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| Word cloud of Obama's inaugural address [Made using Wordle.net] |
Washington: In case you missed it, here's the full text of US President Barack Obama's inaugural address:
"Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of
the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear
witness to the enduring 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 or the 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 a declaration 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, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the
meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths
may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom 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 a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of,
and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our
founding creed.
For more than two hundred years, we have.
Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we
learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could
survive half-slave and half-free. We
made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.
Together, we determined that a modern economy requires
railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to
train our workers.
Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when
there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.
Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the
vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of
central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills
can be cured through government alone.
Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard
work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.
But we have always understood that when times change, so
must we; that fidelity 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 acting alone than
American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with
muskets and militias. No single person
can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children
for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will
bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.
Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation,
and one people.
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that
steeled our resolve and proved our resilience.
A decade of war is now ending. An
economic recovery has begun. America’s
possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world
without boundaries demands: youth and
drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and 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 a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make
it. We believe that America’s prosperity
must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every
person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest
labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl
born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as
anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not
just in the eyes of God but also in our own.
We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the
needs of our time. We must harness new
ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our
schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder,
learn more, and reach higher. But while
the means will change, our purpose endures:
a nation that rewards the effort and determination 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 measure of security and dignity.
We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the
size of our deficit. But we reject the
belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built
this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when
twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents 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 live our 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 other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security –
these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they
free us to take the risks that make this country great.
We, the people, still believe that our obligations as
Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate
change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future
generations. Some may still deny the
overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of
raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources
will be long and sometimes difficult.
But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the
technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its
promise. That is how we will maintain
our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways;
our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That
is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed
our fathers once declared.
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting
peace do not 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 too well the price that is
paid for liberty. The knowledge of their
sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us
harm. But we are also heirs to those who
won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of
friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.
We will defend our people and uphold our values through
strength of arms and rule of law. We
will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations
peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because
engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong
alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions
that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater
stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to
Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our
conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor,
the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity,
but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those 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 all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still;
just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall;
just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints
along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to
hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the
freedom of every soul on Earth.
It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those
pioneers began. For our journey is not
complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to
their efforts. Our journey is not
complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under
the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to
one another must be equal as well. Our
journey is not complete until 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 welcome the striving, hopeful
immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young
students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from
our country. Our journey is not complete
until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia
to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and
always safe from harm.
That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these
rights, these values – 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 every contour of life;
it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow
the same precise path to happiness.
Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the
role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our
time.
For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford
delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for
principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as
reasoned debate. We must act, knowing
that our work will be imperfect. We must
act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be
up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred
years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare
Philadelphia hall.
My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today,
like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God
and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge
during the duration of our service. But
the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each
time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge
we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with
pride.
They are the words of citizens, and they represent our
greatest hope.
You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s
course.
You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the
debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we
lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.
Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome
joy, what is our lasting birthright.
With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let
us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious
light of freedom.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these
United States of America."