Obama Strikes Personal Tone in Commencement Speech on Race, Manhood

Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post(ATLANTA) -- President Obama said Sunday that he is motivated by the knowledge that “but for the grace of God … I might have been in prison,” in a commencement address at historically black Morehouse College, where he spoke frankly about race and young men’s responsibilities to 500 male graduates.

In his second commencement address of this graduation season, the president called on the graduates to set examples for others and reach out to those who need help, telling them that as a black man he felt a unique connection to assist those in need because he could have faced similar circumstances.

“There but for the grace of God go I, I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison,” he said at the commencement ceremony at Morehouse College. “I might have been unemployed, I might not have been able to support a family, and that motivates me.”

The president said that many young black men “make bad choices,” but told the graduates, “We’ve got no time for excuses,” because the difficulties they’ve faced “pale in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured, and if they overcame them, you can too.”

“Growing up, I made quite a few myself.  Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down.  I had a tendency sometimes 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 that there is no longer any room for excuses,” he said.

The president spoke in extremely personal terms about growing up without a father present in his life, attributing his upbringing to his “heroic single mother,” and said that his legacy will be defined by his success as an active father and husband, a role he encouraged the graduates to adopt in their own lives.

“My whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me,” he said. “I want to break that cycle where a father’s not at home, where a father’s not helping to raise that son or daughter.  I’ve tried to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.

“I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed; I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted; I will not be thinking about the speech I gave; I will not be thinking about the Nobel Prize I received,” he said. “I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters.  I’ll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife.  I’ll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table and seeing them happy and healthy and knowing that they were loved. And I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by all of them.”

The president, who received an honorary degree from the school, honored one of the college’s famous graduates, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who “helped to forge the intellect, the discipline, the compassion, the soul force that would transform America.”

“He, in turn, taught others to be unafraid.  And over time he taught a nation to be unafraid and over the last 50 years, thanks to the moral force of Dr. King and a Moses generation that overcame their fear, and their cynicism, and their despair, barriers have come tumbling down and new doors of opportunity have swung open,” he said. “Laws, hearts, and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to serve as president of these United States of America.”

Rain poured down on the crowd throughout the ceremony, forcing many in attendance to don plastic ponchos, and thunder rang out and lightning flickered in the sky as Obama wound down his speech.  The president stayed dry on stage but sympathized with the rain-soaked graduates and attendees, even noting that his wife, Michelle Obama, would not be pleased with the rainy day because of what it would do to her famous hair.

“You all are going to get wet, and I’d 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 there with you in spirit,” he said. “Michelle would not be sitting in the rain. She has taught me about hair.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Michelle Obama Makes Light of President’s Failures in Graduation Speech

iStockphoto(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) -- Delivering her only speech at a high school graduation this year, first lady Michelle Obama joked about the failures her husband, President Obama, has encountered in life as she told a graduating class of high school seniors in Nashville, Tenn. Saturday that in order to achieve success in life, they must first experience failure.

“When something doesn’t go your way, you’ve just got to adjust. You’ve got to dig deep and work like crazy, and that’s when you’ll find out what you’re really made of during those hard times, but you can only do that if you’re willing to put yourself in a position where you might fail, and that’s why so often failure, is the key to success for so many great people,” Obama said at the graduation ceremony for Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School.

“Oprah was demoted from her first job as a news anchor. Now she doesn’t even need a last name,” she said.  “And then there’s this guy Barack Obama. … I could take up a whole afternoon talking about his failures, but he lost his first race for Congress, and now he gets to call himself my husband.

“All jokes aside, the point is that that resilience and grit, that ability to pick yourself up when you fall, those are some of the most important skills you’ll need as you make your way through college and through life,” she said. “I want you to tell yourself that no matter what challenges you face that you will commit yourself to achieving your goals no matter where life takes you.”

As a student introduced Obama, he noted that his own mother found inspiration in the first lady and her well toned arms.

“Now my mom’s arms look better than mine,” the graduate said.

“I would love to see your mom’s arms. Where are they?” Obama asked as she started her speech and asked the graduate’s mother to stand.  ”Yes! I love that, and she’s showing them off too!”

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Obama to Start ‘Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tours’

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will kick off a series of Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tours with a trip Thursday to Austin, Texas, a White House spokesman announced Sunday.

“In his State of the Union, the president laid out his belief that the middle class is the engine of economic growth. To reignite that engine, there are three areas we need to invest in: 1) jobs, 2) skills 3) opportunity,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“Even though some in Congress are determined to create more self-inflicted economic wounds, there are things Washington could be doing right now to help American businesses, schools and workers,” he said. “We need to build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years, and that means investing in things that are already creating good-paying, stable jobs that can support a middle class family.”

In Austin, the president plans to visit Manor New Tech High School, meet with technology entrepreneurs, visit a tech company, and meet with middle class workers, according to the White House.

“He will visit these places to learn what has helped them become successful and use these models of growth to encourage Congress to act,” Earnest said.

“Things are getting better, but our economic recovery is not as strong as it could be and far too many middle class families are still struggling. The question is, will Congress will join with the president to make sure the middle class is strong and secure,” Earnest said.

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Obama Gives Commencement Address at Ohio State University

iStockphoto(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- In his first commencement address of this year’s graduation season, President Obama encouraged more than 10,000  graduates gathered at Ohio State University to pay heed to their duty as citizens and become active participants in their country in the years ahead.

“This democracy is ours. As citizens, we understand that it is not about what America may do for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government and to the class of 2013 you have to be involved in that process.”

Obama said as he delivered the commencement address before more than 57,000 people at the football stadium at Ohio State University.

The president drew on recent tragedies, from the Boston marathon bombing to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as he relayed the way actively engaged citizens have rallied together in the country’s time of need.

“Just look at the past year. When a hurricane struck our mightiest city, and a factory exploded in a small-town in Texas. We saw citizenship. When bombs went off in Boston, and when a malevolent spree of gunfire visited a movie theater, a temple, an Ohio high school, a first-grade classroom in Connecticut. We saw citizenship. In the aftermath of darkest tragedy, we have seen the American spirit at its brightest,” he said.

“And that’s what citizenship is. It’s at the heart of our founding – that as Americans, we are blessed with God-given talents and inalienable rights, but with those rights come responsibilities – to ourselves and to one another, and to future generations,” he said.

But as he offered his advice to the graduates, he acknowledged that this duty must also be renewed by lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

“In Washington – well, this is a joyous occasion, so let me put this charitably: I think it’s fair to say our democracy isn’t working as well as we know it can. It could do better,” he said.

The president told the students that before you can reach success, you must endure failure, pointing to basketball legend Michael Jordan and himself as examples.

“We remember Michael Jordan’s six championships, we don’t remember nearly 15,000 missed shots,” he said. “As for me, I lost my first race for Congress, and look at me now – I’m an honorary graduate of The Ohio State University!”

The president was presented with an honorary doctorate along with photographer Annie Liebovitz, Yale Professor Thomas Pollard and Reinhard Rummel, whose career focuses on studying the earth’s gravity field.

Obama traveled to Ohio numerous times during the presidential election last year and referenced one of his stops at Sloopy’s, which he mispronounced as he imparted some advice on the new graduates.

“One time, I stopped at Sloppy’s to grab some lunch. Many of you – it’s Sloopy’s, I know…I’m coming off a foreign trip,” he joked. “Many of you were still eating breakfast at 11:30 on a Tuesday. So to the class of 2013 I’ll offer my first piece of advice early: enjoy it while you still can. Soon, you will not get to wake up and have breakfast at 11:30 on a Tuesday. And once you have kids, it gets even earlier.”

As he closed out his address, he challenged the Class of 2013 “to do better.”

“Look at all America has accomplished. Look at how big we’ve been. I dare you class of 2013 to do better. I dare you to dream bigger,” he said. “From what I have seen of your generation, I have no doubt you will. I wish you courage, and compassion, and all the strength you need for that tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Obama Mixes Serious Tone with Humor at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) --Amid the glitz and glamour, humor and levity normally surrounding the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama injected a somber tone to the annual soiree as he invoked the memories of those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing and West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion earlier this month and praised not only the work of the first responders in each of those tragedies but also the journalists dedicated to covering them.

“These have been some very hard days for too many of our citizens. Even as we gather here tonight our thoughts are not far from the people of Boston and the people of West, Texas. There are families who are in the Midwest who are coping with some terrible floods, so we’ve had some difficult days but even when the days seem darkest, we have seen humanity shine at its brightest,” the president said at the Washington Hilton Hotel Saturday.

“We’ve seen first responders and national guardsmen who dashed into danger, law enforcement officers who lived their oath to serve and to protect, and every day Americans who are opening their homes and their hearts to perfect strangers.

“We also saw journalists at their best, especially those who took the time to wade upstream through the torrent of digital rumors, to chase down leads and verify facts and painstakingly put the pieces together to inform and to educate and to tell stories that demanded to be told,” the president said.

The president doled out particular praise for newspapers like the Boston Globe, who provided detailed information to the public as its city coped with a major terrorist attack.

“If anyone wonders for example if newspapers are a thing of the past, all you need to do is to pick up or log on to papers like the Boston Globe,” the president said to applause. “When their communities and wider world needed them most, they were there, making sense of events that might at first blush seem beyond our comprehension and that’s what great journalism is, and that’s what great journalists do.”

But while the president, who was accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, presented a serious tone for a portion of his speech, he also took some time to poke fun at himself, even highlighting some of the criticisms and perceptions some hold of him.

“Look I get it, these days I look in the mirror and I have to admit I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be,” Obama said to laughter.

“I’m also hard at work on plans for the Obama library and some have suggested we put it in my birthplace but I’d rather keep it in the United States,” Obama joked.

Pointing out his flap when he called California Attorney General Kamala Harris the “best looking attorney general,” the president joked, “As you might imagine I got in trouble when I got back home. Who knew Eric Holder was so sensitive?”

The president also addressed his recent “charm offensive” with members of Congress as he tries to reach across the aisle to Republicans.

“My charm offensive has helped me learn some interesting things about what’s going on in congress. It turns out absolutely nothing,” he said.

And he took aim at a potential Republican 2016 hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, who’s short time in the Senate resembled that of President Obama when he first entered elected office.

 “One senator who has reached across the aisle recently is Marco Rubio but I don’t know about 2016, I mean the guy has not even finished a single term in the senate and he thinks he’s ready to be president,” the president said sarcastically. “Kids these days.”

The evening’s festivities offered journalists and politicians the opportunity to hobnob with celebrities who descend upon Washington, D.C. for the annual dinner, which is hosted by the White House Correspondents Association and features a presentation of scholarships to journalism students and awards to esteemed colleagues in the industry.

Late night talk show host Conan O’Brien entertained the guests, but even he wasn’t free of the president’s comedic aim.

When the president discussed the WHCA’s decision to select O’Brien as the evening’s entertainment, he said they were “faced with that aged old dilemma, do you offer it to him now or wait 5 years and then give it to Jimmy Fallon?”

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White House Likes Reid’s Plan to Delay Sequester Cuts

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) -- With the effect of across-the-board spending cuts rippling throughout the country, the White House said Wednesday President Obama supports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s proposed plan to delay additional sequester cuts temporarily.

“We support this effort to allow both sides to find a longer-term solution that replaces the sequester permanently in a balanced way so we can stop these harmful cuts that are hurting our economy and middle-class families across the country,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at the daily briefing.

With FAA furloughs causing coast-to-coast airport delays, Reid has proposed an anti-sequestration bill that would cancel the budget cuts for five months, paid for with savings from the winding down of the war in Afghanistan.

The plan does not, however, include new tax revenue, the president’s previous sticking point for any such deal.

“We believe that Senator Reid’s proposal is a good one in that it would temporarily delay the sequester and all the negative effects that we’re talking about now to air travelers and families and seniors, as well as the job loss and the drag on our economy, in order to allow for the discussions that the president is engaged in to try to find common ground with Republicans to bear fruit so that we can reduce our deficit in a balanced way and eliminate the sequester entirely,” Carney said.

He stressed that the Reid plan is just a “Band-Aid.” “The fact is, on dealing with the sequester, Congress has to act,” he said.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Raido

Dan Pfeiffer: President Obama Won’t Enact ‘Romney Economic Plan’

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINTON) -- Reacting to an early rejection of the expected details of the White House’s budget proposal by Speaker John Boehner, President Obama’s senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer pushed back this morning on ABC's This Week, saying that the president would not enact “the Romney economic plan.”

“What this president will not do is, come in, right after getting re-elected, and enact the Romney economic plan, which is what the Republicans in the House are proposing,” Pfeiffer said.

The White House is expected to release details of a budget proposal this week that includes cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which are unpopular among some Democrats.

But Pfeiffer said those entitlement cuts would only happen on two conditions.

“One, it’s part of a balanced package that includes asking – closing tax loopholes that benefit the wealthiest, and two, that it has protections for the most vulnerable, including the oldest seniors,” he said.

The news of those details in President Obama’s budget was met with a swift statement from the House speaker indicating that raising taxes was a non-starter.

“When the president visited the Capitol last month, House Republicans stated a desire to find common ground and urged him not to make savings we agree upon conditional on another round of tax increases. If reports are accurate, the president has not heeded that call,” Boehner said in a statement Friday. “If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there’s no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes. That’s no way to lead and move the country forward.”

Pfeiffer also addressed the ongoing negotiations over a possible bill that would address gun violence in light of the shooting in Newtown, Conn. last year that left 20 children dead. At this point, only a bill that includes new rules on background checks is likely. Pfeiffer scolded Republican members of the Senate for insisting on a filibuster, recalling the president’s most recent State of the Union address.

“Every member of Congress stood up and applauded when the president called for an up or down vote on these measures. Now that the cameras are off and they are not forced to look the Newtown families in the face, now they want to make it harder and filibuster it,” Pfeiffer said.

Finally, the president’s senior adviser addressed tensions between the United States and North Korea. Pfeiffer said the administration would not be surprised if the secretive communist regime conducted another missile test.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if they did a test. They’ve done that in the past. Like I said, this is something that’s been going on with North Korea for many, many years, long before President Obama came to power,” Pfeiffer said.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

President Obama Plays Golf for Second Weekend in a Row

iStockphoto(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama went out for a round of golf Saturday afternoon, his second weekend in a row to hit the links at a course at Joint Base Andrews.

The president golfed with White House aides Marvin Nicholson, Joe Paulsen, and Michael Brush.

Last Saturday, the president played golf at the same course with Nicholson, Brush, and friend and Chicago businessman Marty Nesbitt.  The outing marked his first time on the golf course since the sequester cuts went into place on March 1. The president also took in the Syracuse-Marquette NCAA tournament basketball game at the Verizon Center, where he spent time talking with Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III last weekend.

It's not known what the president shot.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

President Obama Attends Easter Service at St. Johns

Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Dressed in their Easter Sunday best, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, attended an Easter Sunday service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

The first family made the short walk from the White House across Lafayette Park to St. John’s, known as the “Church of the Presidents.”

“Happy Easter everybody. Happy Easter,” the president said to the press as he walked across the park.

When the president entered the church, many in the congregation stood and applauded him with some calling out “Happy Easter” to the family.

The president heard a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, who told the congregation it is acceptable to have doubts about their faith, but it is important not to dwell in the past.

“When we dwell on the past, when we dwell on the if onlys of life, we forget that God addresses us in the now,” Leon said.

The sermon turned slightly political when Leon said that there are some members of the religious right who are trying to pull people back rather than letting them move forward.

“The captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back back. For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet and for immigrants to be on their side of the border,” Leon said. “What you and I understand is that when Jesus says you can’t hang onto me, he says you know it’s not about the past, it’s not about the before, it’s not about the way things were but about the way things can be in the now.”

“Will you accept the invitation from our gospel today to see things with Easter vision, recognizing reality in a different and new and wonderful way?” he later added. “Today the choice is yours.  Jesus Christ is risen today. That’s the proclamation.  May god bless you with Easter vision now and forever. Amen.”

But it wasn’t just a sermon about faith.  The president also heard some smack talk about baseball when the reverend shared his views on the New York Yankees.

“I promised myself that I wouldn’t say anything about baseball today, but I can’t…The last time that I said that I hated the Yankees I got into a lot of trouble, so today I’m not going to say that I hate the Yankees, and it’s hard to hate a team that is falling apart,” Leon said as the congregation laughed. ”A-Rod’s got a bummed knee.  Jeter’s on the DL. Teixeira’s got a bad, a bad wrist, I think. Granderson can’t run and they’re closer is about 55 years old so I figure why bash on people while they’re down.”

President Obama, the first lady and his daughters each took Holy Communion, and as they sat in their pew, they greeted congregants who were in the aisles for communion.

As the first family walked out of the church, a light sprinkle of rain fell, but the president chose not to take the short motorcade back to the White House, saying instead “We’re going to walk!”

This marked the president’s third visit to St. John’s for an Easter service.  The president and his family celebrated Easter at the Episcopalian church in 2009 and 2012.

In his weekly address, the president called for prayer and reflection over this Easter and Passover weekend.

“In the midst of all of our busy and noisy lives, these holy days afford us the precious opportunity to slow down and spend some quiet moments in prayer and reflection,” Obama said.  

“This weekend, I hope we’re all able to take a moment to pause and reflect, to embrace our loved ones, to give thanks for our blessings, to rededicate ourselves to interests larger than our own,” he said. “And to all the Christian families who are celebrating the Resurrection, Michelle and I wish you a blessed and joyful Easter.”

On Monday, the president and first family will host hundreds of Americans at the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll, and on Friday, the president will participate in the Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Obama Stops by Marquette-Syracuse Basketball Game

Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama caught a little bit of hoops fever Saturday afternoon, stopping by the Marquette-Syracuse NCAA men’s college basketball tournament game at the Verizon Center.

The basketball-loving president didn’t pick Marquette or Syracuse to make it to the Elite 8 in his bracket, but instead, thought Miami and Indiana would make it to that level.  The president had picked Indiana to win it all, but the team was knocked out by Syracuse in the Sweet 16.

The president said he picked Syracuse to win other games at the urging of Vice President Joe Biden, who attended Syracuse for law school.

“Biden told me that if I didn’t pick em’ he wouldn’t talk to me,” Obama said while filling out his bracket with ESPN.

Earlier this week, the president acknowledged that his bracket is “busted.”  Three of his Final Four teams are still in the tournament.

While at the Verizon Center, the president talked with Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, also known as RGIII, according to a tweet from a reporter.

Syracuse ousted Marquette on Saturday 55 to 39.

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