Barack Obama
Inaugural Address
January 21, 2013

 
THE PRESIDENT:  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, theyve 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 lifes 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 societys 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 todays 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 well 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.)  Americas 
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 Americas 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.  Thats 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.  Thats 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 nave 
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 generations 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 generations 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 
todays 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 countrys 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



