time of our lives

President George W. Bush's

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.

As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his rvice to our nation.

And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.

I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come

before me, and so many will follow.

We have a place, all of us, in a long story--a story we continue, but who end we will

not e. 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 rvant of freedom, the story of a power that went into

the world to protect but not posss, to defend but not to conquer.

It is the American story--a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by

grand and enduring ideals.

The grandest of the ideals is an unfolding American promi that everyone belongs, that

everyone derves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.

Americans are called to enact this promi in our lives and in our laws. And though our

nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other cour.

Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a

raging a. Now it is a ed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.

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.

While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promi, 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 ems we share a

continent, but not a country.

We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the rious 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.

I know this is in our reach becau we are guided by a power larger than ourlves who

creates us equal in His image.

And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

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 the principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every

immigrant, by embracing the ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promi through civility, courage,

compassion and character.

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.

Some em to believe that our politics can afford to be petty becau, in a time of peace,

the stakes of our debates appear small.

But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cau of

freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and

character, we will lo their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift

and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.

We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a ntiment. 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.

America, at its best, is also courageous.

Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common

dangers defined our common good. Now we must choo 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.

Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives.

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 enterpri of working Americans.

We will build our defens beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge.

We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors.

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 that favors freedom. We will

defend our allies and our interests. We will show purpo 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.

America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that

deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promi.

And whatever our views of its cau, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault.

Abandonment and abu are not acts of God, they are failures of love.

And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and order in our

souls.

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.

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.

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.

Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to tho who do.

And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we e that wounded traveler on the road to

Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.

Encouraging responsibility is not a arch 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 t

us free.

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.

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.

I will live and lead by the 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.

In all the ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.

What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to ek a common

good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to rve your nation,

beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not

subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of rvice and a nation of character.

Americans are generous and strong and decent, not becau we believe in ourlves, but

becau we hold beliefs beyond ourlves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government

program can replace it. When this spirit is prent, no wrong can stand against it.

After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to

Thomas Jefferson: ``We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you

not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?''

Much time has pasd since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The years and changes

accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know: our nation's grand story of courage and

its simple dream of dignity.

We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his purpo. Yet his purpo

is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in rvice to one another.

Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpo today, to make our country

more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.

This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs

this storm.

God bless you all, and God bless America.