Happy 4th of July
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
Saturday 04 July 2009
Hello and Happy Fourth of July, everybody. This weekend is a time to get together with family and friends, kick back,
and enjoy a little time off. And I hope that's exactly what all of you do. But I also want to take a moment today to
reflect on what I believe is the meaning of this distinctly American holiday.
Today, we are called to remember not only the day our country was born - we are also called to remember the indomitable
spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible.
We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of
patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old
world had never known - a government of, by, and for the people.
That unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans. It is what led generations of pioneers to blaze a westward
trail.
It is what led my grandparents' generation to persevere in the face of a Depression and triumph in the face of tyranny.
It is what led generations of American workers to build an industrial economy unrivalled around the world.
It is what has always led us, as a people, not to wilt or cower at a difficult moment, but to face down any trial and
rise to any challenge, understanding that each of us has a hand in writing America's destiny.
That is the spirit we are called to show once more. We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time.
We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession. And our economy - and our nation itself - are endangered by
festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a
dependence on foreign oil.
Meeting these extraordinary challenges will require an extraordinary effort on the part of every American. And that is
an effort we cannot defer any longer.
Now is the time to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity. Now is the time to revamp our education system,
demand more from teachers, parents, and students alike, and build schools that prepare every child in America to
outcompete any worker in the world.
Now is the time to reform an unsustainable health care system that is imposing crushing costs on families, businesses,
large and small, and state and federal budgets. We need to protect what works, fix what's broken, and bring down costs
for all Americans. No more talk. No more delay. Health care reform must happen this year.
And now is the time to meet our energy challenge - one of the greatest challenges we have ever confronted as a people
or as a planet. For the sake of our economy and our children, we must build on the historic bill passed by the House of
Representatives, and make clean energy the profitable kind of energy so that we can end our dependence on foreign oil
and reclaim America's future.
These are some of the challenges that our generation has been called to meet. And yet, there are those who would have
us try what has already failed; who would defend the status quo. They argue that our health care system is fine the way
it is and that a clean energy economy can wait. They say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly,
and that we all ought to just take a deep breath and scale back our goals.
These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of
change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of
America.
We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that
spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years
ago today.
That is how this generation of Americans will make its mark on history. That is how we will make the most of this
extraordinary moment. And that is how we will write the next chapter in the great American story.
Thank you, and Happy Fourth of July.
ENDS