Obama exhorts good deeds by Morehouse graduates

May 19, 2013 @ 1:24 pm


President Barack Obama receives an honorary degree from Robert Davidson, Chair of the Board of Trustees, partially visible, during the Morehouse College 129th Commencement ceremony, Sunday, May 19, 2013, in Atlanta. Morehouse is the historically black, all-male institution that counts Martin Luther King Jr. among its alumni. It is Obama's second graduation speech of the year. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) | Zoom

ATLANTA (AP) - President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, on Sunday told graduates of historically black Morehouse College to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people's lives.

The president said his success was due to "the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn't have the opportunities that I had _ because there but for the grace of God, go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me."

Noting the Atlanta school's mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not "take your degree and get a fancy job and nice house and nice car and never look back."

"So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless," Obama said. "Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood."

"The most successful CEOs I know didn't start out intent on making money. Rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed," he said.

For those headed to medical school, Obama said, "Make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too."

Before Obama arrived in Atlanta, thunderstorms drenched hundreds of people who gathered on the campus lawn for the outdoor ceremony, forcing many guests to wear clear plastic ponchos over what amounted to their Sunday-best clothes. Rain began falling again, accompanied by more thunder and lightning, minutes after Obama began to speak.

"I also have to say you all are going to get wet," he said. "I would be out there with you if I could. But Secret Service gets nervous, so I'm going to have to stay here, dry. But know that I'm with you in spirit."

Obama urged graduates to "inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves."

Obama used the speech to once again share his personal story of growing up without a father, confessing that along the way he made unspecified bad personal choices "like too many men in our community."

"Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down," he said. "I had a tendency to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is, there's no longer any room for excuses."

Speaking in personal terms as he often does when addressing predominantly black audiences, particularly of black males, the nation's first black president also spoke intimately of his desire to be a better father to daughters Malia and Sasha than his absent father was to him, and to be a better husband to his wife, Michelle.

He told the graduates to pay attention to their families, saying success in every other aspect of life means nothing without success at home.

"I was raised by a heroic single mother and wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you," he said. "But I still wish I had a father who was not only present, but involved. And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn't for my mother and me. I've tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man.

"It's hard work that demands your constant attention, and frequent sacrifice. And Michelle will be the first to tell you that I'm not perfect," he continued. "Even now, I'm still learning how to be the best husband and father I can be. Because success in everything else is unfulfilling if we fail at family.

"I know that when I'm on my deathbed someday, I won't be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted. I won't be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received," said Obama, 51. "I'll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them."

The speech was Obama's second commencement address of the season, following remarks last Sunday at Ohio State University in Columbus. His third and final graduation address will come Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

About 500 students received undergraduate degrees on Sunday and became "Morehouse Men."

After the speech, Obama joined about 100 people at a fundraiser at the office of the foundation of Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons. It was the first of six money events that officials say he will headline for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is recruiting candidates and strategizing to keep control of the Senate in next year's midterm elections. Democrats will be defending more Senate seats than Republicans, including six held by long-serving Democratic senators who have decided not to seek re-election.

After briefly discussing the economy, early childhood education, energy independence, climate change and infrastructure, Obama said "the good news is we've got good, common-sense solutions that we can implement right now," on those issues. "The bad news is there's a shortage of common sense in Washington."

He told the donors, who paid anywhere from $10,000 per couple to $32,400 per couple to attend the fundraiser, that their support is important because it will help elect more non-ideological senators like Michael Bennet, D-Colo., "who don't come at this thinking there's just one way of doing things." Bennet chairs the campaign arm for Senate Democrats and introduced Obama at the event.

"That kind of approach, if we get a critical mass in the Senate, and we can potentially get a critical mass of folks like that in the House, means that the sky's the limit," Obama said. "Nothing can stop us."

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (182)


  • Add A Comment

  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Obamapaloosa Tour
    February 15, 2013 5:25 am
    You get what you pay for and you pay with credit. The bill has arrived.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    The middle class is here just to pay the bills
    February 15, 2013 4:23 pm
    and Owebama knows it. You think he "cares" about us? Riiiight. Suuuuure....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    ever heard of basic math?
    February 16, 2013 6:54 am
    you can't have your cake and eat it too....our founding fathers pointed out the importance of a "Balance of Power" We do not currently have that now....the country is divided and leaning to far to one side. We are supposed to work together, think together and compromise not scare and threaten.... America is an embarrassment. STOP SPENDING!!!SMALLER GOVT!!!!LESS GOVT CONTROL!!!MORE FREEDOM!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    02-18-2013
    February 18, 2013 9:59 am
    0bama puts up another meaningless false choice... By claiming something is a false choice. Stands another straw man up for some good old fashioned assaulting. The one thing 0bama can't even contemplate is reducing the size and scope of the federal leviathan.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Tough job being Prez
    February 18, 2013 11:36 am
    Live like a king while your subject starve...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HLC wrote...
    Separate vacations?
    February 18, 2013 2:33 pm
    Maybe Michelle is positioning herself for a run at the white house in 16 and wants to dump the fool before he drags her down. Makes sense. Or she's just tired of explaining everything to him in case he left his teleprompter home.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    It seems any compitent IT team
    February 18, 2013 3:22 pm
    could figure out how to keep comments to one News story and not stack them. Also How to keep bit40 and other spammers out of the forums.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    02-19-2013
    February 19, 2013 9:07 am
    You asked for it, you got it. 0ba-ma.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • WAmovesRight wrote...
    When will we all learn...
    February 19, 2013 9:21 am
    ... It's not just the democrats or the republicans... It's ALL OF OF THEM.

    The it us against each other like we're fans of opposing football teams and we just lap it up like a good little dog!

    when will we realize the decisions they make affect all of us much more than they efect those in power? President Obama is not spending us into oblivion... the United States Congress (both chambers) and the White House are doing it... and WE LET THEM.

    We let them when we vote them into office. We empower them when we petition for the endless grants that the US can't afford. We encourage them when we cry out for more from the public coffers becase we WILL get our little piece... etc.

    If we want real change the first finger we point at should be ourselves. Here's the steps:

    Stop with the hateful speech towards each other. Realize we are all in this together. The name calling does nothing but further divide us limiting our pwer to effect change

    Create, not a bi-partisan, but a bi-ideological, citizen committe. This group carefully & methodically lists the top ten priorities for their ideology Iliberal & conservative). We then take the top three non-competing priorities from each group and make one "platfrom". We then COMPROMISE together on a couple of the highest priority competing issues until each side has two of theirs on the list. This will give our platform 10 priorities on the platfrom.

    WE DO NOT CREATE A NEW POLITICAL PARTY... but we do engage every citizen in our country to buy into this "platform for recovery". If we join together as citizens - not of opposite political parties - but of a common desire to restore sanity then we can restore sanity.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Owebama presses GOP to halt automatic spending cuts
    February 19, 2013 9:41 am
    Did he do this from the back nine or the front nine? Yeah, while he was off golfing AGAIN, he showed how "concerned" he was about this. Spend...borrow...spend...borrow...that's all the left knows.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }