Obama's First Inaugural Address
November 2008 - January 2009
More than 100,000 U.S. ONE members signed ONE's petition to Barack Obama, asking him to make a strong statement about global poverty in his inaugural address and follow up with a robust FY2010 budget request. And he did exactly that.
Overview
On the 2008 U.S. campaign trail, more than 100,000 ONE members helped get Senator Barack Obama "On the Record" with his commitments to fighting global poverty and preventable disease -- including a promise to double annual foreign assistance from US$25 billion to $50 billion by 2012.
Obama was elected President on November 3rd, in the midst of a financial crisis threatening to hit poor countries hard and making the need to keep these commitments even more urgent. The first test of President Obama's commitment to fighting global poverty would be his inaugural address, in which he would present his vision for the incoming administration.
In a campaign starting on November 21st and spanning two months, more than 101,000 people signed ONE's petition calling on the President-elect to use his inaugural address to reiterate the importance of fighting poverty and preventable disease worldwide. The petition read:
Dear President-elect Obama,
In your inaugural address, please make a clear affirmation of your pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide, and support that statement with an FY2010 budget request that puts the US on track to meet your historic commitments.
On December 17th, we delivered our petition to senior members of the president-elect's foreign policy transition team, and on January 20th, President Barack Obama stood before millions of people gathered on the national mall, and hundreds of millions more watching around the world, and spoke these words:
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
ONE followed up by asking members to send thank you notes to the new president for his commitment, and to show continued strong support for a robust FY2010 presidential budget request. He released the blueprint for his budget request in late February, which also reiterated his commitments on development, and ONE members will continue working to see these turn into reality.
Campaign Milestones
-
Nov 4 2008
Obama Elected
Barack Obama is elected President of the United States.
-
Nov 21 2008
Petition Launches
ONE asks members to sign a petition asking the new president to make a clear affirmation of his pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide.
-
Nov 25 2008
ONE Releases Transition Strategy
ONE releases its transition briefing to President-elect Obama’s transition team, building on the agenda laid out by the President-elect with a series of short- and long-term policy pitches and a detailed sketch of how the Obama Administration can meet its commitment to double foreign assistance.
-
Dec 1 2008
Petition Signatures Reach 50,000
Petition signatures pass the 50,000 mark, setting a new goal of 100,000.
-
Dec 17 2008
ONE Delivers Petition
ONE delivers the petition with more than 80,000 signers to senior members of the president-elect's foreign policy transition team, who respond favorably.
-
Jan 20 2009
Obama’s Inaugural Address Includes Global Poverty
President Obama is inaugurated, and speaks about global poverty in his inaugural address. The White House website re-commits to doubling foreign assistance to help reach the MDGs.
-
Feb 26 2009
First Look at the FY2010 Budget Request
President Obama submits a broad blueprint of his first budget request to Congress, including a $4.5 billion increase for the State Department and other International Affairs Programs.
Related Policy Hot Topics
-
Presidential Transition Briefing
In November 2008, ONE delivered its transition briefing, "From Vision to Action: Realizing the Potential for Development in an Obama Administration," to President-elect Obama's transition team.
MORE
Quick Facts
More than 100,000
More than 100,000 ONE members signed our petition to Barack Obama, asking him to make a strong statement about global poverty in his inaugural address.
The inaugural address
During his first inaugural address, President Obama said: “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
The White House website
The White House website states: “Fight Global Poverty: Obama and Biden will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty and hunger around the world in half by 2015, and they will double our foreign assistance to achieve that goal. This will help the world’s weakest states build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.”
Impact
-
Obama's First Inaugural Address
ONE is seeking a $4 billion increase for poverty reduction accounts as a positive start to enabling President Obama to fulfill his historic anti-poverty commitments, as pledged in his inaugural address.
MORE