National day of service. Tomorrow, hundreds of thousands will join us in the national mall. And what the inauguration reminds us of is the role we have as fellow citizens in promoting a common good. Even as we carry out our individual responsibilities. The sense theres something larger than ourselves that gives shape and meaning to our lives. The theme of this years inauguration is our people and our future. Throughout my career whats always given me energy and inspiration and hope, whats allowed me to stand up when ive been knocked down are folks like you. The decency, the goodness, the resilience, the neighborliness. The patriotism. The sense of duty. The sense of responsibility of the American People. You have inspired me throughout. And so, whenever i think about the challenges that joe and i and jill and michelle face, we know that we stand amongst friends and colleagues and fellow citizens. And that the work is not just ours that we are working together. So, i just want to say th
you think about we sat around this table less than a month ago, when he had to have said that all haitians had aids. and that people from nigeria. around christmastime. people from nigeria, if we let them in, they ll never go back to their huts. he deed it. he did not make that firm denial today as he did then. three weeks later and say this, and not turn around to the cameras today after he signed the marlton luther king declaration and not state, no, i m not a racist is only confirming what we ve all said about him. you are racist, you do not have to spray paint the n word over the oval office and sleep with a kkk robe in the lincoln bedroom to make you a racist.
0 regime and people joining together getting outside backing. it s very difficult to say they have a consistent ideology. where is, if you know, the syrian president? is he? damascus? has he been seen in public recently? about a year ago a bomb went off during a meeting inside damascus. ever since then they don t really broadcast his movements. from time to time pictures will show up on the official press on state tv of him visiting sites or holding meetings, but his location is kept fairly hush hush. it s not a situation like saddam where he was moving every night to 52 different palaces but certainly the syrians haven t wanted the rebels to know where the president and top officials are, let alone nato. is he the one who has the power in this country or is someone else in the some of that emanates from the fact there is no ownership over the acts that take place. there s a lot of attention on what t what the u.s. is going to do and the british prime minister is going to conve
0 president and assad and his immediate family, sort of a core of elites, they seem to be making the calls, i think it s a small group. what their internal dynamic is like, we don t know at this stage. one person joked with me his brother may end up defecting. whether that s true, we don t know. are you hearing whether the people in syria realized that there is some movement outside syria, possibility of some sort of missile strike or something else in response to the chemical weapons? i mean are they aware of it, that there s a lot of world attention on them? that s just about all anyone in syria or lebanon can talk about now. syria for the most part has maintained access to the outside world. they know very much this is being debated. you can see it on twitter, and surgical, proportional approach to syria on this, at the same time, i do not want it to be the kind of approach militarily that gets us off the policy that we now have in place, and that is syrians taking the lead. i
and so, whenever i think about the challenges that joe and i and jill and michelle face, we know that we stand amongst friends and colleagues and fellow citizens. and that the work is not just ours that we are working together. so, i just want to say thank you. thank you very much. thank you. and i want all of you to know that even as we celebrate over the next couple of days, and feel free to stay up as late as you want, tomorrow s not a school night. make sure to bundle up although it won t be as cold as it was four years ago. make sure you know that what we re celebrating is not the election or swearing-in of a president. what we re doing is celebrating each celebrating this incredibl nation that we call home. and after we celebrate, let s make sure to work as hard as we can to pass on an america that is worthy not only of our past but also of our future. god bless you guys. i love you. we ll see you tomorrow. [ applause ] the president of the united states, with the f