Obama speaks to graduates at Barnard

My mom was watching MSNBC, like she does many mornings. This particular
morning I tuned in with her and we heard President Obama give a speech to
Barnard College in NYC.

http://barnard.edu/headlines/president-barack-obama-addresses-barnard-class-
2012

If you want to hear his whole commencement speech it is currently the
first video on the link above. As Barnard College is an all girls’ school, it was very
interesting to hear the president speak to the graduates. The president mentioned
that there was much in common with the graduates that sit before him as when he
graduated in 1983, as at that time the country was recovering from an economic
recession as well. He added that as women graduating, there is even more that
needs to be dealt with like “whether you will be able to earn equal pay for equal
work… whether you will be able to fully control decisions about your own health
and while opportunities have grown exponentially for women over the past 30
years as young people as many ways you have it worse than we do.”

He continued on that people will try and convince you that “change is
impossible; that you cannot make a difference, that you won’t be able to close
that gap between life as it is and life as you want it to be… my job today is to tell
you don’t believe it because as tough as things have been I am convinced you are
tougher.” The part that caught my attention the most came slightly later in the
president’s speech. His statements made me think of one of our class discussions
with Maria about women going into office and having power not only for women
but also for the people of their countries. The president said, “after decades of slow
steady extraordinary progress, you are now poised to make this the century where
women shape not only their own destiny but the destiny of this nation and this
world.” He said that the women in front of him need to “Fight for a seat at the table.”
I find it interesting that he brought up our history in that there were no women
who signed key historical documents such as our constitution. He echoed a point
that was made in one of the imaginary letters that we read though that although a
woman may not have signed it “we can assume that there were founding mothers
whispering smarter things in the ears of the founding fathers.”

He continued on to encouraged women to stand up for their rights and what
they believe in. I feel that the speech the president gave to this graduating class
sums up very well much of what we have discussed in class. His speech brings home
the idea that although we have come a long way, there is still more that can (and
needs to) be done but we must keep pushing forward and keep working.