Not change for change sake, but change
to preserve America's ideals: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.
Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless.
Each generation of American's must define what it means to be an American.
On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his
half-century of service to America. . .and I thank the millions of men
and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression,
fascism and communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new
responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom, but threatened
still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in unrivalled prosperity,
we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by
business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions
among OUR OWN people.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news
travelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the ocean by boat.
Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to
billions around the world. Communications and commerce are global.
Investment is mobile. Technology is almost magical, and ambition for
a better life is now universal.
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