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 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 rmaind 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,aginst 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
prapare the nation for a new age.Home 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 date 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,and that the next generation must lower its sight.
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 grievances and falsse 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
foward 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 change 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 setting 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 workdly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new
life.
For us,they tolled 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 Gettyburg;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 o less inventive,our goods
and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year.
Our capacity remains undiminshed.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 wil 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 fall to understand is that th 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 goverment is too big or too small,but whether it works - whether it helps families
find jobs at 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.
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 found 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 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 study aliances and enduring convicions. They understood that our power alone cannot project
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 restrait.
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 swiil 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 ,bacsed on mutual interest and mutual repect.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 destoy.
To thoese who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent,knowe that
you are on the wrong side of hisory;but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench
your list.
To people of poor nations,we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean
waters flow;to mourish 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 hunble gratitude those brave
Americans who,at this very hour,patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains.They have someting 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 si the kindness to take in a stranger when the
levess break,the selflessness of workers who would rather cut 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 depeands - hard work and honesty,courage that fair play ,tolerance and curiosty,
loyalty and patriotism - these things are old.These thins are true.They have been quiet force of
progress throughout our history.
What is demanded then is 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 character,than giving our all to a difficut 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 chilren of every race and
every faith can foin in celebration across this magnificent Mall,and why a man whose father less
than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to
take a most sacerd oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance,of who we and how far we have traveled.In the year of
Ameria's birth,in the coldest of months,a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the
shore of an icy river.The capital was abandoned.The enemy was advancin.The snow was stained with
blood.At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt,the father of our nation
orderd 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 wingter 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 falther;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.