America will remain ’anchor of strong alliances’: Obama

Washington, 21 Jan 2013 (PTI): America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe from Asia to the Middle east, US President Barack Obama today said in his inaugural address after being sworn in for a second innings.

"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 naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear," Obama said.

"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," the 51-year-old president said.

"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 on behalf of those who long for freedom," Obama said.

"And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalised, 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," he said at the 57th inauguration ceremony of an American president.

However, there was no mention of any specific country, neither there was any mention of the war in Afghanistan which is coming to an end by 2014 or that of the first against terrorism including the defeat of Al-Qaeda.

Obama said Americans still believe that their obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.

"We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. 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," he said.

"The path towards 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 snowcapped peaks," Obama said.

"That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared," said Obama, who was flanked by First Lady Michelle and the two daughters Sasha and Malia.

"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," Obama said.

"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," he said.

Obama pushed the case for equal rights for women and gays and a better system to welcome new immigrants to the US.

"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," he said.

"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," he added.

"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 we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity.

"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," Obama said.

"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," he said.

"No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people."

Noting that this generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled their resolve and proved their resilience, Obama said a decade of war is now ending and an economic recovery has begun.

"America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that 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," he said.

"That’s 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," he said.

In an apparent reference to the sharp differences he is having with the Republican leadership in the Congress, Obama said being true to the founding documents does not require them to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean they 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," he said.

"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 that our work will be imperfect," he said.
Obama said 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," he said.

"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 that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few," he said.