My favorite passage from the inauguration speech

I thought the speech was great, and this was my favorite bit:

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 celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across 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.

There were many great passages, though. I very much appreciated his full throated renunciation of torture and his offer of friendship to everyone in the world. I really liked that he made it clear that economic policy is a tool to increased shared prosperity rather than a moral end unto itself.

Here’s a link to the full text.