Obama: "Today we continue a never-ending journey"

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Obama vows to "carry on" work of MLK, civil rights leaders

Updated: 1:58 p.m. ET

In the second and final inaugural address of his presidency, President Obama today called on Americans to fulfill the "promise" of American democracy, pursuing age-old Constitutional values while adapting to the realities of the modern age.

Standing before a crowd of hundreds of thousands outside on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Mr. Obama spoke for 19 minutes about the ongoing American struggle for equality and justice, and the hurdles he said are preventing positive change.

"Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time," Mr. Obama said, after quoting the Declaration of Independence. "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."'

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Fidelity to the nation's founding principles, he argued, "requires new responses to new challenges."

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Obama: Staying "true to our creed" requires strong middle class

"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," he said. "When times change, so must we."

Reflecting on themes familiar to his first term, Mr. Obama argued that American success will remain forever incomplete while disparities between the rich and poor continue persist, and while all people are not treated as equals. He also became the first president ever to address gay rights in his inaugural address, arguing that "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.

"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," he said. "Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it."

Lightly touching on a handful of policy-oriented ideas -- from fighting climate change to improving the nation's education system -- the president outlined the many changes he believes must be made on the road to American progress. He underscored the American commitment to assisting the elderly and the impoverished, and defended the nation's entitlement programs as liberating rather than restrictive. Freedom, he argued, should not just be for "the lucky."

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Obama: Life, liberty, happiness self-evident but not "self-executing"

"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."

The nation's task now, he said, is to act -- "to make these words, these rights, these values of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness real for every American" -- without getting bogged down in attempts to achieve perfection.

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Obama vows to "carry on" work of MLK, civil rights leaders

"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," he said. "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."

That, Mr. Obama said, is "our lasting birthright."

"With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history," he urged, "and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom."

[habu_71]

To TIMETOEVOLVE ... Interesting, but is it more than a platitude to you? Thought about it?
>How will you take it back? 52% of the electorate can not change much, and the other 48% has already said NYET, Kommisar.
>What would you do if you did? It's a Constitutional Republic, a Nation of Laws. As such, you don't get to move funds around like Monopoly Money in order to expand social programs.
>I see, indeed, that change is needed, but it won't work by force. Manipulation has worked so far but, now, as a result, 48% of the country does not trust the administration.
=============
TIMETOEVOLVE says: That is how progress works. That is how education and science and new ideas work. We all need to join his new community activist group Organizing for action and take the government back from the billionaires who don't care about us.

[legal-equal]

Constitutional Republic ... Yes, but just look how the 9th US Circuit has treated appeals - almost always in favor of liberals. If SCOTUS becomes any more liberal, they will simply interpret the Constitution to allow liberal "laws" to flow through.

[TimeToEvolve]

Actually Ranger, Obama's plan is to out more money in the hands of the poor and middle class who are the Job Creators. And to reverse the godawful failure of Reaganomics while the 99% still have something left. Oh and also start doing something about global warming before we are all extinct like the dinosaurs.

[senexxx]

Never ending...seems right on track- :(

[TimeToEvolve]

That is how progress works. That is how education and science and new ideas work. We all need to join his new community activist group Organizing for action and take the government back from the billionaires who don't care about us.

[habu_71]

Legal BNJ - and do you realize in the last 4 years qualified American workers are being displaced by H1 visa holders ON SHORE at an incredible rate? This not only displaced us, but lowered the wages to do the same work. They are coming in from India by the plane load. I know, I've lost my job to this action.

Capitalist behavior, you say, well ... rubbish ... look at who approved these H1 visa petitions and won't enforce the limits, just like immigration. Obama is a socialist when he wants to be and a capitalist when his friends make billions.

LEGALBUTUNJUST replies: Ranger, you do know that off-shoring and automation has pretty much reduced the worth of a human and his labor in a capitalist 2013 society, to being about equal between the expense it takes to create more jobs involving service and production, and the expense it takes to simply pay some people a government wage all to perform processing of handouts for others who are unemployed, right?

[legalbutunjust]

I was saying this is what we get and we call our economic system capitalist-based. I never claimed to say it was right.

[TimeToEvolve]

Bottom line is that we have let a few greedy rich people set up a completely unfair tax system to benefit them at the expense of the rest of us.

And now we have been challenged by Obama to end the scam of Reaganomics. If we are smart we will jump on this opportunity before the dark side has any chance to recover.

[habu_71]

I agree with you that change is needed, but not on just one front. Please note that Dems are just as happy to make billions, even while talking reform see my note on H1 visa holders below.

Our employment and wages are being eroded and NOT just by "capitalists," but by greed in general.

I am unemployed due to ON SHORING "contractors" and visa holders, not by "Reagonomics." I say again, Dems talk the talk but do not walk the walk. If they did, this kind of nonsense would be ended.

[TimeToEvolve]

I think that Obama really knows that our system of predatory, crony capitalism is in the death throes. It has failed miserably for most of Americans. Thus he launched Organizing for Action which will energize millions of community activists in his second term. Fantastic and very excited for this.

[TimeToEvolve]

Ranger,right now I employ six people. Fact is that Reaganomics is a pathetic failure except for the Top 1% of Americans.

[legalbutunjust]

Ranger, you do know that off-shoring and automation has pretty much reduced the worth of a human and his labor in a capitalist 2013 society, to being about equal between the expense it takes to create more jobs involving service and production, and the expense it takes to simply pay some people a government wage all to perform processing of handouts for others who are unemployed, right?

You point to one thing that makes that opinion pure fiction and fallacy, in terms of taxes going up on everyone anyway, and I'll take it back in a heartbeat.

[Barry-been-inhalin]

How fitting that our fake President was given a fake performance as well. Beyonce even went as far as to take her ear piece out like she was really performing. LOL

[TimeToEvolve]

To think that only 4 years ago we were just ending the hideous nightmare of the Bush Cheney Crime Family. To have this wonderful person be the President for another 4 years is just so incredible. So hopeful, so enlightening and so positive compared to the depths of despair that we were in 4 years ago. Thank all the gods, thank all the people who worked for this.

[darkhorseky]

Yes just think
Democrates had total control of congress the last 2 years of the Bush Presidency. Wow what progress they had. Also after that President Obama had 2 more full years with a Democrate Congrass which had voting power to vote anything in. Did they address the debt, imagration, education, or anything else? We got Obama care. Is that it the crowning acievement Obama care??? I got to laugh.

[erasmus111]

TimeToEvolve

Nice comment. And very true.

[TimeToEvolve]

We were completely wrong when we put so much faith in Wall Street. The greed and corruption has almost destroyed our democracy. I believe Obama knows this all too well and he knows we cannot survive (either America or the planet) if this goes to it's conclusion.

Thus the new nationwide activist network Organizing for Action. Very, very smart man Obama and I am proud to call him President. I am going to help him become one of our greatest.

[darkhorseky]

Lol
I hear Kum-ba-ya, my lord. As the gentle wind blows. Sure sure. We need to dance down on main street. Since we owe Trillions of dollars and we need to give out more.

[TimeToEvolve]

If we don't stop the Wall Street oil corporations they will help us finish the frying of the planet. If we let man made global climate change disrupt the food chain, we WILL go the way of the dinosaurs.

Most of the Wall Street corporations like Wall Mart, GE, AT&T, and of course the Banksters are just as bad and all need to be split apart. ASAP.

[truth2141]

You couldn't survive a week without the corporations you bash.

What a joke.

[truth2141]

I may look up your organization, what is it again Parasites Needing a Host?

Oh yeah Organizing for Action