I've Said Consistently That I Always Reserve

What I Consistently Say To Young People - I Say It In The United States, But I'll Say It Here In Germany And Across Europe: Do Not Take For Granted Our Systems Of Government And Our Way Of Life. I Think There Is A Tendency, Because We Have Lived In An Era That Has Been Largely Stable And Peaceful, At Least In Advanced Countries, Where Living Standards Have Generally Gone Up, There Is A Tendency I Think To Assume That That's Always The Case.

Simple Exchanges Can Break Down Walls Between Us, For When People Come Together And Speak To One Another And Share A Common Experience, Then Their Common Humanity Is Revealed. We Are Reminded That We're Joined Together By Our Pursuit Of A Life That's Productive And Purposeful, And When That Happens Mistrust Begins To Fade And Our Smaller Differences No Longer Overshadow The Things That We Share. And That's Where Progress Begins.

What Is A Danger Is That We Stay Stuck In A New Normal Where Unemployment Rates Stay High, People Who Have Jobs See Their Incomes Go Up, Businesses Make Big Profits. But They're Learned To Do More With Less, And So They Don't Hire.

I Always Believe That Ultimately, If People Are Paying Attention, Then We Get Good Government And Good Leadership. And When We Get Lazy, As A Democracy And Civically Start Taking Shortcuts, Then It Results In Bad Government And Politics.

Whatever Success I Have Achieved, Whatever Positions Of Leadership I Have Held Have Depended Less On Ivy League Degrees Or Sat Scores Or Gpas And Have Instead Been Due To That Sense Of Connection And Empathy, The Special Obligation I Felt As A Black Man Like You To Help Those Who Need It Most, People Who Didn't Have The Opportunities That I Had Because There, But For The Grace Of God Go I. I Might Have Been In Their Shoes. I Might Have Been In Prison. I Might Have Been Unemployed. I Might Not Have Been Able To Support A Family. And That Motivates Me.