“… every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms… we are in the midst of crisis… our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age… and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis…

… we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord… the time has come… to choose our better history… starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act… all this we can do, and all this we will do.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them… with old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly… and roll back the specter of a warming planet… to those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West; know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy… nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends… these things are old. These things are true… what is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility; a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world… ”

1. President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, Organizing for America.
2. Presidential Inauguration, Wikimedia.