Η ομιλία του Ομπάμα (στα αγγλικά)

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you
have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank
President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and
cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been
spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet,
every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At
these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision
of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to
the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that
greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey
has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has
not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer
leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and
fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the
makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women
obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged
path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and
traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured
the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and
Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and
worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better
life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our
individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth
or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most
prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less
productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less
inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were
last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains
undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting
narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that
time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves
up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking
America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of
the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act –
not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for
growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric
grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us
together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and
wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and
lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the
soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will
transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the
demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we
will do.