beonly partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us ina spare Philadelphia hall.

 

 

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the onerecited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, notparty or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during theduration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different fromthe oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrantrealizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make tothe flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

 

 

They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope. Youand I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, ascitizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time — not only withthe votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancientvalues and enduring ideals. 

 

 

Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what isour lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion anddedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain futurethat precious light of freedom.

 

 

Thank you. God bless you, and may He foreverbless these United States of America.