The President: It's
good to see you.
(inaudible dialogue)
Female Speaker: And so,
we've heard a lot in the
past speaker's series that
we've had with all the
amazing stuff about your
relentless optimism.
The President: I am a
relentless optimist.
Female Speaker: I was
wondering if you could talk
a little bit
more about that.
How you remain optimistic or
maybe you're not but people
still think that you are.
The President: Ah.
(laughter)
Some of this is
temperamental.
I -- people just have
different temperaments and I
tend to be a
pretty happy guy.
(laughter)
I'm pretty sure this is
cause I was born in Hawaii.
(laughter)
And so I spent most of
my early years in really
pleasant weather
all the time.
Splashing in
waves and things.
So that helped.
As I get older.
And certainly in this job,
what helps me a lot is
taking the long
view on things.
I think so much pessimism
and so much stress arises
out of looking at things in
this very narrow here and now.
But the day to day sort of
ups and downs and swings,
it's like the weather.
Mean, you're okay you
get an umbrella sometime.
Sometimes you take
off your jacket.
But if you can keep your eye
on the long Buick, not only
does that relieve stress,
but it also allows you to
make better decisions.
The things that last, the
things that are important
usually have to do
with how do you behave.
How did you treat
other people.
Did you work as hard
as you could have.
Did you do your best.
The things that you
have control over.
When I'm on my deathbed, the
things I will remember will
be walking a four-year-old
Malia to the park.
I'm not going to remember
some headline, I think
that's helpful.
But that's just me.
It's mostly the
Hawaii thing.
(laughter)
Female Speaker: What kind of
legacy would to leave in the
African American community?
The President: It's hard for
me to say what I've meant to
the African American
community -- I can say what
Michelle's meant to the
African American community.
(laughter)
Michelle's the bomb.
(laughter)
What concretely I can
say is that the work this
administration has done has
made a difference in the
lives of people who are
struggling and those folks
are disproportionately
people of color.
So whether it's the
affordable care act and
making sure people have
health care or its expanding
Pell grants or it's programs
to deal with low-income
communities to help them
rebuild and provide better
job training.
In each of those areas,
there are a lot of people
who are better off than
their lives would have been
because of the concrete
actions that we took.
There's a second category of
issues that have to do with
government action and are
specifically related to
civil rights, voting rights.
We now have an outstanding
civil rights division in the
Justice Department that is
actively filing suits and
winning lawsuits to make
sure people have the right
to vote.
To make sure that
discriminatory practices are
rooted out.
That's another category.
I've put in that same
category the work we have
been doing around
criminal justice reform.
And reshaping how we do
commutations and how we are
working with law enforcement
around best practices
for policing.
All right so that's a
whole category of issues.
And then there's just the
cultural and physiological
issues and it's interesting
and I think the impact may
be not just with black kids
taken for granted that
somebody who looks like
them can be president.
But their white peers take
it for granted that somebody
that doesn't look like
them can be president.
All of you are young enough
that in some ways, it's
plausible to you maybe that
race relations have
gotten worse.
But actually it's a
testimony to how much better
they've gotten.
That this shocks you.
Evidence that there may be
racial bias in our criminal
justice system.
You're hurt.
Whereas, 25, 30 years
ago, that was a given.
So sometimes progress
involves improvement but
then raising expectations.
Things are a lot better but
now our expectations are a
lot higher.
You know, we got a long
way to go when it comes to
racial issues.
You know, history can
go backwards as well
as forwards.
But the overall trajectory
I think is positive and the
caution I have for this
cohort -- because there
probably is some
self-selection going on.
You if you guys are
interning here with Obama,
then you're probably -- you
got certain, you are more
likely to have certain
political views.
(laughter)
So I just want to caution
all of you to make sure that
in wanting to improve race
relations, you don't become
so rigid and sensitive in
terms of your own views that
instead of opening up
dialogue, you harden lines
and divisions.
All right, guys turn.
Yes sir, over here.
Male Speaker: How do you
deal with knowing when to
compromise and how have you
learned how to compromise
and kind a more
or less stick to your guns'?
The President: Maybe my rule
of thumb is if the issue
we're working on -- I've got
a particular objective and
the compromise thwarts that
objective then that's
a bad compromise.
If the compromise makes
things better, but just not
as good as I think they need
to be, then my instinct is
that's a good compromise.
And probably the best
example of this is the
debate we had
around healthcare.
Once we get the structure in
place, it's like a starter
home and it would be nice if
we had granite countertops
in the kitchen but we
can't afford those yet.
There's no porch.
But it beats
sleeping outside.
But I think I've been
proven right on this.
Because I've got 20 million
people with health insurance
that haven't had it before.
Now it's far from our ideal,
but every single step in
social progress in this
country has started with a
starter home.
The political process is in
this country incremental.
Democracy of our sort
require reform as a general
proposition and
not revolution.
And that's okay.
There's nothing
wrong with better.
Because you hold out for the
best and that means that
whoever was going to help my
better doesn't have health
care that year.
Or, isn't getting as much
help on going to college as
they otherwise would have.
All right, well you
guys have been great.
I always say this to all
of you, even though it's
boilerplate I'm
going to repeat it.
Don't get bored,
don't get cynical.
You guys are the most
privileged people at the
most prosperous, secure
period in human history.
And so, no griping
and no moping.
The possibilities of what
you can do are enormous.
And that doesn't mean --
becoming president involves
a lot of luck.
Becoming Steve Jobs or
Quentin Tarantino -- that
requires -- there are
certain amount of breaks
that you get.
It's not because you are so
much better than anybody else.
And being (inaudible)
because you are better than
everybody else.
But a lot of times it's just
happen stance or things
worked out.
But being useful and having
a satisfying life and making
a contribution?
That is entirely
within your control.
Orient yourself towards
having an impact and making
a difference.
And you will.
And you'll be
happy doing it.
All right?
What have I got here?
(laughter)
You've just been
waiting for this.
Ah, this is so nice.
Look at this.
And like glitter
on the sides?
(laughter)
You got help didn't you.
Your parents helped you.
(laughter)
It's just like the
science projects.
This is so nice.
Well thank you everybody.
Female Speaker: Yeah.
Happy birthday almost.
The President: All right.
Almost.
Good luck everybody,
you're going to do great.
