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 mon in our country. with a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
as i begin, i thank president clinton for his service 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 e before me, and so many will follow.
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.
it is the american story -- a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 these principles. every citizen must uphold them. and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, american.
today, we affirm a new mitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, passion and character.
america, at its best, matches a mitment to principle with a concern for civility. a civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and f iveness.
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.
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.
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 munity over chaos. and this mitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared ac plishment.
america, at its best, is also courageous.
our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending mon dangers defined our mon 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.
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 r ce taxes, to recover the momentum of our
economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working americans.
we will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge.
we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spare
d 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 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.
america, at its best, is passionate. in the quiet of american conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.
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.
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.
ernment has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and mon schools. yet passion is the work of a nation, not just a ernment.
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 munities 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 those who do.
and i can pledge our nation to a goal: when we see 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
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