Obama Speaks of American Courage
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HONOLULU, Dec. 24 -- President-elect Barack Obama released a sobering message for the nation on Christmas Eve, recognizing the sacrifice of the country's service men and women while calling on Americans to find inspiration in a founding father to overcome current economic struggles.
In a holiday radio address posted online yesterday, Obama cited Gen. George Washington's improbable crossing of the icy Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776, when Washington's troops won victories against the British that "gave new momentum to a beleaguered army and new hope to the cause of independence."
"Many ages have passed since that first American Christmas," Obama said. "We have crossed many rivers as a people. But the lessons that have carried us through are the same lessons that we celebrate every Christmas season -- the same lessons that guide us to this very day: that hope endures, and that a new birth of peace is always possible."
On a day when the nation's unemployment filings reached a 26-year high, Obama turned to Washington to stoke hope in the battered American workforce.
"If the American people come together and put their shoulder to the wheel of history, then I know that we can put our people back to work and point our country in a new direction," Obama said in the weekly address, which is scheduled for radio broadcast on Saturday. "That is how we will see ourselves through this time of crisis and reach the promise of a brighter day."
Obama delivered the remarks in a suit and tie, flanked by poinsettias; aides said the message was taped in Chicago before he left Saturday for a 13-day family vacation in Hawaii. The president-elect opened his address by asking the country to honor the "extraordinary and selfless sacrifice" of those serving in the military overseas.
"This holiday season, their families celebrate with a joy that is muted knowing that a loved one is absent, and sometimes in danger," Obama said. "In towns and cities across America, there is an empty seat at the dinner table; in distant bases and on ships at sea, our service men and women can only wonder at the look on their child's face as they open a gift back home."
-- Philip Rucker
