Link to MillerCenter.org’s transcript of speech
Summary of speech:
Barack Obama begins his second term with a speech that continues the themes of his first, though it leans in more to the central authority as an extension of the will of the people. It mentions Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security by name. And it tackles several hot button domestic political issues of the time, including gay marriage, illegal immigration, and climate change.
The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.
Thoughts on Transcript:
- Declaration of Independence ideals bind nation
- List of expansions of government powers that nation has undertaken throughout history
- When times change, so do we
- August wealth disparity
- Safety nets encourage American risk taking
- Climate change and environmentalism
- Pull back from war and win the peace
- Women, Black, LGBT rights through history
- Political hot buttons: DOMA, in person voting, immigration (particularly illegal vis-a-vis the DREAM Act), and gun control
- Must work together over long time to change
- Carry previous light of freedom to future
Notes on speech:
Phrases I have underlined, starred, or otherwise marked:
“The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.”
“Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.”
“Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.”
“For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias.”
“America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.”
“We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.”
“We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.”
“We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”
“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.”
“Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that previous light of freedom.”
Thoughts on delivery (audio and/or video of speech):
Starts out stronger and more confident than his first inaugural address. No new notes to add over his previous delivery – he has one of the better deliveries for the inauguration, especially in terms of firing up the crowd and getting the excitement high.
First speech I’ve listened to where the crowd was yelling the name of the president vs USA or another chant.
The Political Journey 