President Obama in Washington DC : Full Part of Inaugural Speach

Obama asks nation to do what's right "when the moment is hard."

At the conclusion of his remarks, the president-elect said:

"There is no doubt that our road will be long. That our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today."

Obama says it won't be easy.

From the remarks the president-elect is making right now:

"I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.

"But despite all of this -- 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 the dream of our founders will live on in our time On the eve of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday celebration and his own historic swearing-in as president, Barack Obama stood Sunday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, evoked the country's heroes and heritage and told the nation that "the dream of our founders will live on in time."

Obama spoke during an afternoon celebration of his historic election, featuring musicians led by Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce as well as famous actors, all entertaining an estimated half-million people on the National Mall with songs and readings aimed at capturing the gravity of the moment.

Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, looked out at the sea of people and told them, "What gives me hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith - a faith that anything is possible in America."

He gazed fleetingly at the Washington Monument in the distance. "Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an empire, all for the sake of an idea," he said.

He looked at the World War II memorial down the mall, "a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression, men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny's grasp."

And just before him, he saw the reflecting pool, "a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character's content."

Finally, Lincoln - "watching over the union he saved," Obama said, "sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible."

Remember their struggles, Obama urged the crowd, and remember the "thread that binds us together in common effort, that runs through every memorial on this mall," and offers a lesson that "there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change."

Washington was crackling with energy on Sunday. The crowd chanted "O-bam-a" after his speech, and the echoes were audible several blocks away. The people sang along with Pete Seeger, Springsteen and others in a rousing chorus of "This Land is Your Land."

Obama, staying with his family at Blair House across from the White House, began his day at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns, where he and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden laid a wreath.

Obama then headed to the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, one of the city's most historic African-American churches. Organized 170 years ago, it has been an important player in the city's cultural and religious life.

Hundreds were packed into the sanctuary when Obama, his wife Michelle, their two daughters and Marian Robinson, Obama's mother-in-law, entered and took seats in the second row, near the altar.

"God has prepared you and placed you," Senior Pastor Derrick Harkins said. "God will not forsake you," he said. "Go forward in prayerfulness and faithfulness."

He spoke of those who turned away from what he called the "flowery bed of ease" to champion justice - civil rights icon Rosa Parks; Nazi resistance hero Dietrich Bonhoeffer and King, whose 80th birthday is being celebrated Monday.

"Perhaps, just perhaps, you are where you are for just such a time," Harkins said' We Are One ' : Barack Obama's Speach

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[hula6202]

You embarrass yourself. If you are upset about Obama being our president, blame yourself. The entire country is sick of hateful people like you. Get a grip or go away. No one needs it.

[Fredstudder]

Obama rocks mann.... rock on Barack!

[canadianStoner13]

lies lies lies, obama doesn't deserve to be placed on the pedestal yet. he hasn't done anything.. nothing but talk....

i hate how people just think he's amazing. when really hes another puppet, an even better one then bush.

[gekiryudojo]

This Guy was elected President after only 146 days! as a senator, if he had been a martial artist he would be a beginner!

[viralinfecticide]

So true.

[Xxoax]

yuke this guy is a liar and clown

[blueangeIfish1]

Long live Obama, and free stuff. I'm LOVING it!!!

[poelaertpieterjan]

Your fucking stupid.

Go live in your uber conservative little house.

[8bud500]

Awsome comment and dead on right !!!

[dalegend95]

watbout irish?