Those words quoted by all top Buenos Aires media, as President-elect Mauricio Macri, the former governor of the capital who in November defeated Kirchner's favorite candidate, was sworn in this afternoon.
"The challenges are enormous, and we aren't going to solve all our problems overnight", President Macri said.
After his swearing in, Mr Macri told Congress: "As president I want to be a citizen who can communicate with all Argentines, to tell you about my doubts, my beliefs and my hopes".
Macri's supporters are pleased to see a new face at the top.
As indication of a serious and increasingly personal dispute, the outgoing president Cristina Fernandez had disagreed with the arrangements for the handover of power, saying it was a waste of time for Macri to take the oath of office at Congress and then travel to the Casa Rosada presidential palace to receive the presidential sash and scepter. During his campaign, Marci had repeatedly accused his predecessor, Cristina Kirchner, of lying about government statistics. During her last days of office, Kirchner has kept herself busy by making changes to next year's budget, as well as other changes to the current office, which could potentially hurt Macri's administration.
An irritating issue for Argentines corruption and impunity was also addressed: "I will be implacable with all those from any party or political color, ours or theirs who do not abide by the law". "What we had under Fernandez was an very bad autocracy", she added, echoing a complaint of Fernandez's critics that the former president listened only to a small inner circle.
Late on Wednesday Ms Fernandez had bid farewell to supporters in an emotional speech, urging people to take to the streets if they felt betrayed by the new centre-right government.
"Today a dream is being achieved", Macri said as he took the oath 15 minutes ahead of schedule, surprising commentators who noted Argentina isn't known for such punctuality. Macri vowed to bring about this change by incorporating it into his campaign, "Let's Change!" The 56-year old Macri, hailing from one of the richest families of Argentina, won against Daniel Scioli (Victory Front) with a margin of 2.7 percent, the equivalent of fewer than 700,000 votes in a nation of 43 million.