Inauguration Day

In a little more than two weeks, President Obama will give his inaugural address. Here's a sample of what I'd like to hear him say.


My Fellow Citizens and Friends Around the World: I come before you today firmly grounded by the reality of our current challenges and acutely aware of the compelling demands of these perilous times. We are prepared to meet these challenges by the strength of our history and the courage and creativity of this great country. As our founders dreamed of an exceptional future, we too must build, so our children, and their children’s children, will continue to reap the fruits of an American dream that will inspire the world.

Preserving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness requires collective commitment and personal sacrifice. We live in times that demand nothing less. President Kennedy asked us to ask not what our country can do for us, but rather to ask what we can do for our country. Forty-eight years later his question remains relevant and urgent. So many Americans struggle to find work and to pay bills, yet there is work to do. Others avoid going to the doctor because the costs are high and insurance is out of reach, yet we have the human skill and technology to save lives that would have been lost just a few years ago. And we know brave soldiers, marines, sailors, and air force men and women who return from war with catastrophic injuries and few prospects. This must change. We commit ourselves to those challenges as top priorities for this Administration.

The United States of America remains a magnetic presence inspiring our native born citizens to achieve greatness beside our newest residents who come from every country in the world. The attraction of America abides because we draw strength from our diversity and power from the notion that it is not who you are that matters but what you can do that counts. My own story serves as a step toward realizing Martin Luther King, Jr’s great dream that men and women be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

So, I stand before you today, in the presence of the great American legacy, from Washington and Jefferson, Madison and Jackson, Lincoln, of course, and Susan Anthony and the nameless who struggled in cotton fields and sweatshops, and Roosevelt and Eisenhower, King and Chavez, so many giants whose names we know and whose names we will never know. They did great things, often against great odds. We must become the inspirational legacy of the next generation by rising to meet today’s challenges with clarity of purpose, a capacity for the hard work required, and the humble spirit that made the greatest generation great, and will make our generation one worthy of carrying the torch that is passed to us with such hope and anticipation.