Barack Obama

God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

What the people heard instead, people of every creed and color, from every walk of life, is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked, that together our dreams can be one.

It is that American spirit, that American promise that pushes us forward even when the past is uncertain, that binds us together in spite of our differences, that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen.

Dr. King used to say, if you sweep floors for a living, then make sure you're the best floor-sweeper there has ever been, all right?

That better place around the bend. A promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west. A promise that led workers to picket lines and women to reach for the ballot.

Dr. King used to say if you sweep floors for a living, make sure you're the best floor sweeper there has ever been.

It's not been the need to compromise for politics' sake that has shaped his distinguished career. It is rather a pure and deeply felt love of his country that comes from the painful knowledge of what life is like without it.

Given the crisis that we're in and hardships that so many people are going through, we can't allow any idle hands.

And on a day where we remember not just a dreamer, but a doer, an actor. Somebody who dedicated his life to working at the grassroots level on behalf of change; on behalf of making communities better.

This country is great because of its people. Don't underestimate the power for people who join together to accomplish amazing things.

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 it will prevail. That the dream of our founders will live on in our time.

It has not been a quest for fame or vanity that has driven this man.

Few of us can imagine what John endured during the days he spent in that lonely prison cell.

We will not always agree on everything in the months to come, and we will have our share of arguments and debates.

It is what he has strived for and achieved throughout his life.

I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure.

We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly.

Join me in this effort.

It is fitting that we did so - because it was there that our American journey began.

We are here today not simply to pay tribute to those patriots who founded our nation in Philadelphia or defended it in Baltimore, but to take up the cause for which they gave so much.

If you think about the journey that this country has made, then it can't help but stir your heart.

If you think the first half was wasted, we're getting the second half right.

What we have to do is to honor them by working for -- for more just -- more justice, more equality here in America.

I think, personally, he is a good man who loves his family and loves his country. And I think he made the best decisions that he could, at times under some very difficult circumstances.

First African-American president. Better be good.