I liked this speech. I wanted to share this with everyone, so I borrowed the text of President Obama's inaugural address
from the ABC News website.They also have a video to view on their site.
The Word Cloud of the speech was created by me using
Wordle.Click on the Word Cloud to enlarge it so you may read the words.
Remarks of President Barack Obama -- As Prepared for
Delivery
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.
(Copyright ©2013 KFSN-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
© Copyright 2013 North Fork News
