Some friendly pressure on him:
On a family outing to the Lincoln Memorial last weekend, President-elect Barack Obama was starkly reminded by an unlikely adviser of what is at stake in his Inaugural Address.
As his family studied Lincoln's inaugural words, carved into the memorial's stone, they began discussing Mr. Obama's own inaugural speech, he told CNN. His 10-year-old daughter, Malia, then turned to him and blurted out: "First African-American president. Better be good."
And how good it was:
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
.....
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.