A Peaceful Transfer of Power

Whether today is a day of triumph or tragedy for you - whether you consider this a step forward or a step back - whether you believe right and justice have been served or disserved... take a few moments to marvel at your nation, and your unparalleled record of uninterrupted democracy. Inauguration day is not a celebration of the new administration taking power - it is a celebration of the outgoing administration peacefully relinquishing power through the Constitutional process.

I congratulate America on its 44th peaceful transfer of executive power. This is something we have successfully achieved for more than 240 years, and is a testament to the core resiliency of our democratic institutions and traditions - which stretch back long before the actual independence of our nation. And while there have been very few times when this has been accomplished without anger, vitriol and divisive campaigning - it has always been accomplished... and it has been accomplished again under the most unique of conditions, and despite the fact that a majority of those who voted did not vote for the ultimate winner of the election.

In the final analysis, the strength of our nation is not, actually, in its unity nor in its subservience to those in power. The strength of our nation lies in its ability to persevere and to survive discord; to evolve through an active and passionate discourse; and to remain all Americans whether in consent or dissent. America is not her President, nor her Congress, nor her Government. America is The People. We do not bow down before our leaders - we criticize them. We do not follow them slavishly - we demand they do our will. We do not grant them unlimited power, nor an unlimited term of power. We elect them and we replace them.

The road ahead is as uncertain as it has been in many generations. There will be chronic and sometimes explosive social unrest; all that divides us along ethnic, racial, economic and every other line will be brought into sharp and often violent focus... and yet, and yet... we will survive, and we will emerge from the coming time a chastened and perhaps even wiser and perhaps even more just society. There will be no violent overthrow of the government - there will be no factional militias vying for control of the streets - and there will be no military coup supplanting civilian authority. All that has tested us in the past has made us stronger. This, too, will make us stronger.

In awe and respect for America, with prayers and hopes for her future, with deepest love of the unreachable and unattained ideals she promises. God Bless America, and God Bless all Americans.