Pidato Barack Husein Obama Ketika Dilantik menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat Ke-44

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.