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Subscribe to RSSVice 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:
President Barack Obama delivers his second inaugural speech, discussing how as a country we will move together, and that "America's possibilities are limitless."
"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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Repeat after me...There is no God.
So on the heels of 8 years of a bumbling buffoon, we now have 8 years of a pompous self-righteous demagogue. Isn't there any one out there in the political miasma that can actually be admired for not pandering to special interests?
I pity the right wing readers here. So many unfamiliar words and foreign concepts.
There are a few of us right wing readers that see right through the propaganda quite well their upstate! We balance our check books, we invest our hard earned dollars, and we zero out our credit cards each month. We send our children to private schools. My alms are provided in such a manner that others do not see, as intended. Additionally I give to my church. I don't buy into the vision that I should be supporting the government without a legal budget that refuses to live within their means. If that means I'm unfamiliar with the Presidents ideology and his linking today's society into his blatant disregard for the Constitution, then I will accept your misinformed opinion based upon your freedom of speech!
Such a low opinion of the government that administrates the greatest nation on earth. The most free, the most DEMOCRATIC. But I guess that is the part that you really don't like. And no, I think you are unfamiliar or at least unaccepting of the beginning part:"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".
Such a narrow point of view. Just another budget "drama queen".
As for your "alms", not impressed.
You're absolutely right, I do have such a low opinion of the current administration that has failed its citizens in so many ways. Having lived for 8 1/2 years in a third world country while serving in the U.S. Navy, you need not lecture me about "the most free". I once got into a discussion with a host national and stated "how blatant their graft and corruption was within their country." Imagine my amazement with his response; "yes, but in your country, they are called laws."
I truly believe all men and women are created equal, etc..etc... But when you get down to it, it becomes a personal choice as we all have a free will. I chose to graduate from school, I chose to make the military a career, I chose to work the last 13 years in my current position, I chose to learn to invest, I chose to set monies aside for my son's college education. I am free, I am full of life, I have fought for my liberty, and I have reaped the joys in my pursuit of happiness.
I do not need the U.S. government mandating anything that infringes upon my unalienable rights as you like to refer to them, nor should I be forced to shoulder the burden of others that fail to make the proper choices as it is their free will to do so. Public libraries are filled with knowledge, they need only get off the couch and read.
Edball40---Any you say you see right through the propaganda. Obviously you don't. You give to your church. Enough said.
Our country takes care of it's own and there will always be the selfish.
Ed, you would not have any rights without the government. The notion that the founding fathers were against government is just stupid. Please stop whining, you could be living in a country where they bathe in their drinking water.
So what is it with you there upstate, you're starting to sound like some juvenile delinquent that doesn't get their way and takes up their toys and runs home to mama.
My founding fathers believed in our rights through the limitation of government. But I can easily see you are part of the ME ME ME generation looking for a handout or simply trolling for an unintelligent argument...so I will greet you a good evening.
There are a few of us right wing readers that see right through the propaganda quite well their upstate! We balance our check books, we invest our hard earned dollars, and invest our hard earned dollars
Well guess what Edball40 -- I balance my check book each month, I invest my hard earned dollars, I pay off my credit cards each month, I sent my kids to private schools and I give money to my church as well as other charities. You're NOT morally superior because you do so. And even though you probably refuse to admit it -- YOU USE GOVERNMENT SERVICES.
I hope we don't have to wait 4 more years to talk about the failed war on drugs and bank monopolies.
I know one group of policy makers will talk about how this still isn't the time to talk about such things.
Spoken like the great divider, posing as a uniter. My friend, actions speak louder than hollow words.
Yes they do. How about your critique on republicans words vs their actions.
Every day that passes is one fewer day that o will be President, and that is good. Although he will try, lets hope he does not split the country too severely. obama was the better candidate, but Romney would have been a good President. What a terrible person we have as President, it will be a tough four years.
Romney? Seriously? He didn't even WANT it. It was just a game to him, like firing people for a laugh.
Seriously? Complaints that 'republicans' weren't mentioned once in the speech?
"Republican" appears exactly zero times in the speech."Democrat", on the other hand, appears exactly zero times in the speech.(!)
"We", however, appears 85 times.
This thing reads like a eulogy for the USA. Oh well, I guess we were given the choice of either him or Romney. Some choice, that...
Ed, a true capitalist are you?, you are complaining about the upper crust who believe that exploitation to the fullest extent possible is the way to do business, maximum profits and euthanize the poor people who are disabled, sick and over exploited by others who could never have enough to satisfy them? Should we allow the few privileged to continue to have their lions share? Funny that they have to have the middle class and poor fight their wars for them yet are unwilling to provide a support structure when their disposable hero's return from laying their lives on the line. You do not believe in killing children yet are more than happy to let them suffer the indignity of being a disposable class subjected to vulture capitalist dominion.
Your sick mind has to ask at what cost is equality determined? I'll ask you to explain to me when equality became a commodity for sale instead of an American birth right?
You think that social security is an entitlement?, that is my money I paid into for 50 years, now you snobbish and entitled robbers feel that you have any right what so ever to try and take it away?...why not give me your bank account pass book...no different than your attempt to take mine away from me. You think my medicare is a freebie?, I pay well over a hundred dollars a month for it and seldom do I see the doctor, maybe twice a year for check ups and a flu shot, so I damn well pay for everything I get, no damn handouts...and I still pay taxes on my other retirement income, I pay MORE than my fair share. Your religious upbringing forgot the part that included Christ and your bigotry stinks like a dog pile to me. As far as your thinly veiled reference to your gun loving crap spew, I am a retired veteran, was also an armorer and while you were getting your diaper changes I was defending the Nation as a patriot should. Want to challenge your expertise with weaponry against mine, bring it on, I competed on a gunnery range where the targets shot back and I am also now still armed to defend myself against the domestic threat that idiots like you pose to citizens like me. I am not concerned about the government but am prepared to defend against the domestic terrorist people like you represent. Some people swear by Mr. Colt, but it is Mr. Barrett I am happy with...you go and shoot your guns if it makes you happy but you are barking at the moon if you think it impressed me, it only shows me what an empty shell you are, and just so you know dirtbag, I still see 20/20 despite my years, my ancestors were the pioneers who opened up the west so you can preach your proper visa hate and rage to your own damn immigrant relatives because unless you are Native American, you came here from somewhere else as my ancestors came from England in the 1800's. You make me want to puke.
That is one helluva speech - too bad it is virtually impossible to do anything with a Legislative Branch that has completely lost the ability to compromise.It seems obvious to me that the Republicans need to compromise on taxes and Defense, and that the Democrats need to compromise on Social Programs without ripping them asunder. And it seems obvious that most people don't give a darn about the "values issues," which serve mostly as a sideshow whenever the questions get too pointed; similarly, it seems obvious that if we want a future in a real global economy, we need to be the innovators in new technology that we always have been, and we need to fund them, while limiting the lobbying by the big corporations who have a vested interest in us NOT proceeding into the future.
Barack Hussein Obama was born out of Kenyan-African cultural ignorance, educated early-on by pro-Marxist and Muslim Indonesians and further brain-washed by Marxist-atheist parents and grandparents. Obama was hand-picked, indoctrinated, trained, directed, guided, financed, promoted and programmed through every stage of his life and Marxist career progression. Therefore, Obama is nothing more than the planned product prompter-reading PUPPET of anti-American, anti -Constitution, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-individual and anti-subversive, organized and outlaw Marxist and Communist organizers, financiers, lawyers, teachers, consultants, advisers and politicians.
Due to his life of brain-washed Marxist-Utopian focused concentration and his complete lack of real life experience as have most normal American people and politicians, Barack Hussein Obama intellectually, emotionally and politically will not and can not act and speak honestly in the interest of a free democratic Constitutional Republican form of government. That has been and will always be the most devastating factor and danger to Americans' freedom and future during his tenure in office.
That unbending and freedom-destructive Marxist mindset blocks Obama from having the ability to even view or consider the United States Constitution in the light and purpose as originally intended as the foundation to remain with in-perpetuity. Our American government's sacred founding documents were so carefully constructed, written and blessed to be applied in perpetuity as intended and interpreted by the co-signing founding fathers who truly understood the real meaning and essence of the words "... Right to Life, Liberty and the PURSUIT Happiness..." recognizes the fact that no government can guarantee RESULTS, but can allow an individual freedom of PURSUIT.
Obama could not be more off mark in his purported understanding and appreciation of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the supreme essence of "equality" and "pursuit of happiness" as the founding fathers had openly and clearly intended by expressing the "rational limits of pure equality... and pursuit of happiness" when they defined equality as "All individuals are BORN EQUAL." and declared "Right to... PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS..." fully understanding the definition of words. The founders never intended to allow for redefining words, rewriting the dictionary or ignoring the Constitution!
The high intelligence, wisdom, leadership, integrity, honor, dedication, bravery, risk of life, family, possessions and future of each of those honorable giant men in world history pale the abilities, intelligence, actions and intentions of Barack Hussein Obama down to the traitorous, deceiving, egocentric, power-hungry, anti-democratic dictator that he really is.
Our American fathers laid the foundation and cornerstone for our freedom with personal characteristics Obama will never know. The lives, purposes and endeavors of truly greatly honorable men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and a later to come Abraham Lincoln openly expressed that they all were not only well educated, but had aged wisdom, and possessed real life experience-based practical and realistic common sense... all of which Barack Obama does not possess.
In view of the above, having fully read the second inaugural speech by Marxist Barack Hussein Obama, it is evident that the speech is a discombobulated rhetorical mixture of past historical events and opinions of truely qualified American citizen presidents who understood the founding documents and who had deserved respect from fellow Americans. The speech was written by a professional writer who was paid well with our tax money to express glimpses of various sources of past truth, hope, policy history and former days of glory.
The author of the speech intentionally constructed it to subtly include diverting disinformation about Obama intentions and to emit deceiving subtle messages which allow Obama to confuse the American citizen now and, in the future, enable him to work between the lines subliminally in ways opposed to the current speech messages as they appear to the general public. The speech was presented by Barack Hussein Obama without Obama ever openly or clearly expressing his own true opinion, position or agreement with the past citations and references he used.
Neither did Obama say he would revert to those past citations as models of how he will make future policy nor did he even slightly hint that he would change anything about past, present or future direction of his administration. Rather, the unbending Obama used his inaugural speech to falsely reassure the American population against fear of the Marxist Dictator Barack Hussein Obama and his destructive administrative policies. The unyielding purpose of the speech, the Obama administration and his organized, supportive and subversive Marxist Communist national organization is to diminish the rising tide against Obama, his administration, and the unchanging direction of this nation toward Marxist dictatorial government control of every American individual and state government.
"Barack Hussein Obama was born out of Kenyan-African cultural ignorance, educated early-on by pro-Marxist and Muslim Indonesians and further brain-washed by Marxist-atheist parents and grandparents."
Nice inspiration speech by a good speaker. Unfortunately, the reality is different.
Are jobs shipped off to Communist China coming back ?We can not move forward unless that is done.
"Preserving individual freedom ? "-there is censorship, manipulation of news , lies by the media and Patriot Act contradicts the statement. " Victims of prejudice "- like White males by Affirmative Action ?
One small step for Barack, one giant step backwards for the USA!
That's great about gay rights, climate change, etc., but missing from his speech was what he is (or isn't) going to do about the bad economy, and the unemployment situation...you know, stuff average Americans are actually more concerned about than those other 'fluff' issues he mentioned.
He had to mention those things because those were the groups attending the inauguration. If he didn't mention them no one would be cheering. He could careless about jobs and the deficit and debt. Now he is free to ignore those things, as he no longer has to dupe people into voting for him by pretending to care about them.
Obama has NO plan for the economy. He is just treading water. Look at black unemployment, what has he done, but pontificate. That is what he does best, a pontification potentate. You cannot have social programs without tax revenue, and you cannot have that without jobs, and you cannot have those printing money and stifling our energy program with greenie weenie agendas, that got us to $17 T, and by the Way, GWB had $10T, so Obama will double that! He tried this crap last four years, and got no where. The demonrats in the Senate need to be reelected and they know supporting obama on these issues will kill them.
Oh yea? In on his cabinet meetings are you?
This was an excellent speech, I am proud of our president. It touched a broad spectrum of situations. God Bless American and President Obama.
"His journey isn't complete"
He's right. There's still a couple of spots on the globe that he hasn't taken his wife and daughters to visit on Air Force one at the cost of more than $180,000 per hour on the taxpayer's dime.
Great speech, too bad we will always have people in our country who will do things only for themselves. But it is nice to hear a president say it even if it is just talk it really did move me. This president gets it and this speech is awesome, even better when I heard him say it live.
Ah yes, Pres Obama says he is willing to work with the republicans if they will agree with everything he has to say. If they will do what he wants, puts forth legislation that he approves and agrees to keep up the Obama give away programs, he will work with them. All the while stomping on the constitution and anyone who gets in his way. If you disagree with him, it becomes his and the democrat party objective to destroy their character and political career. Just as trained by the big Chicago Machine.
Blah, blah, blah. Now forget what he just said, just like you and he forget what he said on the campaign trail and in his State of the Union addresses. It is all for show. Instead, march forward into the abyss of continued record pace deficit spending, debt building, divisive party hack politics spurred on by Mr. Obama himself with his finger pointing, name calling and refusal to take responsibility and lack of leadership. He says we need to get rid of our debt, but proposes nothing to do so. Instead, he continues to grow it at record setting pace. Economic destruction. He says we need to be tolerant, but then tells religious institutions they must subsidize abortions.Moral destruction He says we must work together, but he shuns efforts to do so.Failed leadership He says the government must be transparent, but conducts behind the scenes policy planning and law making behind closed doors so as to avoid public scrutiny and public input.Duplicity He says we must cherish our Constitutional principles, but continually attacks the foundations of our Constitution and seeks to tear them down, often by executive fiat.Contempt for our values.
The Obama legacy: say one thing and do the exact opposite.
Joe2013 I know what you mean...his speech moved me! Like a bowel movement.
It was a good speech (just read it). It outlined a good, broad, inclusive plan with something for everyone. I was a bit surprised that a creative orator included so many direct phrases from nearly 250 year old documents, but the founding documents were good ones. As anyone who understands American government knows, the broad plan is not so difficult. Getting the legislation passed and then putting together the implementation rules and plans and enforcing them is a much more difficult task. It has become increasingly difficult with the increasing division in Congress and among "we the people". As I wrote once before the disturbing thing about the discussion is that the division is not only manifested in the comments, but the vitriolic way so many people post comments. "Dumbama?" Yes, we have freedom of speech, but do we have to use it in such a mean way? Also, anyone who actually believes we all have equal opportunities in America has not met the 7 yr old my wife and I will tutor tonight in a church program. Born to a 12 yr old mother in one of the poorest, almost exclusively black neighborhoods in Montgomery, AL where he probably daily witnesses acts of violence and where few have ANY hope of a meaningful future and corresponding lack of motivation, he does not have much of a chance, much less equal chance.
Obama is the President of the uneducated, slackers, gays and illegals. Most Democrats don't even know who the Vice President is. But they know where Planned Parenthood is. Obama is a joke, he has never even had a real job and he is trying, I repeat trying to run the most successful country in the world. He will screw this country up so bad in the next few years the liberals will be begging for a change fundamental change back to the good old days. He is no President when he only supports a portion of America. He should change his name to Castro.