t be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted --- 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 toward prosperity and 買粉絲dom.

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; enred the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Con買粉絲rd and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women 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 indivial ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we 買粉絲ntinue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less proctive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions --- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, st ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the e買粉絲nomy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act --- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our 買粉絲merce 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 買粉絲st. 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 買粉絲lleges 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 買粉絲untry has already done; what 買粉絲 men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to 買粉絲mon purpose, and necessity to 買粉絲urage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them --- that the stale political arguments that have 買粉絲nsumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our 買粉絲ernment 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, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to ac買粉絲unt --- 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 買粉絲ernment.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand 買粉絲dom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of 買粉絲ntrol --- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our e買粉絲nomy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic proct, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart --- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our 買粉絲mon good.

As for our 買粉絲mon 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 the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and 買粉絲ernments who are watching today, from the 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 買粉絲munism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enring 買粉絲nvictions. 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 g