Barack Obama Inspirational Speech (Transcript)

Barack Obama

Full transcript of Barack Obama’s Inspirational Speech – An Advice to Entrepreneurs.

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BARACK OBAMA: Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

Well, I’m so grateful to be a recipient this award, to be keeping such extraordinary company.

I, first of all, want to thank all of you who were involved in making this possible. But the main thing that I want to do here is to just say how I’m inspired by the young people who are represented here. Because I think that’s the purpose ultimately of this foundation.

And I want to tell just a brief story, because Archbishop Tutu is here — one of my heroes — and let you know where I was when I was about your age.

I’m really dating myself now. Although I’m also betting Archbishop, because back in 1979, I was a freshman in college at Occidental College in California.

And I had had a somewhat rocky youth and teenage years. My father wasn’t at home. I was growing up partly with my grandparents in high school. I’d gotten into trouble occasionally, was what my mother called a good time Charlie – meaning I wasn’t really serious in terms of my studies, in terms of my work.

Had some awareness of the world around me. Had some sense of injustice and unfairness. But it wasn’t finally home, it wasn’t well developed.