its powers are vast and consequencetial. its requirements from the outset and by definition impossible for mortals to fulfill without humility and insistent attention to its purposes as set forth in the constitution of the united states. isn't it amazing, given the great and momentous nature of the office who seek it seldom pause consider what they're seeking. rather, unconstrained by reflection or principle there's a mad rush toward something that once its powers are seized the new president can wield it as ainstrument from which to transform the nation and the people according to his highest aspirations. but other than in a crisis of a house divided, the presidency is neither fit nor intended to be such an instrument. when it is made that, the country su stains a wound and it cries out justly and indignantly. and what the country says, the theme of this address, what it says impelled by its long history, what it says quite naturally and rightly, what it may well have said on november 2nd, is that we, as a people, are not t