Here is the transcript of President Barack Obama’s Second Inaugural Address. I will have some thoughts below:
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 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.
If you were looking for news to be made in this speech, there really wasn’t too much that surprised. Perhaps it was a little more confrontational than some expected. He mocked Mitt Romney’s 47% remarks, saying that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security weren’t programs for “takers,” but key ingredients in our ability to take the risks and investments that make our country great. He mocked Republicans who deny climate science, saying we can’t deny forest fires and droughts and more powerful storms. He challenged the warmongers and UN-bashers, saying that we don’t need perpetual war and promising to strengthen institutions that help us keep the peace. He reminded the nation that we became close allies with Japan and Germany, hinting that we might one day become good friends with the Iranian people. He also recommitted America to the defense of democracy on every continent.
He gave a full-throated defense of gay equality, mentioning Stonewall in the same breadth as Seneca Falls and Selma, and saying, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.”
Despite some early nods to the right acknowledging that government can’t solve every problem and our tradition of limited government, his overall speech was unapologetically progressive. He spoke about business and jobs only obliquely, in the context of investments in research and an energy policy that is forward-looking. His overwhelming focus was on equal rights and equal opportunity. What he said about foreign policy could have been said by any progressive blogger. His economic focus was on lifting up the middle class and providing hope to the impoverished. And he signaled no compromise on entitlements whatsoever, only referring to efforts to slow the growth of health care costs.
I’d give the speech an A+, except there was no mention of rethinking the Drug War or embarking on a major effort at prison reform. Alas, that is apparently still too much to ask.
Now, we must help him keep his promises and fulfill his mission.
Classic Obama speech. Began by quoting the Declaration of Independence—which tea partiers have spent the past four years trying to twist into the ur-text for their politics—and “conceding” every point possible about liberty, individualism, freedom, limited government, suspicion of centralized authority.
Then proceeded to make all of that the keystone for constructing an edifice of equality, justice, civil and human rights, peaceful engagement with the world, the social welfare state, and activist government.
No wonder heads are exploding on Fox News today.
yes classic.
I saw what he was doing there, too. Particularly as the speech moved on, the refrain “We The People” was made clarion-clear to represnt not just words on the founding documents, but as a chief principle of our founders’ idea of self-governance.
The brief (18 minutes!) speech is getting the applause it deserves. I’m very pleased about that.
I enjoyed him opening with the Declaration of Independence.
I’m going to enjoy the second term so much more than the first. Four years ago, I predicted it was a good time to buy popcorn stocks. The Republicans neutered that prediction with their cynical plan to stick together on everything and deny Obama anything that could remotely be called an accomplishment. Despite that strong headwind, he managed to get much done and win reelection. Now he will begin the process of picking those SOBs apart.
Not necessarily. It could largely consist of 1) a debt ceiling fight that Obama mostly wins, 2) an early (March-April) government shutdown that Obama largely wins, 3) ending the Afghanistan War, 4) a watered-down immigration reform package, 5) a very watered-down gun safety package (if any) in the first two years, followed by Republicans retaking the Senate in 2014 and Obama playing defense, vetoing bills left and right for the final two years just to keep Republicans from doing too much harm.
(Of course, I could be wrong…and I hope I am.)
Don’t forget that he will be securing the victories of the first term. That is huge. That alone was reason to celebrate his re-election.
When I look at this photo, old fashioned as it is to say, I feel so proud of my countrymen and my country.
http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/inauguration-day/1-290657
When I was a child, in the wake of MLK’s transformational message and martyrdom, it was hard to fathom this country ever electing an African-American president. Four years ago, as the returns came in, I sat watching with an old black woman and her two adult daughters. When Virginia was called for our man, I told them it was done. They were afraid to believe. We waited for the west coast to be called. Then this old woman began to weep. She said, “All my life, I’ve said there are two things my children can never be: white and President of the United States. Now I’ll have to let go of one of them.”
Four years ago, Obama’s election might have been seen as a fluke — the confluence of a bunch of events including fatigue from the worst presidency of the modern era combined and a catestrophic economic collapse. Now, four years later, we’ve come together as a nation to return a great African-American man to office. This truly is a remarkable country. Every once in a while it shows through. Today, I could go anywhere in the world and feel pride in what we’ve accomplished in learning to live up to our ideals.
As late as 2007 I thought there wouldn’t be an African-American president in my lifetime, and if it did happen he would be a Republican, on the theory of “Only Nixon could go to China.” So I’m damned impressed and happy with what we have now.
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« click for top White House photos.
An inaugural address is a sermon in the highest rite of the American civil religion. Treating it as a philosophical or policy statement misses the point. It states a key point as self-evident. Think of the most quoted lines from the famous inaugurals.
This is that line in today’s inaugural:
It is no accident that the inaugural ceremony that you saw today is structured precisely as the structure of a Protestant Christian Sunday service. Or that members of the Supreme Court personify the the emissaries of the God or Supreme Being that those gifts are from. And particularly striking in the context of the text of the First Amendment.
So don’t overthink the day. It is the ritual of completion of reconciling the nation that began with the political campaigns and had its key sacrificial event in the casting of the vote.
(And don’t sneer at the “opiate of the masses” raising its head; every nation in the world has some civil religion of which a national anthem is a significant part. And civil religions undergird the impulse for war as much as money undergirds economies of any size. It’s one of those inherent contradictions of the inventions to date of human society.)
And yes, the US Marine Band is worth the money. Too bad that it’s the decal on the military-industrial complex.
Shoulda been the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps.
The bandsmen are not really Marines. They wear a lyre instead of crossed rifles and are under contract … never went to boot camp.
Let this be the last time anybody calls Obama a centrist. He is-and always has been-a liberal with imperfect power and authority.
I reserve judgement until inauguration day 2017.
Yep. Lots of liberal stuff in there, but lots of neo-lib stuff between the lines:
“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…. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit.”
Now we can certainly “revamp” our tax code and make it better; we can also make it worse. Reforming our schools with Arne Duncan isn’t a good sign. And “hard choices” doesn’t sound good no matter what the spin, unless the hard choices are between overpaid specialists, insurance networks, pharmaceuticals, and medical device manufacturers.
Armando makes the argument that it’s a mainstreaming of progressive values. If it is, there are some internal contradictions when it comes to war and peace that to my mind reflect the contradictions in the view of the public.
We have an actual record we can look at to understand what he means.
Obama’s tax-code changes have been to make it more progressive, increase overall revenue, and reduce the favoritism enjoyed by investors over workers.
Obama’s “hard choices to reduce the cost of health care” have included eliminating Medicare Advantage subsidies.
His most notable school reform action was to grant NCLB waivers to the states.
The first happened regardless of him doing anything, so that’s a wash, and largely does not represent “reform.” I support tax reform, and in many ways don’t care much about progressivity in the tax code. Our tax code is quite progressive when compared with Europe, but we have a lot fewer transfers and thus higher inequality. Though we need more rates before I’d support anymore reform (deductions are easy to put back in, rates are hard to raise and easy to lower)
Another hard choice.
And he also implemented race to the top and championed charter schools. I’d say that’s more notable than waivers for NCLB, which more or less had to be given out seeing as many states would fall well short of the goals outlined by the law.
I love the way things (Iraq withdrawal, end of the Bush tax cuts for the rich) go from impossible to inevitable the moment they actually happen under this President.
Another hard choice.
So, the massive expansion of public health care isn’t as massive as it otherwise could have been, so therefore, we really have nothing to go on when it comes to.
I can’t even finish this comment. You’re just fishing around for anything less than ideal about Obama, to try to get around the inconvenient reality that his record does, in fact, give us a very good idea of what he means by those terms.
I’d say that’s more notable than waivers for NCLB…
I’d say you’re pretty obviously not a teacher, if you think that.
Iraq withdrawal was impossible? No, full-withdrawal would be impossible; what Obama did do is what I expected he would do, and kept his promise.
Ending the Bush tax cuts was harder than I expected, but mostly because he insisted on not raising taxes on those making below $250,000. And beyond his promise, it was mostly his idiotic caucus that left him flailing in the wind. That was a bit unexpected. I figured they’d be more united in helping him, not undermining that promise. Though again, it was harder because he insisted on the $250,000 number. Letting them expire was easy.
I didn’t say that, and you know it. You can say I’m “fishing,” but I can easily turn it around and say you’re only highlighting good aspects while ignoring the bad. Which is fine, but don’t act like the only evidence we have is good stuff. It’s not true.
Iraq withdrawal was impossible?
You misunderstand; I didn’t say Iraq withdrawal was impossible. I said that many people said it was impossible – we’ll never leave those permanent bases, man, the MIC controls everything and Obama’s a sellout warmonger. Now, those same people are saying it was was not only possible, but inevitable, and Obama had nothing to do with making it happen.
Letting them expire was easy.
And yet, many of those same people were saying that it would never happen. The comments on this site, and many others, were full of assertions that the 2010 lame duck session deal effectively made them permanent.
Here is what I will also say in your favor: he barely mentioned any of that crap, and put emphasis on other good stuff. That tells me that he’s thinking, “Sure, I will do a grand bargain as I believe in that, but at this point I fucking won re-election, the short-term deficit is taking care of itself, and it’s the Republicans’ job to come up with a proposal that can pass both Houses. If they do that and it includes chained-CPI, I’ll sign it.”
Benjen Stark: “My brother once told me that nothing a man says before the word ‘but’ really matters.”
Take a look at that brief passage, and what follows it.
Ever break up with someone? “I really care about you, and we’ve had some great times, and you’re a wonderful person, but…”
somewhat OT, seabe, what’s the story with the VA sneaky redistricting; any remedy for that?
No idea. Only chance of stopping it is if McConnell vetoes it. Seeing as he’s probably going to run for president at some point, and that he’s known as governor-vaginal-probe, he might see reason to stop it. His Lt. Governor opposes it, so that could also help. We have no way to bring it to a popular vote. All we can do is affirm what the legislature does at the ballot box wrt the state constitution. So it’s either McConnell stops it, or we’re fucked.
wow. speaking of the will of the voters. might there be blowback re: independents?
Yes. Obama has been a master at making statements that can mean any thing to all people. Even before we try to distinguish between what he says and what he does.
Aside from Obama’s propensities, that’s the nature of most inaugural addresses.
I think that most inaugural addresses have platitudes, and that you’re also correct. But I don’t recall in my lifetime another President about whom the members of his party couldn’t agree on what basic policy positions he held. Certainly not after 4 years in office. This fact still astounds me.
For what it’s worth, people (including his wife!) said the same thing about FDR.
I couldn’t find the post you were referring to, but I’m impressed with your blog.
Watch Michelle Obama Throw World-Historical Shade at John Boehner
http://gawker.com/5977763?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&u
tm_medium=socialflow
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
“This m-f’er right here…”
I loved this speech. The part about national security and peace not requiring perpetual war was perfect.
Obama knows too well that Nixon’s “War On Drugs” has been virtually perpetual since our President was eight years old. And of course, we still need more troops in Korea.
Nothing ever changes, but hope springs eternal.
I was in meetings all day, so didn’t watch the speech until this evening.
I was extremely pleased that climate change got such prominent billing. This is by far the most important issue of the day. If we don’t deal with this (and I’m not sure that we can at this point), then nothing else is going to matter. I’m not sure what Obama can do, but at least he’s pointing–loudly–to the problem.
But over a decade too late if the newer science of how feedbacks and new sources of CO2 and CH4 unleash their consequences.
The IPCC has been under-reporting the problem so the governments (the I is intergovernmental) of the planet don’t have to do much, and those very conservative reports were fought tooth and nail by the right.
The feedbacks and rapid Arctic melting is starting to show how bad the situation is with only a little over 1C degrees evident even though the 400ppm CO2 saturation of the atmosphere should historically allow for almost 4C degrees of heating already baked into the atmosphere.
4C degrees is simply game over when the feedbacks from it hit. The anti global warming extremists won the temporary battle for a decade or two of limited profits for those who funded their dis-information campaigns, but most probably lost the war for most mammals on the planet in terms of long term survival.
Just so you know homo sapiens are still mammals.
I saw it as a populist speech, bound by the founding principles of the nation and the well institutionalized ideal of the new deal.
When you also see that he has kept and even beefed up his election apparatus, and several times has called on people to pressure their representatives (and help him) I think in many ways he is looking to make progress and set his legacy by creating a popular political force aligned to him and not a party or predetermined political ideology.
I am ok with that given what he wants to do is pretty much what the nation needs and I don’t see another way to get it
Whole event was impressive especially the speech – self evident but not self executing.
Also I liked seeing Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn at the lunch. She is 85?