Barack Obama Inauguration Speech Page #3

---

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 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,

and that a nation

cannot prosper long

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 prosperity,

on our ability to extend

opportunity to every willing heart.

Not out of charity,

but because it is the surest

route to our common good.

As for our common defense,

we reject as false the choice

between our safety and our ideals.

Our Founding Fathers...

Our Founding Fathers

faced with perils

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.

Those ideals still light the world,

and we will not give them

up for expedience's sake.

And so...

to all other peoples and governments

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 that we are ready

to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations

faced down fascism and communism

not just with missiles and tanks,

but with sturdy alliances

and enduring convictions.

They understood that

our power alone cannot protect us,

nor does it entitle

us to do as we please.

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.

We are the keepers of this legacy.

Guided by these

principles once more,

we can meet those new threats

that demand even greater effort,

even greater cooperation

and understanding between nations.

We will begin to responsibly

leave Iraq to its people,

and forge a hard-earned

peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes,

we will work tirelessly

to lessen the nuclear threat,

and roll back the specter

of a warming planet.

We will not apologize

for our way of life,

nor will we waver in its defense,

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.

For we know,

that our patchwork

heritage is a strength,

not a weakness.

We are a nation of

Christians and 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

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.

To the Muslim world,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes