dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow Americans,
this is OUR time. Let us embrace it.

Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of
our OWN renewal. There is nothing WRONG with America that cannot be cured
by what is RIGHT with America.

And so today we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift,
and a new season of American renewal has begun.

To renew America we must be bold. We must do what no generation
has had to do before. We must invest more in our own people,
in their jobs, and in their future, and at the same time cut
our massive debt. . .and we must do so in a world in which
we must compete for every opportunity. It will not be easy.
It will require sacrifice, but it can be done, and done fairly.
Not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for OUR own sake.
We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its
children. Our founders saw themselves in the light of posterity.
We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes
wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world
to come, the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have
borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibilities.
We must do what America does best, offer more opportunity TO all
and demand more responsibility FROM all.

It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing:
from our government, or from each other. Let us all take more
responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families, but for our
communities and our country. To renew America we must revitalize