Full text of (President!) Bush's inaugural address

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people against further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat.

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy ... the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments ... the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes - and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" - they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength - tested, but not weary - we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

SABBATICAL???

Anybody know what the heck he's talking about?

Are Gulf I, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo supposed to HAVE beEN "sabbaticals"??

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I'm sorry President Bush, but I beg to differ.

The words of the Koran led to 9/11. Period. To equate the Ten Commandments and the Holy Bible with the book that inspired the attack on America on 9/11 is reprehensible. To pretend that the words of the Koran are somehow beneficial to America is delusional. Damn your incessant pandering.

On the contrary: I would not be happy with a president who allowed himself to be manipulated by hotheads into insulting all members of one of the largest, fastest growing religions on the planet. I don't like Islam ("Submission") anymore than you do -- I think Islam is the antithesis of freedom and love. It wouldn't surprise me if Dubya thought so too. But it would be stupid and amateurish for him to say so to the world.

I thought the speech remarkable and monumental because Dubya threw down the guantlet to the rest of the world, declaring that in this new millenium, America will strive to make the enslaved, free. Instead of attacking and offending people on the basis of their religion -- as you would have him do, and which would be monumentally stupid -- Dubya spoke in terms of freedom and slavery. It was wise of Dubya: Morally, there is zero concern about offending those who advocate slavery.

You reason wisely and speak/post your thoughts eloquently. So wonderful that I had to cut and paste your post in its entirety. Applause for Finny!

Apparently you wish to enrage citizens, alienate allies, and destroy the progress we have made in Iraq....all for a sound bite that will feed your anger.

I think not.

Let us be realistic here. There are American citizens who are Muslims. There are allies, like Jordan and Pakistan, which are Muslim countries. We are currently fighting WITH Muslims in Iraq, in order to defeat the terrorists. Apparently you wish to enrage citizens, alienate allies, and destroy the progress we have made in Iraq....all for a sound bite that will feed your anger.

I'm not asking that the President publicly condemn the Koran - but to include it in the first Inauguration Address following the Islamic attack on America is disturbing. Moreso, that the Koran has never been mentioned in an Inauguration Address before. We had Muslims in America in 2000, we had Muslim allies in 2000, etc. Why didn't Bush mention the Koran then? What changed between then and now? Why mention it now? Why didn't he just NOT mention the Koran?! Did Bush enrage the Buddhists in the U.S. and alienate our Buddhist allies because he did not mention Buddha? Did he offend Hindus because he did not mention Krishna?

Because to NOT mention the Koran would immediately cause the groups like CAIR to start in about how Islam was being disrespected. Their ads would inflame the Americna Muslims, and would be used in propoganda abroad.

When you propose an alternative strategy, it is helpful to think ahead further than immediate gratification. Leaving Islam out of the speech would also direct their enmity to the Jews in even harsher terms, since Judaism was mentioned.

I see nothing wrong with what the President said, and I refuse to subscribe to the idea that anti-Muslim statements woul be at all productive.

Karen Hughes was interviewed earlier today on Fox News by Britt Hume [if I remember correctly] talking about the speech. She indicated that Michael Gerson who has crafted most of the President's major speeches since 2000 and the President begin discussing it immediately after the election. Ideas and words begin to be put to paper.... After some time the drafts were circulated among others such as herself, VP Cheney, Andrew Card, Condi Rice, etc. They all had some input or suggestions... There may have been as many as 21 drafts up to the delivery today.

The kind of American Muslims who give a crap what CAIR says are not going to be impressed by anything the President says. They hate him and the rest of America all the same.

And if the President, as you say, is pandering to the Muslims in America out of fear...FEAR... is all the more disturbing.

I see nothing wrong with what the President said, and I refuse to subscribe to the idea that anti-Muslim statements woul be at all productive.

Again, no one is asking that the President make an "anti-Muslim" statement, but that he not equate the Koran with the Bible. Best that he not mention it at all.

He doesn't care if he offends Christian Americans because we're not the ones threatening to slit throats, behead people, crash jetliners into skyscrapers, and blow stuff up. So, he's pandering to those who support that and do that out of fear. And you're OK with that?

I am out of patience with folks like you. You are bigots, and I am not certain but what you are on this forum just to make it look like a weirdo site.

What part of alienating our allies, including Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey, do you not understand? What part of the Constitution have you not read that you think it would be constitutional for a President to name a religion as an enemy? I am out of patience with folks like you. You are bigots, and I am not certain but what you are on this forum just to make it look like a weirdo site.

Are you really that freakin' dense!!? I never said that the President should "name a religion as an enemy". I denounced his mention of the Koran in the Inauguration Address. Did the President name the Hindu religion as an enemy when he did not mention Krishna? Puh-lease....

You describe Dubya's acknowledgement of positive things in the Koran as "pandering" and his motivation as fear.

Indulge me, as this has bearing. As a waitress, after long bitter experience I found that the only sure way to deal with rude, asshole customers was to be as sweet as pie to them. It accomplished many things. It made them feel like the chumps they were, especially when they left without leaving a tip, which they inevitably did -- their shame was too profound to dare leave a dime. It made observers more sympathetic to my plight. It gave me more strength and self-respect than had resulted times before when I succumbed to justifiable and righteous anger. It was also just plain fun to see the powerless rage in the assholes when they saw that I would only respond with smiles and contrition and politeness.

An ignorant or short-sighted observer would perhaps have lamented that I was pandering to the rude customers out of fear of losing a tip or generating a complaint to my boss.

But in truth, the boss probably would have backed me up and kicked the people out had I snapped, and either way, sympathetic customers who witnessed what I had to put up with would usually compensate generously for any lost tips by over-tipping themselves.

Most important, and what made me so certain that "respecting" their bad ways was so correct, was the fact that they dared not look me or anyone else in the eye by the time their meal was through. They knew they were the chumps, so did everyone else -- and I hadn't said a single nasty word. They had no excuse, no foundation for offense. I learned a lot from rude customers.

You choose the words "fear" and "pandering" to describe Dubya's motives and actions. I know better.

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