The Power of a Leader

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our 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 those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

- Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, Inaugural Address.

Mr. President, our prayers go with you. Truth is our strength. The path forward is not going to be easy but let us not burden our decendants with undue cost because we're too selfish to bear them ourselves. In all that we do, remember we should be building a foundation upon which those generations can continue to build a greater country, a greater world.