Obama Inauguration Speech - President Barack Obama Inaugural Address - Barack Obama's First Speech as President on January 20, 2009.

January 20, 2009

Washington, DC

The Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama

As pPresident Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has
shown throughout this transition.

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 amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these
moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the
people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, 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. Homes have been lost; jobs shed;
businesses shuttered. 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.

These are the indicators of 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 inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They 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 proclaim 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 reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that 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 is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has
never been one of shortcuts 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 the risk-takers, 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.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might
live a better life. 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 again 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 only 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. We will restore science to its rightful
place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the
winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities
to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many
big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten 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 apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too
small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is
dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who
manage the public's dollars will be held to account — 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 unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out 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 on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart —
not out of charity, but because it is 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 ... our
found 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 the 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 of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances
and enduring convictions. They understood 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, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even
greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to
its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen
the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver
in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you
now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and
Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because
we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we
cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world
grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around
the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what
you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent,
know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to
nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no
longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to
effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very
hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in
Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they
embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment —
a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon
which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who
would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's
courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our
success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these
things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is
demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the
part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept
but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our
character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can
join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have
been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in
the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was
abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution
was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the
city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With
hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our
children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter;
and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it
safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

January 20, 2009

Washington, DC

The Inauguration Invocation by Reverend Rick Warren

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes
from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the
compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hinge point of
history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in
this land, a land of unequalled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our
leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven. Give to our new
President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion
to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of
our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment
to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.
When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow
human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days
ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches,
and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together
to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never
forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president
and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation],
Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

January 20, 2009

Washington, DC

The Inauguration Benediction by Reverend Joseph Lowery

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might
ed us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest
our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day.

We pay now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family
and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know
you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you’re willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our
brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism
toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work
together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social
and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our
president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side
of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that
power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not
eave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up
sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own
vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for
that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red
man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

President-elect Barack Obama's Remarks at the Lincoln Memorial
"We Are One" Concert on Sunday, January 18, 2009

I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we
love about America. And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds and traveling in some cases thousands
of miles to join us here today. Welcome to Washington, and welcome to this celebration of American renewal.

In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones
we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes;
they're worried about how they'll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table. And most of all,
they are anxious and uncertain about the future - about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what's
best about this country to our children and their children.

I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will
likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.

But despite all of this - despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead - I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the
United States of America will endure - that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.

What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely
stories that affirm our unyielding faith - a faith that anything is possible in America. Rising before us stands a memorial to a
man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an Empire, all for the sake of an
idea. On the ground below is a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression - men and women like my
grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny's grasp.
Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so
that their children might be judged by their character's content. And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the
man who in so many ways made this day possible.

And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us
today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you - Americans of every race and region and station who came here
because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.

It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a
belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and
Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would
we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union
in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can
change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that
Oval Office - the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was
promised us as Americans - that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to
all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.

It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds - because there is no obstacle that can
stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

That is the belief with which we began this campaign, and that is how we will overcome what ails us now. There is no doubt
that our road will be long. That our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not
during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help me reveal that
character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our
forefathers that we celebrate today.