Thursday, May 14, 2009
Obama Turns a Dis Into a Lesson...BET News Blog
President Obama Turns a Dis Into a Lesson
BET Blog May 14th, 2009
Despite being dissed by Arizona State University, President Obama decided to show up anyway, turning a seeming outrage into a tender teaching moment. Last month, Obama - a former U.S. senator, Harvard University graduate, University of Chicago law professor, Grammy-Award-winner and proverbial leader of the free world - learned that he wouldn’t be getting the customary honorary degree because university officials concluded that his “body of work” didn’t justify the honor. To hear Obama tell it, there was something to learn from ASU’s controversial assessment. “I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t yet achieved enough in my life,” Obama told a stadium full of graduates. “First of all, Michelle [Obama] concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.” The audience roared. “…In all seriousness,” he continued, “I come to affirm that one’s title, even a title like ‘president of the United States,’ says very little about how well one’s life has been led. …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 rightfully proud - you, too, cannot rest on your laurels. … Your own body of work is also yet to come.” Echoing the theme he has hammered during and after the presidential campaign, Obama urged his listeners to reject the “greed and irresponsibility that has rippled out from Wall Street,” … and focus on serving America and mastering their professions. “That other stuff, the trappings of success may be a byproduct of this larger mission, but it can’t be the central thing,” Obama said. “Just ask Bernie Madoff.”
http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/obama-turns-a-dis-into-a-lesson/
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