Obama: "Our Road Will Be Long"
(CBS)
Looking out over the assembled crowd, which was packed from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Washington Monument, the president-elect suggested there is nonetheless reason to have hope.
"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," he said. "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."
Mr. Obama's comments were followed by a performance of "This Land Is Your Land," led by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. Beyonce then performed "America The Beautiful."
Below, Mr. Obama's remarks in full, as prepared for delivery.
BARACK OBAMA: 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.
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Wingnuts,
In all your partisan frothing at the mouth, you''ve clearly failed to realize that, at this critical time in our history, if Obama fails we all fail.
He hasn''t even taken office yet for God''s sake!
Try being an American for once in your miserable life instead of a petty, hating, partisan, moron.
Posted by yellow651 at 11:55 PM : Jan 18, 2009"
Because the other guy was singing "Bomb, bomb Iran" and thought there was a Iraq-Pakistan border. That''s why.
George Bush has been in office for 8 years. The first six the economy was fine."
Good joke. You made my day. FYI, Bush was still in charge for the lest two years, with all the power of the veto.
Who did the big spending these last years ?
"I believe less government is better & that my tax dollars should go to the education system rather than a corporate bailout."
Bush''s bailout ? I agree with you.
The Bush''s bank bailout without oversight is a shame. That kind of thing became the republican doctrine ...
"People like you with your venom & rage towards republicans only reaffirm my point that more tax dollars should go to education."
Strange, the democrats agree with you.
Posted by mattcool247 at 06:50 AM : Jan 19, 2009
I guess you might become a democrat ... since Bush became a communist, nothing would surprise me anymore.
It will scare the hell out of him on Tuesday morning when he wakes up and someone tells him he can no longer vote present on major issues.
JUST HOW MUCH MORE ''''CHANGE'''' DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND?
Posted by mattcool247 at 06:38 AM : Jan 19, 2009
LOL Swastika Breath, what PLANET have you been on! Bush''s Economic Policies have not provided this nation with ANYTHING but RED INK from day ONE! The ECONOMY would have sunk him in the 2004 Elections if NOT for the FEAR and LIES they used! I can STILL remember him telling the voters of Ohio to be patient, things would IMPROVE. This ON TOP of the Propaganda they ran on in ALL those elections... the Party of DE-REGULATION?? Meltdown=De-regulation!! Trickle Down has done NOTHING but run this nation into debt. It has NEVER given us ONE MONTH when it was NOT running the nation into the red... NOT ONE MONTH!!
I believe less government is better & that my tax dollars should go to the education system rather than a corporate bailout.
People like you with your venom & rage towards republicans only reaffirm my point that more tax dollars should go to education.
Posted by mattcool247 at 06:50 AM : Jan 19, 2009
No because you continue to support the Policies of the "Party" in face of constant FAILURE! Because you attacked anyone who opposed the insanity of Trickle Down as being UnAmerican when they have been shown to be right! Because you condemn a Leader who has YET to do much of anything EXCEPT what has been recommended by EVERY Major Economist both Liberal and Conservative! Because YOU refuse to give credit to the ONE Leader who DID give us a Balanced Budget AND a Surplus because he isn''t a member of the "Party". Maybe in YOUR small mind that isn''t fascism but in the REAL world of Political Science it MOST certainly IS! Sieg Heil
no change
tax & spend
same old sh*t
Posted by mattcool247 at 06:27 AM : Jan 19, 2009
Earth to Fascist! Earth to Fascist!! Who was the LAST President to hand Congress a BALANCED BUDGET?? ROFLMAO Wow! Now wonder you LOSERS Borrowed and Spent us into a Depression! Sieg Heil?? ROFLMAO
Posted by b4ucmyI at 02:04 AM : Jan 19, 2009
Ummm Swastika Breath?? Bush and the Fascist Republican''s ALREADY did that. LOOK at the Standard of Living for this Nation under the Reich!! Sieg Heil Y''all