President Barack Obama kicked off his second term with a sweeping call for greater equality in the nation he has been elected to lead.
Obama, speaking at his public inauguration ceremony, frequently referred to the words of the country’s founding fathers in making his call for a better future.
“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,” Obama said.
He added, “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.”
But America, Obama said, can only thrive when every child growing up in the nation can have the same chances for success as anyone else.
“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, reach higher,” Obama said. “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.”
Obama invoked the government entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as examples of how the country can work together and enable its success.
“The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us,” he said. “They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.”
He added, “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.”
It is the task of this generation, Obama said, to strive for greater equality throughout the country.
“Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts,” he said. “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.”
He added, “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.”
Obama recognized that there will still be differences of opinion as to the nature and scope of the role of the nation’s government, but he argued that it is now time to act.
“For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay,” he said. “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
He added, “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 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.”
Obama called on the country to embrace the responsibility that is the birthright of all Americans.
“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,” he said.
by RTT Staff Writer
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