00:00Ho, ho, ho!
00:04Show the world we're a nation of dignity, honor, and just devotion to one another.
00:11Four more years! Four more years!
00:15One of our colleagues, a former president, didn't want to go and be up there.
00:21I probably shouldn't even say it. At any rate.
00:27I've been all over the world with you. I've been in and out of battles. Anyway.
00:33Happy Independence Day!
00:39At least the rain helped the humidity a little bit.
00:43Jill and I, Secretary Austin, Mrs. Austin, we're honored so many of your families are here on this special day.
00:48I really mean it.
00:50You represent only 1%, not quite 1% of the American population.
00:54But you keep 99% of the rest of the population safe.
00:58It's you. You're all volunteers. You do it.
01:03I got in trouble for saying this years and years ago, but I make no apologies for it.
01:07We have many obligations as a government, but only one truly sacred obligation.
01:12Sacred.
01:13To prepare those we send into harm's way, and to care for them and their families when they come home,
01:18and when they don't, their families.
01:20We've got a long way.
01:21We're all part of that long chain of patriots that stretches back to our nation's founding.
01:26That's given life to the very idea of America.
01:30On this day, I think it's important we remember, America's unique in all-
01:34Every president says this about their country, but we're unique in the world for a lot of reasons.
01:39But the one main reason is, we're the only nation on earth founded on an idea.
01:44Not ethnicity, not geography, not anything else.
01:47On an idea.
01:49The idea is contained in that we hold these truths to be self-evident,
01:53that all men and women are created equal, endowed by their creator,
01:57of certain inalienable rights.
01:59We mean it.
02:00We've never fully lived up to it, but we've never, ever, ever walked away from it.
02:04And it's because of you.
02:06As your Commander-in-Chief, along with the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense,
02:10I want to thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
02:13Let me close with this.
02:15Last month, Jill and I traveled to Normandy, France,
02:18to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
02:21We met with American veterans, some of them about 12 or 14, over 102 years old.
02:28Veterans who toured the battlegrounds, went to the cemeteries,
02:33and looked at what was happening.
02:35There should be no question, no question about it,
02:38all those who served as members of the military were heroes, genuine heroes.
02:44Heroes for freedom, democracy, and America.
02:48Look, now decades later, we must look at ourselves and ask the question,
02:53will we stand for freedom again?
02:56Will we stand for democracy?
02:57Will we stand together as Americans?
03:00I believe we will and we can.
03:02And by the way, you know, I was in that World War I cemetery in France,
03:10and the one that one of our colleagues, a former president,
03:15didn't want to go and be up there.
03:20I probably shouldn't even say it.
03:21At any rate, we got to just remember who the hell we are.
03:26We're the United States of America.
03:31And there's nothing, nothing beyond that.
03:33I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
03:34There's nothing beyond our capacity, nothing when we do it together.
03:38Not a single thing.
03:40We're the only nation in the history of the world that has gone through every crisis
03:44and come out stronger than we went into the crisis, every single time.
03:48And by the way, I've been all over the world with you.
03:52I've been in and out of battles anyway.
03:57You're incredible.
03:59Understand, you are the finest fighting force in the history of the world.
04:03That's not hyperbole.
04:05In the history of the world, there's never been another military as powerful,
04:08as decent, and as giving as our military.
04:12I'm so damn proud to be your Commander-in-Chief.
04:15Happy Fourth of July.
04:18May God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.
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