The following is the full text of the
inaugural address of US President
Barack Obama 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".

Cnice one.

Source:www.pmnewsnigeria.com

God help the United states of America

God bless Nigeria.

A copy of this should be given to GEJ to peruse...he could learn one or two things from his senior it.

Freaky Fabulous Speech