Dailies

Barack Obama - U.S. Senator for Illinois: Podcast

Barack Obama is a hell of a speaker. I loved this piece of his opening remarks while addressing the summer interns at the Partnership for Public Service. All transcription errors are mine.

… the possibility for us to engage in the process not of perfecting the
world, but improving it, of pushing that boulder up the hill so that at the
end of our lifetimes we can look back and say, "We made a difference," I
can't imagine a more worthy project.

You don't have to be in government to do it, but government is one of the
most important vehicles by which we do it. Now, most of the people here are
going to have enormous opportunities for so many things, and you can live an
outstanding life and make an outstanding contribution to your society in the
private sector. I don't mean to belittle that. But I do think that it's
important for all of you to consider: what are the risks that you're willing
to take so that you're not just following the conventional path? Because our
society constantly tells you that the thing that's most important is a big
bank account, a fancy house, a fast car, and all those things are nice, but
in the end, I think they show a poverty of ambition.

And the last note I'll make and then I'll sit down is that I tell you that
not to try to guilt trip you; it's not just because you have a debt to the
people who helped make your life a little bit better, although I think you
have that debt, and it's not just because you have an obligation to help the
unfortunate, although I do think you have that obligation, but it's actually
because I think you have an obligation to yourself. The people I know who
are satisfied in their lives, who feel good, have somehow hitched their life
up to something larger than themselves. That's how they fulfill their
potential, by looking outward and spreading their influence, and I can't
imagine a better way of doing that than by being involved with public
service. So I hope all of you continue on the path you're already on.

"… I think they show a poverty of ambition." What a great turn of phrase.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 7:43 am and is filed under politics, urls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.