I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America. And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds and traveling in some cases thousands of miles to join us here today. Welcome to Washington, and welcome to this celebration of American renewal.
In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes; they’re worried about how they’ll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table. And most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future – about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what’s best about this country to our children and their children.
I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation. But despite all of this – despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead – I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure – that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.
What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith – a faith that anything is possible in America. Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an Empire, all for the sake of an idea. On the ground below is a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression – men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny’s grasp. Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character’s content. And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible.
And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you – Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there. It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not – then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process. This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office – the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans – that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.
It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.
It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds – because there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.
That is the belief with which we began this campaign, and that is how we will overcome what ails us now. There is no doubt that our road will be long. That our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today.
Transcript
Obama’s Speech at the Lincoln Memorial
Washington, D.C.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Stuff it, let’s put this on the TOP of the page:
Read it and wince:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%, according to the latest government reading on the nation’s battered labor market.
The latest job loss is the worst since December 1974, and brings job losses to 1.8 million in just the last three months. It is worse than the forecast of a loss of 540,000 jobs from economists surveyed by Briefing.com
…they are truly reaping the whirlwind of their own stupidity, and it will spare no one, from the (once) high flying ‘investors’ in Bernie Madoff’s vampire bat schemes to the starry-eyed blue collar/back skinned dupe who thought it was christmas when the banks threw half a bar their way (500k) for a McMansion they’d only ever dreamed of, well, they are now all in the same soup kitchen, bowls outstretched.
read: “black skinned”
1498
Kirri
I agree with you that Cheney is quietly shitting his pants and i think Turdblossom is doing the same. He has changed his position somewhat from subpoena means nothin to me to ok i will attend in February. I just hope when all the nominations for positions are filled Eric Holder begins “The last roundup”
Gaffers- which one is Turdblossom – it’s so hard to choose!
Pelosi dismisses bipartisanship calls.
more on Politico
Got it- Rove . duh!
Oh dear….Keith O decides to give Darth…Oops Dick Cheney a piece of his mind.
As the US economy continues to implode, it seems (just like in Oz) that the vanquished heroes of the right don’t realize they lost.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/olbermann-special-comment_n_164603.html
Will Obama Mobilize His Millions?
more on CQ Politics
1507 paddy They are so desperate to stop the ball from rolling, that they are kicking biting and scratching. Even yelling, “I’m not dead yet!”, and “It’s only a flesh wound”.
KS-Sen: Kansas is Sebelius country by a double digit margin.
Lets hope she runs for the senate. The Democrats need to win every seat possible. The wider the margin in the senate the better.
continued on the Daily Kos
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 116 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 123 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 270 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 634 days
Hey but who’s counting?
more on MSNBC
US Senate passes stimulus bill?
Well that’s what they’re saying on Kos.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/175145/9080/406/694207
Looks like it’s about to happen.
From an even more reliable source.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/us/politics/07stimulus.html?hp
1513
Paddy
From your link this would have to be the understatement of this century so far:
As 19 million homes are vacant and millions are dining out, as Kirri puts it, at their respective upmarket “soup kitchens”
They have no shame!
One could also be forgiven that the attitude and path being taken, toward the backing of the stimulus package by the Repugs and their respective media shills is not dissimilar to what the Libs and their media shills are doing here, are driven by the one connection between them.
The one and only Sun God himself.
So fuck Roopert and George Bush.
Chris
This oped piece is a bit of a follow up of one of your earlier posts referring to the “changing of the guard” so to speak.
It’s on a bit of a roll.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/All-Of-Them-Must-Go-by-Naomi-Klein-090206-593.html
1515 Gaffhook As a continuation of that, Move On.org must work to remove as many Blue Dog Democrats as possible. This is the way for Obama to get his agenda moving. Move On removed Joe Lieberman from the Democrat Party, maybe not completely. But that was a first step. The same fate must happen to the Blue Dogs. Otherwise same old, same old.
We can do the same in Australia using Get Up, to target people like Senator Conroy. They could help get rid of Conroy using their power.
Tom Daschle got the Kyber for not paying taxes, now Judd Gregg appears to be in a quandary over some of his connections who may be in turn connected with Jack Abramoff.
Doesn’t it appear that all of the Repugs are wallowing in the same bucket of shit and only the depth varies a bit.
At this rate it will take Obi 4 years to get a clean staff, if that is possible in Seppo land. Maybe Gregg is theone in the shallowest bucket and that is why he was chosen as a bipartisan approach.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Judd-Gregg-Jack-Abramoff-by-Dennis-Greenia-090206-976.html
Europe needs a similar power to Obama’s people power. The EU have elections mid year, but I fear it is too late to have any significant influence on that organisation. The conservatives should still be the largest grouping.
This blog should be humming today.
With all the Mexicans sitting in the aircon and all waterloggers sitting inside out of the rain.
After you with George Bush!
1518 Gaffhook With a bit of luck maybe the Democrats that are taken down with Abramoff will be the Blue Dog Democrat’s.
Fuck him Gaffy!
1520 Gaffhook “Mexicans sitting in the aircon” si signor, I am sitting inside with my aircon.
US senators ‘agree’ economy bill.
more on BBC News
Italian right-to-die move blocked.
Bastards!
more on BBC News
Chris
Malcolm Allbull has set the internet alight with his own youtube videos, home made using the latest HD Kirritechnology. LOL
Straight from bolliwood to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqn3euKJBTc
Woman muscled off stage when trying to perform a citizens’ arrest on Turdblossom. Video.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Karl-Rove-and-Captain-Ahab-by-Betsy-L-Angert-090206-295.html
Good stuff Gaffy. Keep ‘em coming. It’s interesting to see the widescreen video’s appearing. That Malcolm Allbull first effort won’t be the last. It will certainly keep the political experts sitting on the edge of their seats with bated breath!
Obama has certainly started a revolution. I just noticed spell check doesn’t red line Obama anymore.
Australian pilot does a ‘Hudson’ in Darwin.
video on BBC News
Study finds educated, affluent GOP members moving to Dems.
more on the Pittsburg Post Gazette
Rachel Maddow on the stimulus…or not.
Looks like it will now be tomorrow before they finish horsetrading.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#29043537
When does Obi draw the line in the sand and grab the Goppers by the throat?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/All-The-Comforts-of-Home–by-David-Michael-Gree-090205-447.html
Stop pallin with the terrorists OBI.
The more i think about it the more i reckon that Obi should invoke the imbeciles Patriot Act using “economic crisis” as the trigger and declare a “State of Emergency”.
He should then arrest all the Repuglicans in the House and Senate, as well as Limbaugh, Rumsfeld, Rice, Turdblossom and all, on the grounds of treason and store them away at Gitmo without lawyers or laying charges.
He should then use his powers designated in the Patriot Act and introduce whatever he deems neccessary to stimulate the economy.
This will achieve a dual purpose.
Stimulate the economy how he wants to,
and give all of the Repugs time and cause to reflect on why they should never have introduced the Patriot Act in the first place to use on all Americans.
Would be a real taste of their own medicine.
He should then only release all the Repugs after he has confiscated all of their, and their relatives properties and bank accounts, shares etc.
Game over.
That’ll fuck em.
This bloke reckons they have all caught;
Brain Dead Senate Economasturbation:
Not sure if this one has been posted or not.
Sponsor an Executive. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDC0qcf0kzE
Says weather forecaster Terry Ryan:
“I’ve got a massive spreadsheet here of maximum temperatures and it doesn’t mean anything any more. The whole thing’s gonna have to be rewritten”
http://www.theage.com.au/national/city-swelters-records-tumble-in-heat-20090207-80ai.html
“If the global crisis continues at the present rate,
by the end of this year only two banks will be left
operational .. the Blood Bank………. and the Sperm Bank!
And don’t you just know that when these two banks merge,
it would still be full of bloody wankers?!”
1536 8 Gaffhook couple of goodies there.
How did all you mexicans fare today. No body in trouble with fires i hope.
1540
Gaffy, it’s all a bit grim down here in Vic.
There are fires all over the fucking state and it’s not looking good.
I’m in sth Gippsland and am quite safe.
But the situation is quite fluid.
Miraculously, no one has yet been killed, but the weather has been truly awful.
(It was the hottest day in Melb on record. 46.4C)
It’s an ugly scene and the fires are continuing to spread.
The ABC is performing well and doing its job in spreading the updated info as the fires continue.
I have to say, I thought they were exaggerating when they suggested the weather was going to be as bad as ash wednesday.
But they weren’t.
Bloody heavy stuff.
Stay safe all.
Sounds awful down there Paddy.
We had some galah light one in the local national park last night, in fact I could smell it when I put the kids the bed, but they must have got to it quickly.
According to the Age mewspaper, 14 confirmed dead in Victoria, but the count may reach 40.
It has been a horrid and quite scary day with strong hot winds, but it has cooled down a bit since late afternoon. My region seems to have done a lot better than the east, but the hot winds have been most unsettling.
Many plants in the garden and all veges are scorched or dead, so it does not look good for farmers. Shops here were mostly closed well before lunch time to give people a chance to get to their own properties, Hope tomorrow will be better.
mewspaper=newspaper
1534 Gaffhook Yes! Yes! Yes!
Was it good for you?
1543 kerneels Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t know. I rang my kids at their mums party in Kerang. No one new exactly what was happening. Now they do. Sounds like it put a dampener on the party. The boys have to come back in that general direction tomorrow. Maybe not.
Anyone know if Jen’s ok??
Jesus Paddy, that does sound scary, I hope all remains well with you and any others caught up in the fires. Truly, your in my thoughts tonight and jen, if your reading this, you MUST check in here so we know all is ok with you and yours!
Update on fires.
Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun
The Age.
http://www.theage.com.au
Apparently Marysville has been wiped out.
ABC online
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/08/2485299.htm
Has no-one heard from Jen yet?
Well stuff me. I wake up to find that the power’s back on, but my optimism re fatalities was totally misplaced.
Fuck it!
Hope you’re all OK out there. And if you’ve got power Jen, drop us all an update and let us know how you are.
Hope the Qld contingent haven’t sunk under the floods.
Sheesh. Talk about climate change!!!
I would like to thank the climate change skeptics for this disaster. Particularly George Bush, John Howard and Andrew Bolt, without who’s skepticism, this may have been avoided.
Parts of North Eastern Victoria will be without power for several days. So it could be a while before we hear from Jen.
Hope like hell that is the reason we have not heard from her.
In the meantime, on the other side of the world, the grandkids are thrilled to bits that they are snowed in yet again. A long time since they have had such conditions in the UK.
A guy suspected that his wife was cheating on him, so he hired a Chinese detective…the cheapest one he could find.
This is his report…Most honorable sir!
You leave house.
I watch house.
He come house.
I watch. He and she leave house.
I follow.
He and she go hotel.
I climb tree.
I look window.
He kiss she.
She kiss he.
He strip she.
She strip he.
He play with she.
She play with he.
I play with me.
I fall off tree.
I no see.
No fee,
Cheng Lee
Three Republicans
http://www.politicalwire.com
kerneels at 1552
We haven’t heard from Jen since about midday yesterday.
The news from Victoria is just terrible. Unimagineable. I hope all is OK with Jen. Plus the floods in Northern Queensland – thankfully not as devastating in terms of loss of life. Here I was feeling a bit hot and thinking about installing air conditioning. Geez.
It is patently obvious that the Repugs would try to strip the internet upgrades from Obi’s stimulus package.
They can not keep up with him on the internet.
The only way they know how to use it is to rig elections.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/mccain-and-limbaughs-murk_b_164737.html
I do recall some time back Jen said she had no intentions of being a hero and if things were going to happen fire wise she would pack the car up and bolt for higher ground. Hopefully she has done that if the fires were in her area. It may be like Chris says there is no power on which would probably also disable mobile phone towers etc.
I recall waiting for nearly two days to get a phone call from my sister when Darwin copped Tracy.
There was only one phone available and they had to wait in line to phone out.
We’re with you, jen.
Brother, can you spare me a bailout, or are they only for Grateful American Corporate types?
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20090205_spare_change/
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/66406
See if you can spot the “Ungrateful American”?
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/66433
Meanwhile in the Heartland, sharp minds have been focusing.
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2009/02/06/rsu_daschle/
Folks up on Revolutionary Road been noticing too….
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/66445
Feb 7: And it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn,
Next stop’s Afghanistan….
Be the first one on your block
To have your kid come home
In a (flag-furled) box….
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/tedrall;_ylt=AjMTFW0lqRapJB.NQvPCqwLX.sgF
Feb 5: From Trickledown Economics to Dangledown Politics. But Rush, Sarah and Joe the Plumber are rearin’ to get rescuin’. You betcha! (wink).
http://news.yahoo.com/edcartoons/patoliphant;_ylt=AsxviB9sWWtaz2rlYV.8u.fX.sgF
We have been losing power on and off. It is very likely Jen cannot get online.
1564 EC
“Were with you Jen”
Ditto
Boy was it hard watching the news. Real heavy stuff.
I’ve been through a few bush fires. This would top them.
Death toll now 65 and still climbing. We have had a lot of bush fires in Victoria through my years. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest. The sheer speed of the fire, is one of the main causes of death. Main streets of country towns littered with cars that have collided with trees and other vehicles has added to the death toll. The have just announced the death toll will exceed 100. My boys are back in Melbourne in one piece, thank goodness. So many places I am familiar with are gone. It was so emotional watching the news. We recorded a record top temperature of 47 degrees centigrade in Victoria. Which is 116.6 Fahrenheit I would just like to thank the climate change skeptics, George Bush, John Howard ex prim minister of Australia and Andrew Bolt http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/ for their contributions to the deaths of these fine people.
All the best Jen, hope to here from you soon.
Please get on talk back tomorrow and remind people as to who is responsible for global warming.
Start an email and send it to your friends. Good people have died in those bush fires. Make sure this insanity stops. The flat earthers have to pay!
I’ve never felt heat like yesterday. It was the wind that made it different to other 40+ days. It was like a furnace being blown by a powerful fan. That stinkin’ northerly was horrific, and then the change hit and it blew just as hard from the south…and this was in the safety of the suburbs.
I can only imagine what those on the front line witnessed….
No rain here at all since New Year and Q’land is under fricken water and London is 6 feet deep in snow and California burns more and more every year and the North and South Poles are becoming puddles….
Andrew Bolt and his crew of ratbags should be smashed in the mouth if they ever open them again.
I’ll be checking in every so often for that first post from Jen….Fuck Bush!
Well I’m up in Melb for the day and will head back to Gippsland tomorrow.
Just hope that death toll doesn’t get even more obscene.
In the meanwhile, here’s a fine piece of writing by Joe bageant in reply to an Irish correspondent on his blog.
Such a bloody good writer is Joe!
Pity his republican namesake is not quite up to his standard as either a plumber or even an intelligent fence post.
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2009/02/europeans-bristle-at-leader-of-free-world.html#more
Hi guys- still safe. Fire everywhere but still a couple of k’s from us. my sister had to flee from burnig house near Kinglake.. all survived (except dogs, chooks, goats etc,, but have since learned of many deaths of friends including my neices primary school friends. It’s a fucking nightmare.
Former Channel Nine news reader Brian Naylor is missing in Kinglake. His wife’s body has been found. Brian’s house has been destroyed. His daughter in law who lives near by has made it out with her kids. Her husband and Brian’s son died six months ago in a plane crash. Brian has not been answering his mobile, which he normally answers immediately.
btw – i’m in Beechworth.
Great Jen. Good to hear from you.
Didn’t they just save the hospital in a close shave?
My son’s girlfriend comes from Yackandanda, although she resides in Melbourne now.
Hospital was power failure and faulty generator. All ok now. Yackandandah ok for now too
If she was still living in Yackandanda she would be out fighting the fires.
Good for her. I’m with kids.
65 dead – more to come. Almost my sister and her babies.. Horrifying.
We are the news on BBC News.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/default.stm
We are the News.
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com
ABC
http://abcnews.go.com
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
BBC rang me, about the fires. May ring back later.
And Fuck George Bush. It’s all his falut
that would be FAULT
goota go
that would be goTTa go.
FFS.
Jen, what can one say? It’s a horror beyond words.
I’m really relieved to hear your sister and kids are OK, but shocked to hear of who they’ve lost…it’s truly awful.
Thanks kirri – it is truly amazing they are all alive – kids have minor burns and are traumatised as hell of course. But they are alive – 84 so far aren’t.
Unbelievable. We are safe here for now although huge fire nearby. Just waiting to see whether wind changes and then we’ll go.
I hope you’ve planned your exit well. If you’re heading to Wangaratta with the rest of Beechworth it’s gonna be a traffic jam, with everyone in a panic.
Oh, I assume there must be a good fire safety zone in Beechworth.
GOP Senators Face Party’s Wrath For Supporting Stimulus Bill.
Will the GOP drive them out of their own party?
a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/07/gop-senators-draw-partys_n_164960.html”>The Huffington Post
Whoops! try again
There, there, the spoilt little brat is throwing a tantrum in the supermarket. Didn’t get his own way did he? Never mind.
.
See the spoilt brat throw its tantrum on Politico
Repugnicans, Obama won!
Brian Naylor and wife killed at Kinglake. Appaerntly they are counting through “piles of bodies” local copper told my sister ( btw -one dog survived!! nieces Xmas present so she is really happy about it). Rudd said the Nation needs to be prepared for the numbers – it’s much higher than they are releasing.
We are waiting to see what wind does – quiet at the moment – hence my posting her. Thanks to all for yuur thoughts and concern- but i’m a lucky one
.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jen and others. Best wishes for all the people affected by Vic fires. Its bloody terrifying when these massive fires get loose and the results we have seen/heard to date are just horrible.