[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S183-S187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INAUGURAL CEREMONY
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
transcript of the inaugural ceremony proceedings for Monday, January
21, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Inaugural Ceremony
Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama, January 21, 2013,
11:30 a.m.
Their Excellencies, the Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions,
assembled on the President's platform.
The Architect of the Capitol, Stephen T. Ayers, assembled
on the President's platform.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff assembled on the President's
platform.
The Governors of the United States and its territories and
the mayor of the District of Columbia assembled on the
President's platform.
Members of the 113th House of Representatives of the United
States, led by majority whip Kevin McCarthy and Democratic
whip Steny Hoyer, and the dean of the House of
Representatives, John Dingell, assembled on the President's
platform.
Members of the 113th Senate of the United States assembled
on the President's platform.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt
Gingrich, accompanied by Mrs. Gingrich, assembled on the
President's platform.
Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, accompanied by
Mrs. Daschle, assembled on the President's platform.
Ambassador Matthew Barzun, Ms. Eva Longoria, Ms. Jane
Stetson, and Mr. Frank White, Jr., cochairs of the 57th
Presidential Inaugural Committee; Mr. Steve J. Kerrigan,
chief executive officer; and Mr. David J. Cusack, executive
director of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Committee,
assembled on the President's platform.
The President's Cabinet and agency designees assembled on
the President's platform.
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The Chief Justice of the United States, the Honorable John
G. Roberts, Jr., and the Associate Justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States assembled on the President's
platform.
The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, and
Mrs. Rosalynn Carter assembled on the President's platform.
The 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson
Clinton, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
assembled on the President's platform.
The children of the Vice President, MAJ Beau Biden, Hunter
Biden, and Ashley Biden, accompanied by the House chief
administrative officer, Dan Strodel, assembled on the
President's platform.
The daughters of the President, Malia Obama and Sasha
Obama, also Mrs. Marian Robinson, accompanied by Catlin
O'Neill, assembled on the President's platform.
Dr. Jill Biden, accompanied by Mrs. Alexander, Mrs.
Boehner, Mrs. Cantor, Assistant Secretary of the Senate
Sheila Dwyer, and Deputy Clerk of the House of
Representatives Robert Reeves, assembled on the President's
platform.
The First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Michelle Obama,
accompanied by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erikson, Clerk
of the House of Representatives Karen Haas, Mrs. Schumer,
Mrs. Reid, and Mr. Pelosi, assembled on the President's
platform.
The Vice President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden,
accompanied by the inaugural coordinator for the Joint
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Kelly Fado;
Senate Deputy Sergeant at Arms, Martine Bradford; House
Deputy Sergeant at Arms, Kerry Hanley; Senate majority
leader, Senator Harry Reid; and House Democratic leader,
Representative Nancy Pelosi, assembled on the President's
platform.
The President of the United States, Barack H. Obama,
accompanied by the staff director for the Joint Congressional
Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Jean Parvin Bordewich;
Senate Sergeant at Arms, Terrence W. Gainer; the House
Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving; chairman of the Joint
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Senator
Charles E. Schumer; Senator Lamar Alexander; the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, John Boehner; Senate majority
leader, Senator Harry Reid; House majority leader,
Representative Eric Cantor; and House Democratic leader,
Representative Nancy Pelosi, assembled on the President's
platform.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Members of
Congress, all who are present, and to all who are watching,
welcome to the Capitol and to this celebration of our great
democracy. This is the 57th inauguration of an American
President, and no matter how many times one witnesses this
event, its simplicity, its innate majesty, and most of all
its meaning, that sacred, yet cautious, entrusting of power
from we, the people, to our chosen leader, never fails to
make one's heart beat faster as it will today with the
inauguration of President Barack H. Obama.
We know we would not be here today were it not for those
who stand guard around the world to preserve our freedom. To
those in our Armed Forces, we offer our infinite thanks for
your bravery, your honor, your sacrifice.
(Applause.)
This democracy of ours was forged by intellect and
argument, by activism and blood, and above all, from John
Adams to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to Martin Luther King, Jr.,
by a stubborn adherence to the notion that we are all created
equal and deserve nothing less than a great Republic worthy
of our consent.
The theme of this year's inaugural is ``Faith in America's
Future.'' The perfect embodiment of this unshakable
confidence and the ongoing success of our collective journey
is an event from our past. I speak of the improbable
completion of the Capitol dome and capping it with the Statue
of Freedom which occurred 150 years ago in 1863.
When Abraham Lincoln took office 2 years earlier, the dome
above us was a half-built eyesore. The conventional wisdom
was it should be left unfinished until the war ended, given
the travails and financial needs of the times. But to
President Lincoln, the half-finished dome symbolized the
half-divided Nation. Lincoln said: If people see the Capitol
going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on. So
despite the conflict which engulfed the Nation and surrounded
the city, the dome continued to rise.
On December 2, 1863, the Statue of Freedom, a woman, was
placed atop the dome, where she still stands. In a sublime
irony, it was a former slave, now free American, Philip Reid,
who helped to cast the bronze statue.
Our present times are not as perilous or despairing as they
were in 1863, but in 2013 far too many doubt the future of
this great Nation and our ability to tackle our own era's
half-finished domes.
Today's problems are intractable, they say; the times are
so complex, the differences in the country and the world so
deep we will never overcome them. When thoughts such as these
produce anxiety, fear, and even despair, we do well to
remember Americans have always been, and still are, a
practical, optimistic, problem-solving people; that, as our
history shows, no matter how steep the climb, how difficult
the problems, how half-finished the task, America always
rises to the occasion. America prevails and America prospers.
(Applause.)
Those who bet against this country have inevitably been on
the wrong side of history. So it is a good moment to gaze
upward and behold the Statue of Freedom at the top of the
Capitol dome. It is a good moment to gain strength and
courage and humility from those who were determined to
complete the half-finished dome. It is a good moment to
rejoice at this 57th Presidential inaugural ceremony, and it
is the perfect moment to renew our collective faith in the
future of America.
(Applause.)
Thank you and God bless these United States.
In that spirit of faith, I would now like to introduce
civil rights leader Myrlie Evers, who has committed her life
to extending the promise of our Nation's founding principles
to all Americans.
Mrs. Evers will lead us in the invocation.
Mrs. EVERS. America, we are here, our Nation's Capitol, on
this day, January the 21st, 2013, the inauguration of our
45th President, Barack Obama. We come at this time to ask
blessings upon our leaders, the President, Vice President,
Members of Congress, all elected and appointed officials of
the United States of America.
We are here to ask blessings upon our Armed Forces,
blessings upon all who contribute to the essence of the
American spirit, the American dream, the opportunity to
become whatever our mankind, womankind allows us to be. This
is the promise of America.
As we sing the words of belief, ``This is my country,'' let
us act upon the meaning everyone is included. May the
inherent dignity and inalienable rights of every woman, man,
boy, and girl be honored. May all Your people, especially the
least of these, flourish in our blessed Nation. One hundred
fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 years
after the march on Washington, we celebrate the spirit of our
ancestors which has allowed us to move from a nation of
unborn hopes and a history of disenfranchised votes to
today's expression of a more perfect Union.
We ask, too, Almighty, that where our paths seem blanketed
by throngs of oppression and rippled by pangs of despair, we
ask for Your guidance toward the light of deliverance, and
with the vision of those who came before us and dreamed of
this day, that we recognize their visions still inspire us.
They are a great cloud of witnesses unseen by the naked eye
but all around us thankful that their living was not in vain.
For every mountain You gave us the strength to climb, Your
grace is pleaded to continue that climb for America and the
world.
We now stand beneath the shadow of the Nation's Capitol
whose golden dome reflects the unity and democracy of one
Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Approximately 4 miles from where we are assembled, the
hallowed remains of men and women rest in Arlington Cemetery;
they who believed, fought, and died for this country. May
their spirit infuse our being to work together with respect,
enabling us to continue to build this Nation, and in so doing
we send a message to the world that we are strong, fierce in
our strength, and ever vigilant in our pursuit of freedom.
We ask that You grant our President the will to act
courageously but cautiously when confronted with danger and
to act prudently but deliberately when challenged by
adversity. Please continue to vest his efforts, to lead by
example in consideration and favor of the diversity of our
people. Bless our families all across this Nation.
We thank You for this opportunity of prayer to strengthen
us for the journey through the days that lie ahead. We invoke
the prayers of our grandmothers who taught us to pray: God
make me a blessing. Let their spirit guide us as we claim the
spirit of old. There is something within me that holds the
reins. There is something within me that banishes pain. There
is something within me I cannot explain. But all I know,
America, there is something within--there is something
within.
In Jesus's name and the name of all who are holy and right,
we pray.
Amen.
(Applause.)
Mr. SCHUMER. I am pleased to introduce the award-winning
tabernacle choir, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, to sing
``Battle Hymn of the Republic.''
(Performance by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.)
Mr. SCHUMER. Please join me in welcoming my colleague and
friend, the Senator from Tennessee, the Honorable Lamar
Alexander.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, ladies
and gentlemen, the late Alex Haley, author of ``Roots,''
lived his life by these six words: ``Find the good and praise
it.'' Today we praise the American tradition of transferring
or reaffirming immense power in the inauguration of the
President of the United States. We do this in a peaceful,
orderly way. There is no mob, no coup, no insurrection. This
is a moment when millions stop and watch, a moment most of us
always will remember. It is a moment that is our most
conspicuous and enduring symbol of the American democracy.
How remarkable that this has survived for so long in such a
complex country, when so much power is at stake, this freedom
to vote for our leaders and the restraint to respect the
results.
Last year, at Mount Vernon, a tour guide told me our first
President, George Washington, once posed this question: What
is
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most important of this grand experiment, the United States?
Then Washington answered his own question in this way: Not
the election of the first President but the election of its
second President. The peaceful transfer of power is what will
separate our country from every other country in the world.
Today we celebrate the 57th inauguration of the American
President: Find the good and praise it.
(Applause.)
It is my honor to introduce Associate Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor for the purpose of
administering the oath of office to the Vice President. Will
everyone please stand.
Associate Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR administered to the Vice
President-elect the oath of office prescribed by the
Constitution, which he repeated, as follows:
I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., do solemnly swear that I will
support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this
obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose
of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the
duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me
God.
Justice SOTOMAYOR. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
Mr. SCHUMER. It is my pleasure to introduce renowned
musical artist James Taylor.
(Applause.)
(Performance by James Taylor.)
Mr. SCHUMER. It is my honor to present the Chief Justice of
the United States, JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR., who will administer
the Presidential oath of office.
Everyone, please rise.
The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, JOHN G.
ROBERTS, JR., administered to the President-elect the oath of
office prescribed by the Constitution, which he repeated as
follows:
I, BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, do solemnly swear that I will
faithfully execute the office of President of the United
States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve,
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So
help me God.
The CHIEF JUSTICE. Congratulations, Mr. President.
(Applause.)
Mr. SCHUMER. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great privilege
and distinct honor to introduce the 44th President of the
United States of America, Barack H. Obama.
(Applause.)
The PRESIDENT. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the
U.S. Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens,
each time we gather to inaugurate a President, we bear
witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We
affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what
binds this Nation together are not the colors of our skin or
the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What
makes us exceptional--what makes us American--is our
allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more
than two centuries ago:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
(Applause.)
Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the
meaning of those words with the realities of our time, for
history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident,
they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a
gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on
Earth.
The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny
of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob.
They gave to us a republic, a government of and by and for
the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our
founding creed. For more than 200 years, we have. Through
blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that
no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality
could survive half slave and half free. We made ourselves
anew and vowed to move forward together. Together, we
determined that a modern economy requires railroads and
highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges
to train our workers. Together, we discovered that a free
market only thrives when there are rules to ensure
competition and fair play. Together, we resolve that a great
nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people
from life's worst hazards and misfortunes. Through it all, we
have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority,
nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills
can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of
initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and
personal responsibility, these are constants in our
character.
We have always understood that when times change, so must
we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new
responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual
freedoms ultimately requires collective action, for the
American people can no more meet the demands of today's world
by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the
forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No
single person can train all the math and science teachers we
will need to equip our children for the future or build the
roads and networks and research labs that will bring new
jobs to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these
things together as one Nation and one people.
(Applause.)
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that
steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of
war is now ending.
(Applause.)
An economic recovery has begun.
(Applause.)
America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all
the qualities this world without boundaries demands: youth
and drive, diversity and openness, an endless capacity for
risk, and a gift for reinvention.
My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we
will seize it so long as we seize it together.
(Applause.)
For we, the People, understand that our country cannot
succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many
barely make it.
(Applause.)
We believe America's prosperity must rest upon the broad
shoulders of a rising middle class. We know America thrives
when every person can find independence and pride in their
work, when the wages of honest labor liberate families from
the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little
girl born into the bleakest poverty knows 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.
(Applause.)
We understand outworn programs are inadequate to the needs
of our time. We must harness new ideas in technology to
remake our government, revamp our Tax Code, reform our
schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need
to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the
means will change, our purpose endures. A nation that rewards
the effort and determination of every single American, that
is what this moment requires. That is what will give real
meaning to our creed.
We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a
basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard
choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our
deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose
between caring for the generation that built this country and
investing in the generation that will build its future.
(Applause.)
For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight
years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a
disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe, in this
country, freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for
the few. 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
Nation; they strengthen us.
(Applause.)
They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to
take the risks that make this country great.
(Applause.)
We, the people, still believe our obligations as Americans
are not just to ourselves but to all posterity. We will
respond to the threat of climate change, knowing the failure
to do so would betray our children and future generations.
(Applause.)
Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science,
but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and
crippling drought and more powerful storms. The path toward
sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes
difficult, but America cannot resist this transition; we must
lead it. We cannot cede to other Nations the technology that
will power new jobs and new industries; we must claim its
promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality
and our national treasure, our forests and waterways, our
croplands and snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve
our planet, commanded to our care by God. That is what will
lend meaning to the creed our Fathers once declared.
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and
lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and
women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are
unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the
memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is
paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep
us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But
we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the
war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and
we must carry those lessons into this time as well.
We will defend our people and uphold our values through
strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to
try and resolve our differences with other Nations
peacefully, not because we are naive about the dangers we
face but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion
and fear.
America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every
corner of the globe, and we will renew those institutions
that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one
has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most
powerful Nation. We will support democracy from Asia to
Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our
interests and our conscience compel us to act
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on behalf of those who long for freedom. We must be a source
of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims
of prejudice, not out of mere charity but because peace in
our time requires the constant advance of those principles
that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity,
human dignity and justice.
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of
truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that
guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through
Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall, just as it guided all
those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints
along this great Mall to hear a preacher say we cannot walk
alone, to hear a ``King'' proclaim that our individual
freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on
Earth.
(Applause.)
It is now our generation's task to carry on what those
pioneers began, for our journey is not complete until our
wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to
their efforts.
(Applause.)
Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and
sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we
are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to
one another must be equal as well.
Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to
wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is
not complete until we find a better way to welcome the
striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land
of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are
enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our
country.
Our journey is not complete until all our children, from
the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the
quiet lanes of Newtown, know they are cared for and cherished
and always safe from harm. That is our generation's task--to
make these words, these rights, these values of life and
liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.
Being true to our founding documents does not require us to
agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we will all
define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same
precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to
settle centuries-long debates about the role of government
for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.
(Applause.)
For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay.
We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute
spectacle for politics or treat name-calling as reasoned
debate. We must act, knowing our work will be imperfect. We
must act, knowing today's victories will be only partial and
that it will be up to those who stand here in 4 years and 40
years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once
conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.
My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you
today, similar to the one recited by others who serve in this
Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or
faction, and we must faithfully execute that pledge during
the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are
not so different from the oath that is taken each time a
soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream.
My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to
the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with
pride. They are the words of citizens and they represent our
greatest hope.
You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this
country's course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation
to shape the debates of our time, not only with the votes we
cast but with the voices we lift in defense of our most
ancient values and enduring ideals. Let each of us now
embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our
lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose,
with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of
history and carry into an uncertain future that precious
light of freedom.
Thank you. God bless you, and may He forever bless these
United States of America.
(Applause.)
Mr. SCHUMER. At this time, please join me in welcoming
award-winning artist Kelly Clarkson, accompanied by the U.S.
Marine Band.
(Kelly Clarkson and the Marine Band performed.)
Mr. SCHUMER. Wow. Our next distinguished guest is the poet
Richard Blanco, who will share with us words he has composed
for this occasion.
Mr. BLANCO. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, America,
``One Today.''
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking
over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great
Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great
Plains, then charging across the Rockies. One light,
waking up rooftops, under each one, a story told by our
silent gestures moving across windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic
lights, fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges
arrayed like rainbows begging our praise.
Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper--bricks or milk,
teeming over highways alongside us, on our way to clean
tables, read ledgers, or save lives--to teach geometry,
or ring up groceries as my mother did for twenty years,
so I could write this poem for all of us today.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through, the same
light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms
imagined, the ``I have a dream'' we all keep dreaming
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't
explain the empty desks of twenty children marked
absent today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows, life into
the faces of bronzed statues, warmth onto the steps of
our museums and park benches as mothers watch children
slide into the day.
One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stock of corn,
every head of wheat sown by sweat and hands, hands
gleaning coal or planting windmills in deserts and
hilltops that keep us warm, hands digging trenches,
routing pipes and cables, hands as worn as my father's
cutting sugarcane so my brother and I could have books
and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains mingled by
one wind--our breath. Breathe. Hear it through the
day's gorgeous din of honking cabs, buses launching
down avenues, the symphony of footsteps, guitars, and
screeching subways, the unexpected song bird on your
clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling, or
whispers across cafe tables. Hear: the doors we open
each day for each other, saying, hello, shalom, buon
giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos dias in the language
my mother taught me--in every language spoken into one
wind carrying our lives without prejudice, as these
words break from my lips.
One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed their
majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked their
way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands: weaving
steel into bridges, finishing one more report for the
boss on time, stitching another wound or uniform, the
first brushstroke on a portrait, or the last floor on
the Freedom Tower jutting into a sky that yields to our
resilience.
One sky: toward which we sometimes lift our eyes tired from
work, some days guessing at the weather of our lives,
some days giving thanks for a love that loves you back,
sometimes praising a mother who knew how to give, or
forgiving a father who couldn't give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight of snow, or
the plum plush of dusk, but always--home, always under
one sky, our sky. And always one moon like a silent
drum tapping on every rooftop and every window, of one
country--all of us--facing the stars. Hope--a new
constellation waiting for us to map it, waiting for us
to name it--together.
(Applause.)
Mr. SCHUMER. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my privilege
to introduce Rev. Dr. Luis Leon to deliver the benediction.
Reverend LEON. Let us pray.
Gracious and eternal God, as we conclude the second
inauguration of President Obama, we ask for Your blessings as
we seek to become, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
citizens of a beloved community loving You and loving our
neighbors as ourselves.
We pray that You will bless us with Your continued presence
because without it, hatred and arrogance will infect our
hearts. But with Your blessing, we know that we can break
down the walls that separate us.
We pray for Your blessing today because without it,
mistrust, prejudice, and rancor will rule our hearts, but
with the blessing of Your presence, we know that we can renew
the ties of mutual regard which can best form our civic life.
We pray for Your blessing, because without it, suspicion,
despair, and fear of those different from us will be our rule
of life. But with Your blessing, we can see each other
created in Your image, a unit of God's grace, unprecedented,
irrepeatable, and irreplaceable.
We pray for Your blessing, because without it, we will see
only what the eye can see. But with the blessing of Your
blessing, we will see that we are created in Your image
whether Brown, Black or White, male or female, first-
generation immigrant American or Daughters of the American
Revolution, gay or straight, rich or poor.
We pray for Your blessing, because without it, we will only
see scarcity in the midst of abundance. But with Your
blessing, we will recognize the abundance of the gifts of
this good land with which You have endowed this Nation.
We pray for Your blessing. Bless all of us privileged to be
citizens and residents of this Nation with a spirit of
gratitude and humility that we may become a blessing among
the Nations of this world.
We pray that You will shower with Your life-giving spirit
the elected leaders of this land, especially Barack, our
President, and Joe, our Vice President. Fill them with the
love of truth and righteousness that they may serve this
Nation ably and be glad to do Your will. Endow their hearts
with wisdom and forbearance so that peace may prevail with
righteousness, justice with order so that men and women
throughout this Nation
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can find with one another the fulfillment of our humanity.
We pray that the President, Vice President, and all in
political authority will remember the words of the Prophet
Micah: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice,
to love kindness, and always walk humbly with God.
(Remarks in Spanish.)
Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, may God bless you all
your days.
All this we pray in Your most holy Name.
Amen.
Mr. SCHUMER. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing
for the singing of our national anthem by award-winning
artist Beyonce, accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band.
Following the national anthem please remain in your place
while the Presidential party exits the platform.
(Performance by Beyonce and the U.S. Marine Band.)
(The Inaugural ceremony was concluded at 12:31 p.m.)
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