Thank you!TD3文惺网
Chief Justice Rehnquist, President Carter, President Bush ， President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.TD3文惺网
As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.TD3文惺网
And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.TD3文惺网
I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.TD3文惺网
We have a place, all of us, in a long story -- a story we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.TD3文惺网
It is the American story -- a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.TD3文惺网
The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.TD3文惺网
Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.TD3文惺网
Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.TD3文惺网
Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along. And even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.TD3文惺网
While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country.TD3文惺网
We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.TD3文惺网
I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than our selves who creates us equal in His image.TD3文惺网
And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.TD3文惺网
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.TD3文惺网
Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.TD3文惺网
America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.TD3文惺网
Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.TD3文惺网
But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.TD3文惺网
We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.TD3文惺网
America, at its best, is also courageous.TD3文惺网
Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.TD3文惺网
Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives.TD3文惺网
We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans.TD3文惺网
We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge.TD3文惺网
We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors.TD3文惺网
The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power thatf avors freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests. We will show purpose without arrogance. We will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength. And to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.TD3文惺网
America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.TD3文惺网
And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love.TD3文惺网
And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and order in our souls.TD3文惺网
Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are hopeless. www.wenxingwang.comTD3文惺网
Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government. www.wenxingwang.comTD3文惺网
And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.TD3文惺网
Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do. www.wenxingwang.comTD3文惺网
And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler onTD3文惺网
the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.TD3文惺网
America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.TD3文惺网
Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments. And we find that children and community are the commitments that set us free.TD3文惺网
Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom. www.wenxingwang.comTD3文惺网
Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone. www.wenxingwang.comTD3文惺网
I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well.TD3文惺网
In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.TD3文惺网
What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.
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