Here is the video clip of Barack Obama's Inaugural Address.
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It follows the full text transcript of
Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, delivered at
Washington D.C. - January 20, 2009.
My fellow
citizens:
I stand here today
humbled by the task before us, grateful for the
trust you have bestowed, mindful of the
sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank
President Bush for his service to our nation, as
well as [for] the generosity and cooperation he
has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the
presidential oath. The 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 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.
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, against 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. 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.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to
data and statistics. 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.
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.
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 strangled 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 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 shortcuts or settling for less. It has not
been the path for the fainthearted—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 our 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.
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. The 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 the 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, 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 the 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 we are ready to lead
once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down
fascism and communism not just with missiles and
tanks, but with the [sic] 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’ll 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
nonbelievers. 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, we seek a new way forward,
based on mutual interest and mutual respect. 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. 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.
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. 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. For
the world has changed, and we must change with
it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us,
we remember with humble gratitude those brave
Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off
deserts and distant mountains. They have
something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes
who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
We honor them not only because they are
guardians of our liberty, but because they
embody the spirit of service; a willingness to
find meaning in something greater than
themselves. And yet, at this moment—a moment
that will define a generation—it is precisely
this spirit that must inhabit us all.
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.
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. 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.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with
which we meet them may be new. 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. These things are true. They have been
the quiet force of progress throughout our
history. What is demanded then is a return to
these truths. 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.
This is the price and the promise of
citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence—the
knowledge that God calls on us to shape an
uncertain destiny.
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 sixty years ago might not
have been served in a local restaurant can now
stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who
we are and how far we have traveled. 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. The
capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing.
The snow was stained with blood. At the moment
when the outcome of our revolution was most in
doubt, the father of our nation ordered these
words be read to the people:
“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).”
America: in the face of our common dangers, in
this winter of our hardship, let us remember
these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let
us brave once more the icy currents, and endure
what storms may come. 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.
Thank you.
God bless you and God bless the
United States of America.
Also called the
Persian Wars, the Greco-Persian Wars were
fought for almost half a century from 492 BC -
449 BC. Greece won against enormous odds. Here
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