Excerpts from President Obama’s Inauguration Speech
(Here’s the full text of the president’s speech.)
It sounds like there won’t be any more bipartisanship and “reaching across the aisle” to the teabaggers and wingtards, since they were so cooperative during Obama’s first four years. Fuck ‘em. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about being re-elected, let’s get on with it.
In the spirit of unity and bipartisanship, Obama did say: “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together.” That’s nice, but don’t hold your breath waiting for the Republican Fever to break.
He also said pretending climate change doesn’t exist “would betray our children and future generations.” Let’s hope he puts that sentence into action by vetoing the Keystone Pipeline, stomping on it and driving a stake through its heart.
Other favorite lines include:
“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 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.”
“Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.”
And referring to the red states’ — and some swing states’ — voter suppression attempts, President Obama said:
“Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.”
And for what it’s worth, the Human Rights Campaign, Jesse Jackson and the League of Conservation Voters all praised President Obama’s speech.