- Inaugural speech of
Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of
the United States of America, addressed
on Tuesday 20 January 2009
Source Fil-info-France Mercredi
21 janvier
2009 N° 2188/23584
Barack Obama
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 forebears, and true to our
founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this
generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now
well understood. Our nation is at war,
against a far-reaching network of
violence and hatred. Our economy is badly
weakened, a consequence of greed and
irresponsibility on the part of some, but
also our collective failure to make hard
choices and prepare the nation for a new
age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed;
businesses shuttered. Our health care is
too costly; our schools fail too many;
and each day brings further evidence that
the ways we use energy strengthen our
adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis,
subject to data and statistics. Less
measurable but no less profound is a
sapping of confidence across our land
— a nagging fear that America's
decline is inevitable, and that the next
generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we
face are real. They are serious and they
are many. They will not be met easily or
in a short span of time. But know this,
America — they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have
chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose
over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end
to the petty grievances and false
promises, the recriminations and worn out
dogmas, that for far too long have
strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the
words of Scripture, the time has come to
set aside childish things. The time has
come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to
choose our better history; to carry
forward that precious gift, that noble
idea, passed on from generation to
generation: the God-given promise that
all are equal, all are free and all
deserve a chance to pursue their full
measure of happiness.
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 shortcuts
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 Sanh.
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. All this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the
scale of our ambitions — who suggest
that our system cannot tolerate too many
big plans. Their memories are short. For
they have forgotten what this country has
already done ; what free men and women
can achieve when imagination is joined to
common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is
that the ground has shifted beneath them
— that the stale political arguments
that have consumed us for so long no
longer apply. The question we ask today
is not whether our government is too big
or too small, but whether it works —
whether it helps families find jobs at a
decent wage, care they can afford, a
retirement that is dignified. Where the
answer is yes, we intend to move forward.
Where the answer is no, programs will
end. Those of us who manage the public's
dollars will be held to account — to
spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do
our business in the light of day —
because only then can we restore the
vital trust between a people and their
government.
Nor is the question before us whether the
market is a force for good or ill. Its
power to generate wealth and expand
freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has
reminded us that without a watchful eye,
the market can spin out of control —
and that a nation cannot prosper long
when it favors only the prosperous. The
success of our economy has always
depended not just on the size of our
gross domestic product, but on the reach
of our prosperity; on our ability to
extend opportunity to every willing heart
— not out of charity, but because it
is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as
false the choice between our safety and
our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our
found fathers, faced with perils we can
scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to
assure the rule of law and the rights of
man, a charter expanded by the blood of
generations. Those ideals still light the
world, and we will not give them up for
expedience's sake. And so to all the
other peoples and governments who are
watching today, from the grandest
capitals to the small village where my
father was born: know that America is a
friend of each nation and every man,
woman, and child who seeks a future of
peace and dignity, and that we are ready
to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced
down fascism and communism not just with
missiles and tanks, but with sturdy
alliances and enduring convictions. They
understood that our power alone cannot
protect us, nor does it entitle us to do
as we please. Instead, they knew that our
power grows through its prudent use; our
security emanates from the justness of
our cause, the force of our example, the
tempering qualities of humility and
restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided
by these principles once more, we can
meet those new threats that demand even
greater effort — even greater
cooperation and understanding between
nations. We will begin to responsibly
leave Iraq to its people, and forge a
hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With
old friends and former foes, we will work
tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat,
and roll back the specter of a warming
planet. We will not apologize for our way
of life, nor will we waver in its
defense, and for those who seek to
advance their aims by inducing terror and
slaughtering innocents, we say to you now
that our spirit is stronger and cannot be
broken; you cannot outlast us, and we
will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage
is a strength, not a weakness. We are a
nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews
and Hindus — and non-believers. We
are shaped by every language and culture,
drawn from every end of this Earth; and
because we have tasted the bitter swill
of civil war and segregation, and emerged
from that dark chapter stronger and more
united, we cannot help but believe that
the old hatreds shall someday pass; that
the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve;
that as the world grows smaller, our
common humanity shall reveal itself; and
that America must play its role in
ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way
forward, based on mutual interest and
mutual respect. To those leaders around
the globe who seek to sow conflict, or
blame their society's ills on the West
— know that your people will judge
you on what you can build, not what you
destroy. To those who cling to power
through corruption and deceit and the
silencing of dissent, know that you are
on the wrong side of history; but that we
will extend a hand if you are willing to
unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge
to work alongside you to make your farms
flourish and let clean waters flow; to
nourish starved bodies and feed hungry
minds. And to those nations like ours
that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can
no longer afford indifference to the
suffering outside our borders; nor can we
consume the world's resources without
regard to effect. For the world has
changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds
before us, we remember with humble
gratitude those brave Americans who, at
this very hour, patrol far-off deserts
and distant mountains. They have
something to tell us, just as the fallen
heroes who lie in Arlington whisper
through the ages. We honor them not only
because they are guardians of our
liberty, but because they embody the
spirit of service; a willingness to find
meaning in something greater than
themselves.
And yet, at this moment — a moment
that will define a generation — it
is precisely this spirit that must
inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must
do, it is ultimately the faith and
determination of the American people upon
which this nation relies. It is the
kindness to take in a stranger when the
levees break, the selflessness of workers
who would rather cut their hours than see
a friend lose their job which sees us
through our darkest hours. It is the
firefighter's courage to storm a stairway
filled with smoke, but also a parent's
willingness to nurture a child, that
finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The
instruments with which we meet them may
be new. But those values upon which our
success depends — hard work and
honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance
and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism
— these things are old. These things
are true. They have been the quiet force
of progress throughout our history.
What is demanded then is a return to
these truths. What is required of us now
is a new era of responsibility — a
recognition, on the part of every
American, that we have duties to
ourselves, our nation, and the world,
duties that we do not grudgingly accept
but rather seize gladly, firm in the
knowledge that there is nothing so
satisfying to the spirit, so defining of
our character, than giving our all to a
difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of
citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence
— the knowledge that God calls on us
to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and
our creed — why men and women and
children of every race and every faith
can join in celebration across this
magnificent Mall, and why a man whose
father less than sixty years ago might
not have been served at a local
restaurant can now stand before you to
take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance,
of who we are and how far we have
traveled. In the year of America's birth,
in the coldest of months, a small band of
patriots huddled by dying campfires on
the shores of an icy river. The capital
was abandoned. The enemy was advancing.
The snow was stained with blood. At a
moment when the outcome of our revolution
was most in doubt, the father of our
nation ordered these words be read to the
people :
"Let it be told to the future world
... that in the depth of winter, when
nothing but hope and virtue could
survive...that the city and the country,
alarmed at one common danger, came forth
to meet (it)."
America, in the face of our common
dangers, in this winter of our hardship,
let us remember these timeless words.
With hope and virtue, let us brave once
more the icy currents, and endure what
storms may come. Let it be said by our
children's children that when we were
tested we refused to let this journey
end, that we did not turn back nor did we
falter; and with eyes fixed on the
horizon and God's grace upon us, we
carried forth that great gift of freedom
and delivered it safely to future
generations.
Thank you. God bless you. And God bless
the United States of America.
Plus de liens :
Discours
de Barack Obama en français
Discours
de Barack Obama en anglais
Barack Obama
Premier
cabinet de Barack Obama
Premier
cabinet de Barack Obama
-
SOS-Reporters
: Liberté d'expression et
liberté d'opinion sans frontière !
LIBERTE
D'EXPRESSION ET D'OPINION, DROITS :
Rappel des
droits ( textes ) fondamentaux :
A - "Tout
individu a droit à la liberté d'opinion
et d'expression, ce qui implique le droit
de ne pas être inquiété pour ses
opinions et celui de chercher, de
recevoir et de répandre, sans
considération de frontière, les
informations et les idées par quelque
moyen d'expression que ce soit"
- Article 19 de la Déclaration
universelle des droits de l'homme
Déclaration internationale des droits de
l'homme, adoptée par l'Assemblée
générale de l'ONU à Paris, le 10
décembre 1948.
B -
"Toute personne a droit à la
liberté d'expression. Ce droit comprend
la liberté d'opinion et la liberté de
recevoir ou de communiquer des
informations ou des idées sans qu'il
puisse y avoir ingérence d'autorités
publiques et sans considération de
frontières."
- Article 11-1 de la "Charte des
droits fondamentaux de l'Union
européenne".
2000/C 364/01. Nice, le 7 décembre 2000.
C -
"La libre communication des pensées
et des opinions est un des droits les
plus précieux de l'Homme : tout Citoyen
peut donc parler, écrire, imprimer
librement, sauf à répondre de l'abus de
cette liberté dans les cas déterminés
par la Loi."
- Article 11 de la Déclaration
des Droits de l'homme et du citoyen du 26
août 1789.
-
Webmasters
indépendants ?
Affichez
librement ce logo sur votre site
!
Le ruban bleu est le symbole sur
le Net
de la défense de la Liberté
d'expression !
-
|
