SPEECH:Obama Inaugural Address 20th January 2009

Obama Inaugural Address 

20th January 2009
My fellow citizens:
I am here today, ridden by the task which faces our future.It is a great honour to me that you had to endorse me as your potential candidate.I am very much aware that our ancestors had made great sacrifices for this august day. Great thanks to the immediate past regime for its service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this chronology.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken int the midst of gathering clouds and raging storms that envisaged the diaspora. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We total allegiance and loyalty to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. lost homes, jobs shedding, business shuttering had all placed a great task ahead of us. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

I think these are enough to portray impending crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is beyond control,and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today. I say to you that the challenges we face are real. The challenges we face are intimidating and horrific. The challenges we face are numerous. The challenges we face will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to declare open. an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to readjust our enduring spirit.The time is here to choose our better history.The time to carry forward that precious gift, that very  noble idea, passed on from generation to generation.The God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness isnt just a given. It is something that you have to work hard for if you must earn it.Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been for those who are willing to take risks, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life that will suite the mass.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they sacrificed to fight and die, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Over and over again, these people struggled,  sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might have a better life to live. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin a fresh journey,the journey of the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not just to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.There is need for us to restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We need to harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.We need to transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All these we can do.All these we will do.Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - they suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. I say to you that their memories are short.They have forgotten so soon what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
   What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer exists. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - The question remains whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, Our intention is to move forward. Where the answer is no,it means that programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars shall be brought to book - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unbiased, but the fact still remains;these crisis still keeps reminding us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin in loss of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but dependent on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because this is just the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born;know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future where  peace and dignity reigns, and we are ready to lead over and over again.

We vividly recall what the past generation faced,that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They know that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example