4년 전 미국 역사상 최초의 흑인대통령으로 출범한 오바마 대통령은 이날 공식 취임을 함으로써 흑인대통령으로서 최초 2기 출범이라는 또 하나의 역사를 썼다.

오바마 대통령은 이날 오전 11시 51·분쯤 존 로버츠 대법원장의 주재로 “나, 버락 후세인 오바마는 미국 대통령의 직무를 성실히 수행하고, 모든 능력을 다해 헌법을 보존하고 보호하며 지킬 것을 엄숙히 맹세합니다”라고 취임 선서를 했다.

이날 취임식의 주제는 “우리 국민, 우리 미래(Our People, Our Future)”였다.

취임식장에는 퍼스트레이디 미셸 오바마와 두 딸이 지켜보는 가운데 대법원장의 말에 따라 선서를 했다. 선서가 끝나자 11살의 딸이 사샤가 “이번엔 망치지 않았네요(You didn't mess up)”라고 말하자 오바마 대통령은 “(이번엔) 내가 제대로 해냈다(I did it)”이라며 기뻐했다.

4년 전 취임 선서에서 순서가 뒤바뀌는 바람에 선서를 두 번이나 해야 했다. 이것을 두고 막내 딸 사샤가 아빠에게 축하를 해준 것이다.

오바마 대통령은 이어 약 15분 동안 2천여 개의 단어로 이뤄진 취임사에서 미국의 헌법 서두에 나오는 “우리 국민은(We the People)"이라는 대목을 반복하며 건국의 가치와 아메리칸 드림의 중요성을 강조했다.

그는 이어 “오늘 우리는 결코 끝나지 않은 여정을 이어간다”고 말하고 “우리는 시대의 변화에 따라 미국 건국의 기본원칙들이 새로운 도전에 맞게 새로운 대응을 해야 한다고 믿는다”면서 “우리는 이 순간에 꼭 맞는 사람들로 이 순간을 함께 잡으려 한다면 잡을 수 있다(My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together). 하나의 나라, 하나의 국민으로서”라며 모두 함께 난관 극복에 동참하자고 호소했다.

오바마 대통령은 “모든 사람은 평등하다”는 독립선언서 구절을 상기시키면서 “삶과 자유와 행복을 추구할 권리가 있다. 이들 권리는 천부인권적으로 주어졌지만 이를 지켜 나가는 것은 우리가 지금 해야 할 일”이라고 강조했다.

이어 그는 지금까지 자신이 역점을 두어 해온 핵심 정책의 정당을 강조했다.

오바마 대통령은 “미국은 소수만 잘살고, 다수가 제 역할을 하지 못하면 성공하지 못한다. 미국의 번영은 중산층에 달렸다. 건강보험 비용과 정부의 재정적자를 줄이기 위해 어려운 선택을 해야 한다. 메디케어(Medicare, 노인 의료보장), 메디케이드(Medicaid, 저소득층 의료보장), 사회보장(Social Security)등을 통해 서로 기여해야 한다”고 거듭 강조했다.

그는 특히 여성과 동성애자의 건리, 이민자 등 소수계의 권리, 총기규제를 통한 아동의 보호관리 등을 동등하게 존중해야 한다고 강조하면서 “아내와 어머니, 딸들이 노력에 맞는 평등한 소득을 얻을 때까지, 동성애 형제·자매들이 법적으로 다른 사람들과 같은 대접을 받을 때까지, 미국을 기회의 땅으로 여기는 이민자들이 환영받을 때까지, 아이들이 보호받고 소중하게 여겨지고 안전할 때까지 우리의 여정은 끝나지 않을 것”이라고 힘주어 말했다.

오바마 대통령은 세계 최강의 미국이 국제사회에서 해야 할 역할을 수행해 나가겠다고 약속했다. 그는 강력한 동맹을 더욱 공고히 해 나갈 것이며, “미국은 지구촌 구석구석에 강력한 동맹에서 닻의 역할을 지켜나갈 것”이라고 강조하고 특히 대화와 동맹의 가치를 토대로 “끝없는 전쟁”을 배격하겠다고 다짐했다.

이어 그는 “우리 국민은 안보와 평화를 유지하기 위해 끝없는 전쟁이 필요한 것이 아님을 여전히 믿고 있다”면서 지구촌 곳곳의 민주주의를 지지할 것이라고 밝히고 “인간 존엄성과 정의라는 원칙들이 꾸준히 진전돼야 한다”고 강조했다.

또 오바마 대통령은 결론적으로 “미국의 가능성은 무궁하다”면서 인종과 당파, 견해 차이를 떠나서 위대한 미국을 건설하기 위해 대통합의 길을 걷겠다고 다짐했다.

Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama 
United States Capitol / 11:55 A.M. EST / January 21, 2013  
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice,
members of the United States 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 is 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.”  
 
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’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.  (Applause.)  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.  
 
And for more than two hundred 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 resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune. 
 
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.
 
But 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’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.  (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 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.  (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 that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class.  We know that 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 that 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 that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time.  So we must harness new ideas and 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, 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 that 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 initiative, 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 that our 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.  (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 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’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks.  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.
 
We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.  (Applause.)  Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage.  (Applause.)  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 naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.  (Applause.)
 
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 on behalf of those who long for freedom.  And 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 that 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  –- (applause) -- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.  (Applause.)  Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.  (Applause.)  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 -- (applause) -- until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.  (Applause.)   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 that 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 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.  (Applause.)  We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.  We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four 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, like 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.  (Applause.)  
 
Let us, 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.)  --The End---