Obama: "Let's seek a better world in our time."

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Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009



Barack Obama exhorted Americans Saturday to unite in a "new declaration of independence" from bigotry, small thinking and ideology, as he set off to Washington to take power.

The president-elect told his country to take strength in the face of multiple crises from the small band of patriots who forged US independence in 1776 in Philadelphia, before he boarded a train to the US capital.

"The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right," Obama said.

"Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast.

"An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely, a planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil."

"And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not.

read: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hDnyZXQJNc7hZ6z2vDwcXzH5sz4Q





"Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union," he said at Philadelphia's historic 30th Street train station. "Let's build a government that is responsible to the people and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.

While talking about the future, Obama reflected on the past, echoing the words of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy. He cited the founding fathers who risked all without assurance of success in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776.

"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. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure."

read: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJKgWvqj_NGE3zAYxnidI319krhgD95OVQL81





Obama declared: "We are here to mark the beginning of our journey to Washington, and this is fitting, because it was here in this city that our American journey began.

"We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began,'' Obama said in Philadelphia. "

"What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels,'' he said.

"Let's all of us do our part to rebuild this country,'' he said, with words that clearly to point to the theme that will emerge from his inauguration as the 44th president on Tuesday. "Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.''

"Let's seek a better world in our time."

read: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-train-ride18-2009jan18,0,3768866.story





photos: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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1. okay... a great place to start: end the freakin' "war" on drugs and stop jailing

non-violent offenders.

How about repealing the unconstitutional portions of the unPATRIOTic Act?

How about ending the so-called 'war' on terror?

How about restoring our republic, rather than just talking about it.

I'm not going to unite with anything if it's the same old crap warmed over, thanks.

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. it has been a long time

since I have been so proud of a President,

and isn't Michelle just lovely?

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3. yep

President-elect Barack Obama gets a hug from his wife Michelle at a ceremony for his whistle stop train trip at the train station in Philadelphia (REUTERS/Jim Young)

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4. .

:kick:

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5. .

[Deja Q]

6. Looking forward to the future.

So everyone's concerns can be put to rest and the real celebrations to begin.

[rug]

7. A wisely waged war?

I'll give him credit for alliteration but it's complete bullshit.