The President’s Inauguration: Giving New Priority to Familiar Challenges

In his Inaugural Address today, President Obama combined poetry and prose as he spoke about the priorities that he will bring to his second term in office.  For many of these issues, the technology sector has put forward ideas with backing from both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress.  The challenge consistently has been building broader support to move policies from good proposals to new laws.  ITI is ready to help build the bipartisan coalitions that are essential to legislative successes.   

From innovation to immigration, from the power of technology to transform our society to the power of our imagination to find solutions to long-standing challenges, the President’s Inaugural Address spoke to the heart of our sector’s shared priorities.

Here are excerpts from the President’s remarks.

No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.  Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people. 

… 

We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher.  But while the means will change, our purpose endures:  a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American.  That is what this moment requires.  That is what will give real meaning to our creed.  

We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.  The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. 

But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.  We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise.  That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks.  That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God.  That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.  

Public Policy Tags: Energy, Tax Policy, Workforce, Environment & Sustainability

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