Barack Obama
Field: politics
President Obama addresses ASU's Class of 2009 amid economic recession and global challenges, urging graduates to reject a 'me-first' definition of success based on titles, wealth, and status. He argues that such a focus distracts from values and breeds complacency, and instead calls on graduates to pursue meaningful work, serve others, and continually build a lifelong 'body of work.' He cites historical and contemporary figures who succeeded without prestige to encourage graduates to change the world.
Key moments
- 01 Joking about the ASU controversy over not awarding him an honorary degree and noting one's title says little about a well-led life
- 02 Describing the difficult times graduates face, including recession, two wars, and global threats
- 03 Critiquing the 'me-first' approach to success for compromising values and breeding complacency
- 04 Urging graduates to apply their degrees to public service and to 'find somebody to be successful for'
- 05 Offering examples of late or unlikely successes (Paine, Julia Child, Colonel Sanders, Churchill, Kurt Warner)
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Barack Obama at Arizona State, 2009
A commencement address about rejecting status as success, building a lifelong body of work, and using ambition in service of something larger.
Speech arc
- 01ASU welcome
Opening move
- 02Honorary degree joke
Speech beat
- 03Hard times
Speech beat
- 04False success
Speech beat
- 05Body of work
Speech beat
- 06Service
Speech beat
- 07Late bloomers
Speech beat
- 08Start now
Final charge
Reset: A title is not a life well led
Obama turns the honorary-degree controversy into the speech's central standard: status, offices, and acclaim cannot measure whether a life has been useful.
Humor
The opening joke lowers the temperature around public controversy and lets the address move toward values.
Measure
The presidency itself becomes an example of a title that still leaves more to learn and achieve.
Frame
Graduates are asked to judge success by contribution rather than applause.
Obama turns the honorary-degree controversy into the speech's central standard: status, offices, and acclaim cannot measure whether a life has been useful.
Context: Graduates enter a strained world
The class leaves ASU during recession, war, and global uncertainty, so the address treats commencement as the start of responsibility rather than a ceremonial finish.
Economy
The job market is difficult, but difficulty is not permission to shrink the horizon.
World
Public problems are presented as invitations for educated people to participate.
Courage
Hard conditions make values more visible, not less important.
The class leaves ASU during recession, war, and global uncertainty, so the address treats commencement as the start of responsibility rather than a ceremonial finish.
Work: Build a body of work over time
Obama argues for patience, persistence, and repeated useful action, drawing on unlikely and late-blooming examples to loosen fear of an imperfect start.
Practice
A meaningful life is cumulative: one project, choice, and act of service after another.
Examples
Historical and everyday models show that influence often arrives after long, unglamorous effort.
Resilience
Setbacks become material for the next contribution instead of proof that the path is closed.
Obama argues for patience, persistence, and repeated useful action, drawing on unlikely and late-blooming examples to loosen fear of an imperfect start.
• Key takeaways •
Status is not success
Connects to success.
Difficulty clarifies values
Connects to public service.
Work compounds over time
Connects to resilience.
Ambition needs service
Connects to ambition.
Start before you feel finished
Connects to civic responsibility.
Closing charge
The closing charge turns ambition outward: success should answer to people, communities, and causes beyond the self.
Find somebody to be successful for
Service
Achievement gains weight when it opens doors or solves problems for others.
Purpose
Graduates are urged to attach their skills to a need larger than personal advancement.
Urgency
The work does not wait for perfect credentials; it begins with the next choice.
The closing charge turns ambition outward: success should answer to people, communities, and causes beyond the self.
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Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording
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