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18
januari 2001
My fellow citizens,
Tonight is my last
opportunity to speak to you from the Oval Office as your president...
This has been a time of
dramatic transformation, and you have risen to every new challenge. You have
made our social fabric stronger, our families healthier and safer, our people
more prosperous.
You, the American people,
have made our passage into the global information age an era of great American
renewal...
...[W]e must remember that
America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of
our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more
diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common
humanity.
We must work harder to
overcome our differences. In our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all our
people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender
or sexual orientation and regardless of when they arrived in our country,
always moving toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams...
As for me, I'll leave the
presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived and more
confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead...
My days in this office are
nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I
will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of
president of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly
than that of citizen.
Thank you. God bless you, and
God bless America
  
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