Barack Obama

“ It was these ideals that led us to declare independence and craft our constitution, producing documents that were imperfect but had within then, like our nation itself, the capacity to be made perfect. We're here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began. The trials we face are very different now but they are severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. ”

“ I believed that our future is our choice and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together, Democrats, Republicans and independents, north, south, east, west, Black, White, Latino, Asian, Native-American, gay and straight, and disabled and not, then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearn for both but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our Union in the process. ”

“ I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those people who are willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. The belief that Washington was serving the interests of the few and not the many and that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced. ”

“ And yet they were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line – their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor – for a set of ideals that continue to light the world. That we are equal; that our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws but from our Maker. ”

“ When affordable healthcare is no longer something we hope for but something we can count on, I'll be thinking of working moms like Shandra Jackson, who was diagnosed with an illness and is now burdened with higher medical bills on top of child care for her eleven year-old son. ”

“ Americans from every corner of this country whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause, whose dreams and struggles have become my own. Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House. ”

“ When Americans are returning to work and sleeping easier at night knowing their jobs are secure and their children's future are secure, I'll be thinking about people like Mark Dahl, who worried his job at Ford will be the next one cut -- a devastating prospect with a teen... ”

“ They are different stories, told by men and women whose journeys may seem separate; and yet, what all of you showed me time and time again is that no matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a common.... ”