THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate
Release January 21, 2013
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
United States Capitol
11:55 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice,
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’ve never been self-executing; that while
freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on
Earth. (Applause.) 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.
And 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, these 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. (Applause.)
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our
resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending.
(Applause.) An economic recovery has begun. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.)
For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a
shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.
(Applause.) 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.
(Applause.)
We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our
time. So 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, 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.
(Applause.) 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. (Applause.)
They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that
make this country great. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.) 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’s how we will
maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our forests and
waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped 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. (Applause.) Our brave men and women in
uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and
courage. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.) Our
journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like
anyone else under the law –- (applause) -- for if we are truly created
equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as
well. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until no citizen is
forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. (Applause.)
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 -- (applause)
-- until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce
rather than expelled from our country. (Applause.) 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 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.
(Applause.)
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. (Applause.) 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 40 years and 400 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. (Applause.)
Let us, 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. (Applause.)
END
12:10 P.M. EST
