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Text of President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address
January 21, 2013
Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery
Inaugural Address
Monday, January 21, 2013
Washington, DC
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