please raise right hand and

repeat after me. i, barack hussein obama, do solemnly swear. i, barack hussein obama do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute. that i will faithfully execute. the of president of the united states. the office of president of the united states. and will, to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability, preserve protect and defend. preserve and defend the constitution of united states. the constitution of the united states. so help you god. so help me god. congratulations, mr. president.

ladies, gentlemen, it is my great privilege and distinct honor to introduce 44th president of the united of america, barack h. obama.

oh, thank you. obama thank you so much. vice president biden. mr. chief justice members of the united states congress. distinguished guests and fellow citizens citizens. each 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 this nation together is not the color of our skin or the tenants of our or the origins of our names. what makes us exceptional? what makes us american is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a made more than 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 happiness. today, continue a never journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of. our time. for history tells that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self executing the while. freedom is a gift from god. it must be secured by his people on earth. the patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny a king with the privileges a few or the rule of a mob. they gave to us a republic, a government of and by and for the

people. and trusting each generation to keep safe. our founding. for more. than 200 years we have. through blood drawn by lash blood drawn by sword. we learned that no union founded on the principles liberty and equality could survive half slave and half free. we made ourselves a new and vowed to move forward together. together we. determined that a modern economy requires railroad and highways to speed, travel and commerce in schools and colleges, to train workers. together, we discovered that free market only thrives when there are rules. ensure competition and fair play. together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its from life's worst hazards and

misfortune. through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central. nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through. government alone. our celebrates of initiative and enterprise. our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility. these are constants in our character character. but we have always that when times change so must we. that fidelity to our founding principles requires. new responses to new challenges that preserving our individual freedoms requires collective. for the american people can know meet the demands of today's world by acting 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 ever, we must do things together as one nation and one people. this generation, americans, has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. a decade of war is now ending. and economic recovery has begun. america has possibilities. our limitless for. we possess all the qualities

this world without boundaries demands. youth and 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 the people understand that our country cannot succeed. when a shrinking few do very well, 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 independence and pride in their work, when the wages of 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 outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time, so we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax, reform our schools and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, 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 citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. we must make hard choices to reduce the cost of care and the size of our deficit. but we reject the belief that america must choose between caring for the generation that built country and investing in the that will build its future. for we remember, the lessons of our past. when twilight years were spent, poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. we do not believe that in this freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few

we recognize that no matter how responsibly we live lives, any one of us at any may face job loss or a sudden illness or a home swept away 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 but to all posterity. we will respond to threat of climate change, knowing that the

failure to do so would betray 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 transition. we must it. we cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries. we must claim its promise. that's how we maintain our economic vitality and, our national treasure, our forests and waterways, our croplands and snowcapped peaks. that is how we will our planet.

command to our care. by god. that's what will lend to the creed our fathers once declared. we the people still believe that, enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual. or our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage courage. our citizens seared by memory of those we have lost know too well. the price that has for liberty, the knowledge of their sacrifice that will keep us forever vigilant against 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 people and uphold our values through of arms and the rule law. we will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully, not because we are naive about the dangers we face, but 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 crises abroad. for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful 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 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, those principles that our common creed describes tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice. we, the people, declare today the most evident of truths that. all of us are created equal is the star that guides us still just it guided our forebears through seneca falls and selma and stonewall. just as it guided all those men, 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 in

strictly 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 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. for we are truly created equal. then surely the love we commit to one another must be as well. our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. our journey not complete until

we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful who still see america as a land of opportunity. until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather expelled from our country. our journey is not complete until all our children from the streets of detroit, the hills of appalachia to the quiet of newtown know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe harm. that is 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 is not mean we all define in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. progress does not compel to settle centuries long debates about the role of government for all. but it does require us to act in our time time. for now, decisions are upon us and. we cannot afford to let. we cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for or treat calling as reasoned debate. we must act. we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect.

we must act knowing that victories will be only partial. and then it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to the timeless spirit once conferred 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 from the

pledge we all make to 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, i as citizens, have 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 us each of now embrace with duty and awesome what is our lasting. with common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication. let us answer 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 america.