20. Januar ble Kampala snudd på hode. Spesielt rett rundt klokka 20.00. Vi var inne byen just ferdig med ete og nettkafe besøk. På vei tilbake til Kalerwe. Var rett å slett vanskelig å komme seg sikkert heim. Få taxier rundt. Veiene fylt opp av pakerte biler og heftig fylte av kjørende. Kø dannelse i The square. Få vanelig taxier. Må nøye seg med speciale. Skal rekke selv å se talen til den kommende presidenten. Får begynt å kjøre. Er ett kvarter på åtte. Kjører opp bakken forbi The Square. Kommer til ei side gate opp mot Nakasero. Biler er pakert på tverrs eller det kan også sies over alt. Andre råkjører og skaper småkøer. Vi bli sittende i en. Kommer oss ut av den. Kjører nå mot Garden City. Over en liten topp og mot Mulago. Begynner å nærme seg åtte. Etter litt kommer vi ovenfor sykehuset. Lurer oss unna Wandegye en plass med kø i disse tider. Både med Obama feberen og Makerere uteksaminering. Kjører inn i det avgjørende rundkjøringen. Ut i den flyge en sykkelist rett foran bilen. Sjåføren blir satt ut og presser bremsene ned i bakken. Det går bra denne gangen. Puster dypt ut. Putrer bilen i gang komme inn i gaten. 2 min til bensinstasjonen. Betaler sjåføren. Som må komme seg unna køen foran bensinstasjonen etter å kaste oss av. Vi går over veien. Opp bakken. Svinger inn og kommer bort til porten. Til hjemmet vårt. Setter seg i stuen og Obama har just begynt talen sin. Utdraget av talen er tatt fra Ugandas Daily Monitor 21. Januar, sikkert litt redigert for å passe til den ene siden. Alikevel her er o.
Selve talen:
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. Forty four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still water of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our for bearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far- reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shattered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. Today I say you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America. They will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, the noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happeniess.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather it has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things – some more celebrated but often men and woman obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up heir few worldly possessions and traveled across the oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and woman struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction. This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week, last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing put, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick our self off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do. Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country already done. What free men and woman can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programmes will end. And those of us who mange the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force of good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunities to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good. As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and will not give them up for expediencies sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, fringe grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologies for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace. To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the people. To the people of the poor nations, we pledge to alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nation like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering across our borders; nor we consume the worlds resources without regard to effect. For the World has changed, and we must change with it. As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; willingness to find meaning in something bigger than themselves. And yet, at this moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all. For much as the government can do and must do, its ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take the in the stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through the darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But the values upon which our success depends – hard work, and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to those truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, our world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, that giving our all to a difficult task. So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of the revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: Let it be told in the future world… that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive… that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.
In the face of our commen dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms that may come. Let it be said by our children’s childeren that when we were tested we refused to let this jouney end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and deliverd it safely to future generations.
