INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mitch Daniels took the oath of office in a no-frills Statehouse ceremony Monday morning and launched his second term with a brief vision speech entitled "A Springtime We Can Summon."

"A moment of worldwide economic anxiety may seem an odd time for words of hope and visions of greatness," Daniels told the crowd. "But we must believe, and we resolve to see that these present troubles are but a frost in April, a brief chill before the full flowering of the greener Indiana to come."

The theme of renewal and the imagery of spring carried the seven-minute speech. The Republican governor also alluded to the 1994 action movie "Speed," stressing the need to continue down a path of aggressive change that in the past four years has led to leasing the Indiana Toll Road to fund highway construction, deregulating state telecommunications law and passing a cigarette tax increase to fund health insurance for the working poor.

"Whatever the perils of action and change, in our time there is far greater danger in hesitation, delay and fearfulness," Daniels said. "Like some recent movie protagonists, it is in swiftness we will find safety. Disaster will strike only if we let the bus slow down."

Daniels followed Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Attorney General Greg Zoeller and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett -- all Republicans -- in taking the oath of office. Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard did the swearing in while U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., a Daniels mentor, served as master of ceremonies.

"I thought his speech was moving and brief, and I wish we had more of that in Washington," U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said of Daniels. "The applause lasted longer than the speech itself. That could be a lesson to us all."