Learn English Barack Obama Keep things going and dont screw it up with BIG Subtitles
[Applause]
well thank you Thank You president crow
for that extremely generous introduction
for your inspired leadership as well
here at ASU I want to thank the entire
ASU community for the honor of attaching
my name to a scholarship program that
will help open the doors of higher
education to students from every
background what a wonderful gift thank
you that notion of opening doors of
opportunity to everybody that is the
core mission of this school it’s the
core mission of my presidency and I hope
this program will serve as a model for
universities across this country so
thank you so much
I want to obviously congratulate the
class of 2009 for your unbelievable
achievement I want to thank the parents
the uncles the grandpas the grandmas
cousins calabash cousins everybody who
was involved in helping these
extraordinary young people arrive at
this moment I also want to apologize to
the entire state of Arizona for stealing
away your wonderful former governor
Janet Napolitano
but you’ve got a fine governor here and
I also know that Janet is now applying
her extraordinary talents to serve our
entire country as the secretary of
homeland security keeping America safe
and she’s doing a great job now before I
begin I’d just like to clear the air
about that little controversy everybody
was talking about a few weeks back I
have to tell you I really thought this
was much ado about nothing but I do
think we all learned an important lesson
I learned never again to pick another
team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA
brackets
it won’t happen again president crow and
the Board of Regents will soon learn
about being audited by the IRS
[Applause]
now in all seriousness I come here not
to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t
yet achieved enough in my life
first of all Michele concurs with that
assessment she has a long list of things
that I have not yet done waiting for me
when I get home but more than that I
come to embrace the notion that I
haven’t done enough in my life I
heartily concur I come to affirm that
once titled even a title like president
of the United States says very little
about how well one’s life has been like
that no matter how much you’ve done or
how successful you’ve been there’s
always more to do always more to learn
and always more to achieve
[Applause]
and I want to say to you today graduates
class of 2009 that despite having
achieved a remarkable milestone in your
life despite the fact that you and your
families are so rightfully proud you too
cannot rest on your laurels not even
some of those remarkable young people
who were introduced earlier not even
that young lady whose got 4 degrees is
getting today you can’t rest your own
body of work is also yet to come
now some graduating classes have marched
into this stadium in easy times times of
peace and stability when we call on our
graduates simply to keep things going
and don’t screw it up other classes have
received their diplomas in times of
trial and upheaval when the very
foundations of our lives
the old order has been shaken the old
ideas and institutions have crumbled and
a new generation is called upon to
remake the world it should be clear to
you by now the category into which all
of you fall for we gather here tonight
in times of extraordinary difficulty for
the nation and for the world the economy
remains in the midst of a historic
recession the worst we’ve seen since the
Great Depression the result in part of
greed and irresponsibility that rippled
out from Wall Street and Washington as
we spent beyond our means and failed to
make hard choices
[Applause]
we’re engaged in two wars and a struggle
against terrorism the threats of climate
change nuclear proliferation and
pandemic define national boundaries and
easy solutions for many of you these
challenges are also felt in more
personal terms perhaps you’re still
looking for a job we’re struggling to
figure out what career path makes sense
in this disrupted economy maybe you’ve
got student loans now you definitely
have student loans or credit card debts
and you’re wondering how you’ll ever pay
them off maybe you’ve got a family to
raise and you’re wondering how you’ll
ensure that your children have the same
opportunities you’ve had to get an
education and pursue their dreams now in
the face of these challenges it may be
tempting to fall back on the formulas
for success that have been peddled so
frequently in recent years it goes
something like this you’re taught to
chase after all the usual brass rings
you try to be on this who’s who’s list
or that top 100 list you you chase after
the big money and you figure out how big
your corner office is you worry about
whether you have a fancy enough title or
a fancy enough car that’s the message
that’s sent each and every day or has
been in our culture for far too long
that through material possessions
through a ruthless competition pursued
only on your own behalf
that’s how you will measure success now
you can take that road
and it may work for some but at this
critical juncture in our nation’s
history
at this difficult time let me suggest
that such an approach won’t get you
where you want to go it displays a
poverty of ambition that in fact the
elevation of appearance over substance
of celebrity over character of
short-term gains over lasting
achievement is precisely what your
generation needs to help end
[Applause]
a su I want to highlight I want to
highlight two main problems with that
old tired me first approach to life
first of all it distracts you from
what’s truly important and it may lead
you to compromise your values and your
principles and your commitments think
about it it’s in chasing titles and
status in worrying about the next
election rather than the national
interests and the interests of those who
you’re supposed to represent that
politicians so often lose their ways in
Washington they spend time thinking
about polls but not about principle it
was in pursuit of gaudy short-term
profits and the bonuses that came with
them that so many folks lost their way
on Wall Street engaging in extraordinary
risks with other people’s money
in contrast the leaders we revere the
businesses and institutions that last
they are not generally the result of a
narrow pursuit of popularity or personal
advancement but of devotion to some
bigger purpose the preservation of the
Union or the determination to lift a
country out of a depression the creation
of a quality product a commitment to
your customers your workers your
shareholders and your community a
commitment to make sure that an
institution like ASU is inclusive and
diverse and giving opportunity to all
that’s the hallmark of real success
[Applause]
that other stuff that other stuff the
trappings of success may be a byproduct
of this larger mission but it can’t be
the central thing just ask Bernie Madoff
that’s the first problem with the old
attitude the second problem with the old
approach to success is that a relentless
focus on the outward markers of success
can lead to complacency it can make you
lazy we too often let the external the
material thing serve as indicators that
we’re doing well even though something
inside us tells us that we’re not doing
our best that we’re avoiding that which
is hard but also necessary that that
we’re shrinking from rather than rising
to the challenges of the age and the
thing is in this new hyper competitive
age none of us none of us can afford to
be complacent that’s true whatever
profession you choose professors might
earn the distinction of tenure but that
doesn’t guarantee that they’ll keep
putting in the long hours and late
nights and have the passion and the
drive to be great educators the same
principle is true in your personal life
being a parent is not just a matter of
paying the bills doing the bare minimum
it’s not just bringing a child into the
world that matters but the acts of love
and sacrifice it takes to raise and
educate that child and give them
opportunity
it can happen to presidents as well if
you think about Abraham Lincoln and
Millard Fillmore had the very same title
they’re both presidents of the United
States but their tenure in office and
their legacy could not be more different
and this is not just true for
individuals it’s also true for this
nation in recent years in many ways
we’ve become enamored with our own past
success lulled into complacency by the
glitter of our own achievements we’ve
become accustomed to the title of
military superpower forgetting the
qualities that got us there not just the
power of our weapons but the discipline
and valor and the code of conduct of our
men and women in uniform
[Applause]
the Marshall Plan and the Peace Corps
and all those initiatives that show our
commitment to working with other nations
to pursue the ideals of opportunity and
equality and freedom that have made us
who we are that’s what made us a
superpower we become accustomed to our
economic dominance in the world
forgetting that it wasn’t reckless deals
and get-rich-quick schemes that got us
where we are but hard work and smart
ideas quality products and wise
investments we started taking shortcuts
we started living on credit instead of
building up savings we saw businesses
focused more on rebranding and
repackaging than innovating and
developing new ideas that improve our
lives all the while the rest of the
world has grown hungry more Restless in
constant motion to build and to discover
not content with where they are right
now determined to strive for more
they’re coming so graduates it’s now
abundantly clear that we need to start
doing things a little bit different in
your own lives you’ll need to
continuously adapt to a continuously
changing economy you’ll end up having
more than one job and more than one
career over the course of your life
you’ll have to keep on gaining new
skills possibly even new degrees and
you’ll have to keep on taking risks as
new opportunities arise and as a nation
we’ll need a fundamental change of
perspective and attitude it’s clear that
we need to build a new foundation a
stronger foundation for our economy and
our prosperity rethinking how we grow
our economy how we use energy how we
educate our children how we care for our
sick how we treat our environment many
of
[Applause]
many of our current challenges are
unprecedented there are no standard
remedies no go to fixes this time around
in class of 2009 that’s why we’re going
to need your help we need young people
like you to step up
we need your Darrin we need your
enthusiasm we need your energy we need
your imagination and let me be clear
when I say young I’m not just referring
to the date of your birth certificate
I’m talking about an approach to life a
quality of mind and a quality of heart a
willingness to follow your passions
regardless of whether they lead to
fortune and fame a willingness to
question conventional wisdom and rethink
old dogmas a lack of regard for all the
traditional markers of status and
prestige and in a commitment instead to
doing what’s meaningful to you what
helps others what makes a difference in
this world
[Applause]
that’s the spirit that led a band of
patriots not much older than most of you
to take on an empire to start this
experiment in democracy we call America
it’s what drove young pioneers west to
Arizona and beyond it’s what drove young
women to reach for the ballot what
inspired a 30 year old escaped slave to
run an underground railroad to freedom
what inspired a young man named cezzah
to go out and help farmworkers what
inspired a 26 year old preacher to lead
a bus boycott for justice
it’s what led firefighters and police
officers in the prime of their lives up
the stairs of those burning towers and
young people across this country to drop
what they were doing and come to the aid
of a flooded New Orleans it’s what led
to guys in the garage
named Hewlett and Packard to form a
company that would change the way we
live and work what led scientists and
laboratories and novelists and coffee
shops to labor in obscurity until they
finally succeeded in changing the way we
see the world that’s the great American
story young people just like you
following their passions determined to
meet the times on their own terms they
weren’t doing it for the money their
titles weren’t fancy ex-slave Minister
student citizen a whole bunch of them
didn’t get honorary degrees
but they changed the course of history
and so can you ASU Sulkin new class of
2009
[Applause]
so can you with a degree from this
outstanding institution you have
everything you need to get started
you’ve got no excuses you have no
excuses not to change the world
did you study business go start a
company
or why not help us struggling
not-for-profit find better more
effective ways to serve folks in need
you study nursing
go under staff clinics and hospitals
across this country are desperate for
your health you study education
teach in a high need school where the
kids really need you give a chance to
kids who can’t who can’t get everything
they need maybe in their neighborhood
maybe not even their home but we can’t
afford to give up on them prepare them
to compete for any job anywhere in the
world you study engineering help us lead
a green revolution developing new
sources of clean energy that will power
our economy and preserve our planet but
you can also make your mark and smaller
more individual ways that’s what so many
of you have already done during your
time here at ASU tutoring children
registering voters doing your own small
part to fight hunger and homelessness
AIDS and cancer one student said it best
when she spoke about her senior
engineering project building medical
devices for people with disabilities in
a village in Africa her professor showed
a video of the folks they’d been helping
and she said when we saw the people on
the videos we began to feel a connection
to them it made us want to be successful
for them think about that it made us
want to be successful for them that’s a
great model for all of us find somebody
to be successful for raise their hopes
rise to their needs as you think about
your life after graduation as you look
into the mirror tonight after the
partying is done
that shouldn’t get such a big cheer you
may look in the mirror tonight and you
may see somebody who’s not really sure
what to do with their lives that’s what
you may see but a troubled child might
look at you and see a mentor a homebound
senior citizen might see a lifeline the
folks at your local homeless shelter
might see a friend none of them care how
much money is in your bank account or
whether you’re important at work or
whether you’re famous around town they
just know that you’re somebody who cares
somebody who makes a difference in their
lives
so class of 2009
that’s what building a body of work is
all about it’s about the daily labor the
many individual acts the choices large
and small that add up over time over a
lifetime to a lasting legacy that’s what
you want on your tombstone it’s about
not being satisfied with the latest
achievement the latest gold star because
the one thing I know about a body of
work is that it’s never finished it’s
cumulative it deepens and expands with
each day that you give your best each
day that you give back and contribute to
the life of your community and your
nation you may have setbacks and you may
have failures but you’re not done you’re
not even getting started not by a long
shot and if you ever forget that just
look to history Thomas Paine was a
failed corset maker a failed teacher and
a failed tax collector before he made
his mark on history with a low book
called common sense that helped ignite a
revolution
Julia Child didn’t publish her first
cookbook until she was almost 50 Colonel
Sanders didn’t open up his first
Kentucky Fried Chicken til he was in the
sixties Winston Churchill was dismissed
as little more than a has-been who
enjoyed scotch a little bit too much
before he took over as prime minister
and saw Great Britain through its finest
hour
no one thought a former football player
stocking shelves at the local
supermarket would return to the game he
loved to become a Super Bowl MVP and
then come here to Arizona and leave your
Cardinals to their first Super Bowl your
body of work is never done
each of them at one point in their life
didn’t have any title or much status to
speak of but they had passion a
commitment to following that passion
wherever would lead and to working hard
every step along the way and that’s not
just how you’ll ensure that your own
life is well lived
it’s how you’ll make a difference in the
life of our nation I talked earlier
about the selfishness selfishness and
irresponsibility on Wall Street in
Washington that rippled out and led to
so many of the problems that we face
today I talked about the focus on
outward markers of success then can help
lead us astray but here’s the thing the
class of 2009 it works the other way too
acts of sacrifice and decency without
regard to what’s in it for you that also
creates ripple effects ones that lift up
families and communities that spread
opportunity and boost our economy that
reach folks in the Forgotten corners of
the world
who committed young people like you see
the true face of America our strength
our goodness our diversity our enduring
power our ideals
I know starting your careers in troubled
times is a challenge but it is also a
privilege
because it’s moments like these that
force us to try harder and dig deeper
and to discover gifts we never knew we
had to find the greatness that lies
within each of us so don’t ever shy away
from that endeavor
don’t stop adding to your body of work I
can promise that you will be the better
for that continued effort as well this
nation that we all love congratulations
class of 2009 on your graduation god
bless you and God bless the United
States of America