THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
January 21, 2013
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
Inaugural Address
Monday, January 21, 2013
Washington, DC
As Prepared for Delivery –
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.
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