PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's good to see ya!
INTERN QUESTION: So, we've heard a lot in the past Speaker Series that we've had with all the amazing staff about your relentless optimism.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I am...relentlessly optimistic [imitating in good humor].
INTERN QUESTION: 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.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Ahhh. Some of this is temperamental. People just have different temperaments. I -- I tend to be a pretty happy guy. I'm pretty sure this is because I was born in Hawaii. And so I spent most of my early years in really pleasant weather all the time, splashing in waves and things. That helped.
As I get older, and certainly in this job, what -- what helps me a lot is taking the long view on things. I -- 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. I mean, you know, okay, get an umbrella sometimes. Sometimes you take off your jacket. But if you can keep your eye on the long view...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 did you behave? How did you -- How'd 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, you know, 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.
INTERN QUESTION: What kind of legacy would you like to leave in the African-American community?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's hard for me to say what I've meant to the African-American community -- I -- I can say what Michelle's meant to the African-American community. Michelle's the bomb. What concretely I can say is that the work this Administration's 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 it's, you know, expanding Pell Grants, or it's, you know, programs to deal with low-income communities to help them rebuild and provide better job training, you know, in each of those areas, there are lot of people who are better off than they otherwise 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.
You know, that's a -- that's another category. I'd -- I'd put in that same category the work we've been doing around criminal justice reform and reshaping how we do commutations and, you know, how we are working with law enforcement around best practices for policing. All right, so that's a whole category of issues.
And then, you know, there's just the cultural and psychological issues. It's interesting. I...think the impact may be not just with, you know, black kids taking for granted -- that somebody who looks like them can be President, but their white peers taking 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, you know, there may be racial bias in our criminal justice system, you're -- you're hurt; whereas 25, 30 years ago, that was a given.
So -- So, sometimes progress involves improvement but then raising expectations. Things are a lot better but now our expectations are a lot higher. Look, we -- we, you know, we got -- we got a long way to go when it comes to -- to racial issues. You know, history can go backwards as well as forwards. But the overall trajectory, I think, is positive.
And the -- the caution I have for this cohort, because, you know, there's probably some self-selection going on. You guys are -- if you're interning here with Obama, then you're probably -- you have certain -- you're more likely to have certain political views. So -- So, I just want to caution all of you to make sure that in wanting to improve race relations, you -- you don't become so rigid and sensitive in terms of your own views that instead of opening up dialogue, you sort of harden lines and divisions.
All right. All right, guys' turn. Yes sir, right here.
INTERN QUESTION: How do you deal with, you know, knowing when to compromise, and how do you learn how to compromise, and how to more or less stick to your guns?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Maybe -- 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 -- the structure in place, it's like a starter home. And it would be nice if we had, you know, granite countertops in the kitchen, but we can't afford those yet. There's no porch. But it -- it beats sleeping outside. And I think I've been proven right on this -- because I've got 20 million people with health insurance who didn't have it before.
Now...it's -- 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 in this country is incremental. Democracies of our sort require reform as a general proposition and not revolution. And that's okay. You know...there's nothing wrong with better.
Because you -- you hold out for the best and that means that whoever was going to be helped by better, you know, doesn't have healthcare that year or isn't, you know, getting as much help on going to college as they otherwise would have. All right, well you guys -- you guys have been great. I always say this to all of you, so...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 -- of what you can do are...enormous. And that doesn't mean, you know -- becoming President involves a lot of luck. Becoming, you know, Steve Jobs or, you know, Quentin Tarantino, you know, that -- that requires a certain amount of breaks that you get.
It's not because you're so much better than everybody else. Being Picasso is because you're better than everybody else. But...a lot of times it's just, you know, happenstance 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? You've just been waiting for this. Oh, this is so nice. Look at this. And, like, glitter on the sides. You got help, didn't you? Your parents helped you. It's just like the science projects.
INTERN COMMENT: Yeah, absolutely.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is so nice. Well, thank you, everybody.
INTERN COMMENT: Yeah, happy birthday, almost.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: All right. Almost. Good luck, everybody. You're going do great.
