Learn English with President Obama Speech at Michigan University English Subtitles

through your achievements in your words

you’ve inspired and encouraged our

nation to become a more perfect union in

these difficult times you have

challenged us to open our minds and work

together to reach common ground your

life exemplifies the power of Education

to create new opportunities and to offer

significant contributions to our society

for all you have accomplished and for

your leadership of this great nation the

University of Michigan is deeply honored

to present you with the honorary degree

Doctor of Laws congratulations

by the authority of the state of

Michigan vested in the Board of Regents

and by them delegated to me I now confer

upon you Barack H Obama the degree

Doctor of Laws and admit you to all of

its rights honors and privileges

thank you

thank you very much thank you

thank you very much thank you thank you

everybody please be seated

oh I love you back

[Applause]

it is great to be here in the big house

and so may I say go blue

I thought I’d go for the cheap applause

line to start things off

good afternoon president Coleman the

Board of Trustees to faculty parents

family and friends of the class of 2010

congratulations on your graduation and

thank you for allowing me the honor of

being a part of it let me acknowledge

your wonderful Governor jennifer

Granholm

[Music]

your Mayor John Heath J and all the

members of Congress who are here today

it is a privilege to be with you on this

happy occasion and you know it’s nice to

spend a little time outside of

Washington now don’t get me wrong

Washington is a beautiful city it’s very

nice living above the store you can’t

beat the commute

it’s just sometimes all you hear in

Washington is the clamor of politics and

all that noise can drown out the voices

of the people who sent you there so when

I took office I decided that each night

I would read ten letters out of the tens

of thousands that are sent to us by

ordinary Americans every day this is my

modest effort to remind myself of why I

ran in the first place and some of these

letters tell stories of heartache and

struggle some express gratitude some

express anger I’d say a good solid third

called me an idiot which is how I know

but I’m getting a good representative

sample

some of the letters make you think like

the one that I received last month from

a kindergarten class in Virginia now the

teacher of this class instructed the

students to ask me any question they

wanted so one ask how do you do your job

another ass do you work a lot

somebody wanted to know if I wear a

black jacket or if I have a beard

so clearly they were getting me mixed up

with the other tall guy from Illinois

and one of my favorites was from a kid

who wanted to know if I lived next to a

volcano

I’m still trying to piece the thought

process on this one love this letter but

it was the last question from the last

student in the letter that gave me

possible the student asked are people

being nice are people being nice well if

you turn on the news today or yesterday

or a week ago or a month ago

particularly one of the cable channels

you can see

you can see why even a kindergartner

would ask this question we’ve got

politicians calling each other all sorts

of unflattering names

pundants and Talking Heads shout at each

other the media tends to play up every

hint of conflict because it makes for a

sexier story which means anyone

interested in getting coverage feels

compelled to make their arguments as

outrageous and as incendiary as possible

now some of this contentiousness can be

attributed to the incredibly difficult

moment in which we find ourselves as a

nation fact is when you leave here today

you will search for work and an economy

that is still emerging from the worst

crisis since the Great Depression you

live in a century where the speed with

which jobs and industries move across

the globe is forcing Ameri to compete

like never before you will raise your

children at a time when threats like

terrorism and climate change aren’t

confined within the borders of any one

country and as our world grows smaller

and more connected you will live and

work with more people who don’t look

like you or think like you or come from

where you do I really enjoyed Alex’s

remarks because that’s a lot of change

and all these changes all these

challenges inevitably cause some tension

in the body politic they make people

worry about the future and sometimes

they get people riled up but I think

it’s important that we maintain some

historic perspective since the days of

our founding American politics has never

been a particularly nice business it’s

always been a little less genteel during

times of great change

a newspaper of the opposing party once

editorialized that if Thomas Jefferson

were elected murder robbery rape

adultery and incest will be openly

taught and practiced not subtle

opponents of Andrew Jackson often

referred to his mother as a common

prostitute which seems the low

over-the-top presidents from Teddy

Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson have been

accused of promoting socialism or worse

and we’ve had arguments between

politicians that have been settled with

actual duels there was even a caning

once on the floor of the United States

Senate which I’m happy to say it didn’t

happen while I was there it was a few

years before the port the point is

politics has never been for the thin

skinned or the faint of heart and if you

enter the arena you should expect to get

roughed up

moreover democracy in a nation of more

than 300 million people is inherently

difficult it’s always been noisy and

messy contentious complicated we’ve been

fighting about the proper size and role

of government since the days the framers

gathered in Philadelphia we’ve battled

over the meaning of individual freedom

and equality since the Bill of Rights

was drafted as our economy has shifted

emphasis from agriculture to industry to

information to technology we have argued

and struggled at each and every juncture

over the best way to ensure that all of

our citizens have a shot at opportunity

so before we get too depressed about the

current state of our politics let’s

remember our history the great debates

of the past all stirred great passions

they all made somebody angry and at

least once led to a terrible war what is

amazing is that despite all the conflict

despite all its flaws and it’s

frustrations our experiment and

democracy has worked better than any

form of government on earth

[Applause]

on the last day of the Constitutional

Convention Benjamin Franklin was

famously asked well doctor what have we

got a republic or a monarchy and

Franklin gave an answer that’s been

quoted for ages he said a republic if

you can keep it if you can keep it well

for more than 200 years we have kept it

to revolution and Civil War our

democracy has survived through

depression and World War it has

prevailed through periods of great

social and economic unrest from civil

rights to women’s rights it has allowed

us slowly sometimes painfully to move

towards a more perfect union

and so now class of 2010 the question

for your generation is this how will you

keep our democracy going at a moment

when our challenges seem so big and our

politics seem so small how will you keep

our democracy alive and vibrant how will

you keep it well in this century now I’m

not here to offer her some grand theory

or detailed policy prescription but let

me offer a few brief effectives based on

my own experiences and the experiences

of our country over the last two

centuries

first of all American democracy has

thrived because we have recognized the

need for a government that while limited

can still help us adapt to a changing

world on the fourth panel of the

Jefferson Memorial is a quote I remember

reading to my daughters during our first

visit there it says I am NOT an advocate

for frequent changes in laws and

constitutions but with the change of

circumstances institutions must advance

also to keep pace with the times

the democracy designed by Jefferson and

the other founders was never intended to

solve every problem with a new law or a

new program having thrown off the

tyranny of the British Empire the first

Americans were understandably skeptical

of government and ever since we’ve

helped faster the belief that government

doesn’t have all the answers and we have

cherished and fiercely defended our

individual freedom

that’s a strand of our nation’s DNA but

the other strand is the belief that

there are some things we can only do

together as one nation and that our

government must keep pace with the times

when America expanded from a few

colonies to an entire continent and we

needed a way to reach the Pacific our

government helped build the railroads

when we transition from an economy based

on farms to one based on factories and

workers needed new skills and training

our nations set up a system of public

high schools when the markets crashed

during the Depression and people lost

their life savings our government put in

place a set of rules and safeguards to

make sure that such a crisis never

happened again and then put a safety net

in place to make sure that our elders

would never be impoverished the way they

had been and because our markets and

financial systems have evolved since

then we’re now putting in place new

rules and safeguards to protect the

American people now this notion

[Applause]

this notion class hasn’t always been

partisan it was the first Republican

President Abraham Lincoln who said the

role of government is to do for the

people what they cannot do better for

themselves and he’d go on to begin that

first Intercontinental railroad and set

up the first land grant colleges it was

another Republican Teddy Roosevelt who

said the object of government is the

welfare of the people and he’s

remembered for using the power of

government to break up monopolies and

establish our National Park System

[Applause]

Democrat Lyndon Johnson announced the

Great Society during commencement here

at Michigan but it was the Republican

president before him Dwight Eisenhower

who launched the massive government

undertaking known as the interstate

highway system of course there have

always been those who opposed such

efforts they argue government

intervention is usually inefficient but

it restricts individual freedom and

dampens individual initiative and in

certain instances that’s been true you

know for many years we had a welfare

system that too often discouraged people

from taking responsibility for their own

upward mobility at times we’ve neglected

the role of parents rather than

government in cultivating a child’s

education and sometimes regulations fail

sometimes their benefits don’t justify

their costs but what troubles me is when

I hear people say that all of government

is inherently bad and one of my favorite

signs during the health care debate was

somebody said keep your government hands

out of my Medicare

[Applause]

which is essentially saying keep

government out of my government-run

health care plan now when our government

is spoken of as some menacing

threatening foreign entity it ignores

the fact that in our democracy

government is us we the people hold our

we the people hold in our hands the

power to choose our leaders and change

our laws and shape our own destiny

governments the police officers who are

protecting our communities and the

service men and women who are defending

us abroad

[Applause]

government is the roads you drove in on

and the speed limits that kept you safe

government is what ensures that mines

adhere to safety standards and oil

spills are cleaned up by the companies

that cause them

[Applause]

government is this extraordinary public

university a place that’s doing

life-saving research and catalyzing

economic growth and graduating students

who will change the world around them in

ways big and small the truth is the

debate we’ve had for decades now between

more government and less government it

doesn’t really fit the times in which we

live we know that too much government

can stifle competition and deprive us of

choice and burden us with debt but we’ve

also clearly seen the dangers of too

little government like when a lack of

accountability on Wall Street nearly

leads to the collapse of our entire

economy

[Applause]

so class of 2010 what we should be

asking is not whether we need big

government or a small government but how

we can create a smarter and better

government because in an era of iPods

and TiVo where we have more choices than

ever before even though I can’t really

work a lot of these things but I have 23

year olds who do it for me

government shouldn’t try to dictate your

lives but it should give you the tools

you need to succeed government shouldn’t

try to guarantee results but it should

guarantee a shot an opportunity for

every American who’s willing to work

hard so

so yes we can and should debate the role

of government in our lives but remember

as you are asked to meet the challenges

of our time remember that the ability

for us to adapt our government to the

needs of the aged has helped make our

democracy work since its inception now

the second way to keep our democracy

healthy is to maintain a basic level of

civility in our public debate these

[Applause]

these arguments were having over

government and health care and war and

taxes these are serious arguments they

should arouse people’s passions and it’s

important for everybody to join in the

debate with all the vigor that the

maintenance of free people requires but

we can’t expect to solve our problems if

all we do is tear each other down you

can disagree with a certain policy

without demonizing the person who

espouses it you can question somebody’s

views in their judgement without

questioning their motives or their

patriotism throwing around phrases like

socialist Soviet style takeover and

fascists and right-wing nut that may

grab headlines but it also has the

effect of comparing our government our

political opponents to authoritarian

even murderous regimes now we’ve seen

this kind of politics in the past it’s

been practiced by both fringes of the

ideological spectrum by the left and the

right since our nation’s birth but it’s

starting to creep into the center of our

discourse and the problem with it is not

the hurt feelings of the bruised egos

the public officials who are criticized

remember they signed up for it Michelle

always reminds me that

the problem is that this kind of

vilification and over-the-top rhetoric

closes the door to the possibility of

compromise it undermines democratic

deliberation it prevents learning since

after all why should we listen to a

fascist or a socialist or a right-wing

nut or a left wing nut it makes it

nearly impossible for people who have

legitimate but bridgeable differences to

sit down at the same table and hash

things out it robs us of a rational and

serious debate the one we need to have

about the very real and very big

challenges facing this nation it

Corson’s our culture and it is worse to

can send signals to the most extreme

elements of our society that perhaps

violence is a justifiable response so

what do we do as I found out after a

year in the White House changing this

type of politics is not easy and part of

what civility requires is that we recall

the simple lesson most of us learn from

our parents treat others as you would

like to be treated with courtesy and

respect

[Applause]

but civility in this age also requires

something more than just asking if we

can’t just all get along

today’s 24/7 echo chamber amplifies the

most inflammatory sound bites louder and

faster than ever before and it’s also

however given us unprecedented choice

whereas most Americans used to get their

news from the same three networks over

dinner or a few influential papers on

Sunday morning we now have the option to

get our information from any number of

blogs or websites or cable news shows

and this can have both a good and bad

development for democracy but if we

choose only to expose ourselves to

opinions and viewpoints that are in line

with our own studies suggest that we

become more polarized more set in our

ways that’ll only reinforce and even

deepen the political divides in this

country but if we choose to actively

seek out information that challenges our

assumptions and our beliefs

perhaps we can begin to understand where

the people who disagree with us are

coming from now this requires us to

agree on a certain set of facts to

debate from that’s why we need a vibrant

and thriving news business that is

separate from opinion makers and Talking

Heads

[Applause]

that’s why we need an educated citizenry

that values hard evidence and not just

assertion

[Applause]

as Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan

famously once said everybody is entitled

to his own opinion but not his own facts

still if you’re somebody who only reads

the editorial page at the New York Times

tried glancing at the page of The Wall

Street Journal once in a while if you’re

a fan of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh try

reading a few columns on the Huffington

Post website it may make your blood boil

your mind may not be changed but the

practice of listening to opposing views

is essential for effective citizenship

it is essential for our democracy

[Applause]

and so too is the practice of engaging

in different experiences with different

kinds of people if I look out at this

class and I I realized for four years in

Michigan you have been exposed to

diverse thinkers and scholars professors

and students don’t narrow that broad

intellectual exposure just because

you’re leaving here instead seek to

expand it if you grew up in a big city

spend some time with somebody who grew

up in a rural town if you find yourself

only hanging around with people of your

own race or ethnicity or religion

include people in your circle who have

different backgrounds life experiences

you’ll learn what it’s like to walk in

somebody else’s shoes and in the process

you will help to make this democracy

work

[Applause]

which brings me to the last ingredient

in the functioning democracy one that’s

perhaps most basic it has already been

mentioned and that is participation

class of 2010 I understand that one

effect of today’s poisonous political

climate is to push people away from

participation in public life if all you

see when you turn on the TV is name call

if all you hear about is how special

interests lobbying and partisanship

prevented Washington from getting

something done then you might think to

yourself what’s the point of getting

involved here’s the point when we don’t

pay close attention to the decisions

made by our leaders when we fail to

educate ourselves about the major issues

of the day when we choose not to make

our voices and opinions heard that’s

when democracy breaks down that’s when

power is abuse that’s when the most

extreme voices of our society fill the

void that we leave that’s when powerful

interests and their lobbyists are most

able to buy access and influence in the

corridors of power because none of us

are there to speak up and stop them

participation in public life doesn’t

mean that you all have to run for public

office though we could certainly use

some fresh faces in Washington but it

does mean that you should pay attention

and contribute in any way that you can

stay informed write letters or make

phone calls on behalf of an issue that

you care about

if electoral politics isn’t your thing

continue the tradition so many of you

started here at Michigan and find a way

to serve your community and your country

an act that will help you stay connected

to your fellow citizens and improve the

lives of those around you

you know it was 50 years ago that a

young candidate for president came here

to Michigan and delivered a speech that

inspired one of the most successful

service projects in American history and

as John F Kennedy described the ideals

behind what would become the Peace Corps

he issued a challenge to the students

who had assembled

in Ann Arbor on that October night on

your willingness to contribute part of

your life to this country he said will

depend the answer whether a free society

can compete I think it can he said this

democracy we have is a precious thing

for all the arguments and all the doubts

and all the cynicism that’s out there

today we should never forget that as

Americans we enjoy more freedoms and

opportunities than citizens in any other

nation on earth we are free to speak our

mind and worship as we please we are

free to choose our leaders and criticize

them if they let us down we have the

chance to get an education and work hard

and give our children a better life none

of this came easy none of this was

preordained the men and women who sent

in your chairs 10 years ago and 50 years

ago and 100 years ago they made America

possible through their toil and their

endurance and their imagination and

their faith their success and America’s

success was never a given and there is

no guarantee that the graduates will sit

in these same seats 10 years from now or

50 years from now or 100 years from now

will enjoy the same freedoms and

opportunities that you do you two will

have to strive you too will have to push

the boundaries of what seems possible

for the truth is our nation’s destiny

has never been certain what is certain

what has always been certain is the

ability to shape that destiny that is

what makes us different that is what

sets us apart

that is what makes us Americans our

ability at the end of the day to look

past all our differences and all of our

disagreements and still forge a common

future and that task is now in your

hands

as is the answer to the question posed

of this University half a century ago

about whether a free society can still

compete if you are willing as past

generations were willing to contribute

part of your life to the life of this

country then I like President Kennedy

believe we can because I believe in you

congratulations on your graduation 2010

may God bless him or may God bless the

United States of America