President Obama's complete Inaugural Address - January 21st, 2013

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.

The Fireside chat for February 7, 2009

The Fireside chat for January 31, 2009

Time to get off the stick, and to finish the Financial Recovery Act. Oh, and Wall Street, stop with the bonuses, already!

TPM: Your take #28

Mea culpa.  I confess.  I am reader MJ.  Duh.

The Fireside chat for January 17, 2009

Obama to America: Stay Home!! (VIDEO)

Okay, just kidding. He doesn't say that...

...exactly.

Obama's given an pre-Inaugural Video about what he expects (crowds, difficulty getting around) and what events are out there (plenty), and what he'd like us all to do on MLK Day.

WaPo: Richard Cohen. "Mr. Tolerance"

Anyone else find it ironic, that Richard Cohen is lecturing Obama about intolerance??

Anyone else find it ironic that Richard Cohen is lecturing Obama about anything?

HuffPo: Liberals, stop worrying about little battles, you just won a war.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy For God-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back, writes:

Here's the point for all you progressives that only talk to yourselves and haven't a clue about the "other" America: in a country where a national evangelical leader is fired for just voting for Obama, and thinking friendly thoughts about gays, the new progressive president has his work cut out!

If you all -- if we -- bitch each time Obama makes a strategic move, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot. Pipe down, and give him a chance. And by the way, America faces bigger problems right now than the window dressing at the inauguration.

Progressives are too used to failing. Stop worrying about little battles, you just won a war. It's all about real results now, not words, and not symbols. It is time to think like winners. The issue now is governance, not symbols.

Rick Warren. THIS is the battle you're going to choose?

Did I miss something?

Now, I think Rick Warren is a two bit huckster. A Businessman who recognized there was a market out there for a slightly less venomous Christian Conservatism, and sold it to a public, ready to go out there and bash 'em some gays, but didn't want to look nasty doing so.

At the same time, given the level of furor about Rick Warren giving the Invocation...

..I mean, we do know what an Invocation is, right? It's the opening prayer at the Inaguaral. He says a little ditty to God and gets off stage.

Is Rick Warren going to say something other than a prayer at the beginning of the Inaguaral Festivities? I mean, heck, is it even going to be on Television? (Well, thanks to the Controversy, I'm sure it will now!)

Is Rick Warren going to be allowed to stand up there and rail against Homosexuality and Gay Marriage?

Has Rick Warren been given a Policy Platform to go out and put into practice that which he believes?

Has Barack Obama changed his own position on GLBT matters in the slightest??

If the GLBT Community ever wonders why it routinely gets its ass kicked in the Political Sphere, it could be the result of horse@#$% like this.

I mean this is what you're going to go after?

This is the battle you're going to choose?

Really?

Let me provide you the list of horse@#$% articles from Huffington Post as of today:

Joe Cutbirth: I Voted (twice) for Obama, and Apparently I Lost

Let's talk hope for a minute. Barack Obama seized the word "hope" this year, but back in 1977 my first political hero gave a big...

Chez Pazienza: Pastor and Servants?

Warren's presence on inauguration day makes it seems as if God -- specifically the Pentecostal, Southern Baptist version -- will continue to be granted ascendancy within our government.

Geoffrey Dunn: Et tu, Obama?: The Choice of Rick Warren Is Unacceptable

Let's get the personal creds down at the beginning: I supported Barack Obama for President out the gate. Early on. And all the way through....

Leah McElrath Renna: Dear Obama: Here's Why You are Wrong on Warren

With all due respect, President-Elect Obama, your response to lesbian and gay Americans that "it is important for America to come together, even though we...

Morgan Warners: When inclusion becomes relativism

President-elect Barack Obama erred in asking Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. A spokeswoman for Obama implied that the move was made...

Jon Hoadley: On Rick Warren: What Are we Fighting For?

The choice of Warren underscores the fact that no openly-LGBT person has been selected to take part in the Inaugural ceremony, or be named to any level of Obama's White House staff.

For the record, Jon Hoadley is either dumber than a box of hammers or an outright liar. There is a GLBT group marching in the Inaugural parade. One would think that counts as a part of the Inaugural ceremony. And openly gay Nancy Sutley has been appointed to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Could there be more? Sure. But making such a broad statement, and then not backing it up because the facts don't suit your thesis is typical Bush.

Isobel White: Rick Warren: Another Damper on My Chance at Obama-mania

Obama could have chosen any clergy member in the nation to deliver his invocation. So why one who spoke out so publicly in support of Prop 8. Why re-open painful wounds?

Phil Bronstein: Why Is Anyone Surprised Obama Picked Warren?

This choice illustrates the downside of inspirational figures and the accompanying bad habit of investing in Obama your own ideas, values, priorities and views just because he moves you.

Now...for reason:

I don't understand how anyone who listened to Obama during the campaign would be shocked that Obama lets Warren give the invocation. It's vintage Obama. It does not signal agreement with Warren's political positions, some of which are clearly at odds with Obama's. Warren isn't making policy or even giving a sermon., He's saying a prayer and then possibly dancing later at some inaugural parties. If anything, it's the possibility of this dancing that should be deeply troubling to all Americans.

Lee Stranahan, Huffington Post.

While I understand the hurt and sense of betrayal, the Oblogger plans to withhold judgment until after Obama gets in office and creates policy, which is the important thing.

Obama will have to demonstrate his commitment to his LGBT constituency, which is sick and tired of getting thrown under the political bus... and rightly so.

But please... can cooler heads prevail? And may we let Obama get in office before we disown him? I say short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.

Rick Warren and I are on opposite sides of the ideological fence on so many issues: a woman's right to choose, stem cell research, school prayer, and gay marriage.

But I'm not up in arms about this choice because I don't see this invocation as an endorsement of his views, but rather Obama's doing just as he said he was going to do and inviting those with whom you have differences to be part of the table.

The Oblogger (a friend of mine from NYU)



Does this shift Obama's position on issues near and dear to folks on the left? Does this break or reinforce a campaign promise to attempt to bring the country together?

Consider this an olive branch and a signal to future generations that we as Americans must be accepting of all walks of life along with religious and political beliefs. This decision does not divide, it sends a message.

This demonstrates how Obama will be willing to have an open dialogue with all Americans and it clearly steers the country away from fear. I find it interesting that James Dobson has not condemned Warren for accepting well aware of Obama's position on social issues.

Ed Schultz. (Off air today because of an illness, but still blogging from his bedside).



In his short political career, Obama has deftly manipulated political symbols to his advantage, but he's never been one to pay homage to one of the most sacred regulations of identity politics, which is that one must take care of one's own kind before turning outward. His mind operates differently. Obama does believe, as many of his supporters do, that there are uncrossable demarcation lines between the reasonable and the profane. But he doesn't believe that Warren, someone he admires for reaching outside his (Warren's) comfort zone on AIDS, is all that different from himself. Obama is simultaneously capable of admiring Warren while disdaining Warren's oogedy boogedy appraoch to gay relationships and his uninformed response to torture. Warren's views might be hurtful to gays; Obama does not think they are harmful.

That said, his team bungled this a bit. Reaching out to gay groups to give them a heads up might have softened the edge of their reaction and given them internal confidence that they were valued members of Obama's coalition. Dropping the list (like it's hot), without pre-notice, must have seemed like a sharp slap in the face. The LGBT community is still very raw about Proposition 8, and one would assume that at least someone in Obama's inner circle would be aware of this.

Marc Ambinder, Atlantic Monthly.