The full text of President Barack H. Obama’s second inaugural address, 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.
“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”
“That is my task.”
“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.”
“39.6%, however, is probably doable.”
“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.”
Well, I hope the real Barack Obama is enjoying his tme on the alien mothership.
Give him a break, he’s just making a “presentation” so the words have to sound good, but he doesn’t really mean any of that stuff–Those concepts are outdated…
“My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.”
Oh, I’m sure his base likes that one. Guns, income, you name it.
“For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it”
Well, at least the non-Solyndra type small businesses got a mention. “Sorry about those regulations, guys!”
“The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult.”
Particularly with you in the way.
“We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries”
You’re doing it wrong.
“We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.”
“Except against Republicans.”
You are SO right!
This speech construction is a direct reply to Alex Jones’ viral video.
What he’s saying first is he will proudly be the one who will define a New Constitution and new rights through executive orders. He understands the importance of being a powerful new type of leader now that times have changed. Then your little second amendment about muskets isn’t enough to fight modern fascism or communism he assures us. He had to make sure to put that in there after talking about tyrants and 1776.
Someone is feeling a little defensive after his British buddy got yelled with the shouting heard round the world.
“We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.”
“As our 15+ trillion dollar debt shows.”
“We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law.”
“But mainly strength of arms. Unless talking foreign affairs. Then it’s rule of law.”
“who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends”
And the opposite.
“It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began.”
“But not like the “pioneer” pioneers. Racists like Davy Crockett just dispossessed others of their land. Best to never mention that stuff again.”
Oh, I don’t know, look at how the Feds are planning to make MILLIONS of acres into “Designated wilderness”. And people in any designated wilderness area are verboten,so anyone living on those millions of acres will be THROWN OFF. Will any of them be the billionaire Democrat celebrities building monster homes on huge spreads in Montana? VERY unlikely.
– you can do for me.
“Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.”
Well, this speech would be a flop in England. I think they pride themselves on that sort of thing.
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
Would somebody please return this Barack Obama to his proper dimension, where they actually believe that?
“For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay.”
Usually when a politician says that, it means his ideas cannot stand scrutiny.
Well, thanks for letting me play. I think my overall response upon reading is “drop dead, Barry.”
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
“Wait a minute! How’d THAT get in there?”
“America our nation has been beaten by strangers who have turned our language inside out who have taken the clean words our fathers spoke and made them slimy and foul”
—John Dos Passos
Gonna need a BARGE for all THAT garbage. A BIG one. What a slimy operator he is,and it is a permanent black mark on the citizenry that they were so ignorant of what he really is as to have re elected him. EVERYONE should have skipped his inauguration. I will find out which Hollywoodites attended, and will permanently boycott all their movies, and only buy their DVDs second hand, AFTER notifying them of why I do so.
Who’s the genius speech writer who put “we” instead of “I” into the teleprompter? Still, with almost all the sentences he uses “we” in, I figure he must have a mouse in his pocket, I am most assuredly not part of the “we” he keeps referring to. And his “we discovered” makes it sound like these developments were ALL trial and error,like people came here from Europe centuries ago who had NO IDEA what they wanted,or what to do, or how to do it. And once again, he gives a speech that is both dishonest and rambling. And then his repeated references to God are disgusting,given his open contempt for religions other than Islam, and his wanting to force religious groups to fund abortions with their health insurance.
We are not impressed.
Then there’s “Together,we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play”. HAH!! The giant corporations are often called in to ASSIST in writing the “rules” (regulations and laws). These huge companies whine loudly about over regulation,but they help to write them,because the regulations are expensive but doable for huge corporations,but will both destroy smaller companies, and PREVENT new businesses from even starting up, because they cannot afford to comply with the “rules”. So the “rules” actually DESTROY both competition AND fair play. Look at the bank bailouts,for one,how some banks WERE allowed to fail, and others,who’d been generous to Obama or his pals,were rescued from the failure their terrible mismanagement had caused. “Competition and fair play” are DESTROYED by the “rules”. A freewheeling free economy with MINIMAL “rules” would STRENGTHEN fair play and competition, because the players would all be being IGNORED by the government.