President Obama said, “Don’t let yourself down.”

The thing I like about President Obama is that he is straight to the point with no hype. In a recent speech to address this nation’s schools, he said that everyone has a responsibility. Well, that’s a fact that I can’t argue with. He charged teachers, parents, students and governments to help turn around schools that aren’t working. The job belongs to us and he is right when he said that none of it will matter unless we each do our part. He was affirmative and said that we each have a responsibility to ourselves to discover the hidden talent within. Of course! Whose job would it be otherwise? But we want to spend time breaking him down instead of receiving the truth of his message. He spoke simply of the possibilities for budding writers, innovators, inventors, or the next medical discovery – or next political leader. The face of politics has become so nasty, I wonder who wants those jobs and I imagine the special qualities it takes to step to the plate in that arena. Qualities that he embodies for sure.

President Obama went on to tell students, “No matter what you want to do with your life you’ll need an education to do it. You can’t drop out of school and drop into a good job. You got to work for it.” Well, he’s right about that! How we invest in ourselves will most certainly affect this entire nation. If we have a quality consciousness and one of excellence, then we will be able to compete in the new global marketplace. Without top-notch skills, we will be left in the dust. China and India are eating us alive in many areas including math and science.

I hope others who were listening were as moved as I was when he said, “If you quit on school you quit on your country.”

And who doesn’t have a wheelbarrow full of challenges? To skirt that often raised objection, our President said, “None of the circumstances of your life are excuses for failure… In America you create your own destiny.” I’ve been abroad to many places and he is absolutely right. We have opportunies here that don’t exist in many other places. And we take so much for granted.

Politics is a mean game and it takes someone with lots of guts to stand before the nation, put themselves on the line and work to hammer out the problems. Hang in there President Obama. I couldn’t walk an inch in your shoes. We both know that change takes time, especially changing hearts and minds.

Our Pres was right again when he said being successful is hard and not to let failures define you, but teach you. His message is simple and clear and wisdom always is.

Two other points in the speech moved me. When he said that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength and encouraged young people not to ever give up on themselves. With encouraging words like that, I fail to see what the controversy is about.

Our President offered some provocative questions when he asked: “What’s your contribution gonna be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a President who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?” That’s not too far removed from “Ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” Hmmm. I’m working on that one myself with the work I do teaching accelerated learning, PhotoReading and how to move past self-defeating beliefs and behaviors.

And our President closed with the final directive, like any good leader, teacher or parent might by saying, “I expect you to put your best effort in everything you do…I expect great things from each of you. Don’t let your family down, don’t let your country down and most of all, don’t let yourself down.”

Nuff said.