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Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity...
and the still waters of peace.
Yet, every so often...
the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.
These moments, America has carried on not simply...
because of the skill or vision of those in high office...
but because We, the people...
have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers...
and true to our founding documents.
So it has been and so it must be, with this generation of Americans.
That we're in the midst of crisis is now well understood.
Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network...
of violence and hatred.
Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of...
greed and irresponsibility on some...
our failure to make hard choices...
and prepare the nation for a new age.
Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.
Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many...
and we have evidence that the ways we use energy
strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis...
subject to data and statistics.
Less measurable, but no less profound...
is a sapping of confidence across our land...
a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable...
that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that our challenges are real...
they are serious and many.
They won't be met easily or in a short span of time.
But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we've chosen hope over fear...
unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
Today we come to proclaim an end...
to the grievances and false promises...
the recriminations and dogmas...
that for too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation...
but in the words of Scripture, it's time to set aside childish things.
It's time to reaffirm our enduring spirit...
to choose our better history and carry forward that precious gift...
that noble idea passed on from generation to generation...
the God-given promise that all are equal...
all are free and deserve a chance to pursue their happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation...
we understand that greatness is never a given, it must be earned.
Our journey hasn't been of shortcuts or settling for less.
It hasn't been the path for the faint-hearted...
who prefer leisure over work, or seek the pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it's been the risk-takers, the doers...
the makers of things; some celebrated, but more often...
men and women obscure in their labor...
who have carried us up the long, rugged path of prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions...
and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West...
endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died...
in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women...
struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw...
so that we lived a better life.
They saw America as bigger than our individual ambitions...
greater than the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today.
We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.
Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.
Our minds are no less inventive; our goods and services...
no less needed than last week or last month or last year.
Our capacity remains undiminished.
But our time of standing pat...
of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions...
That time has surely passed.
Today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off...
and begin again the work of remaking America.
Captions by uyngo.com