Obama To Grads: ‘Participate and Persevere’

“I will ask you for two things: to participate, and to persevere,” President Obama said to more than 10,000 graduates at Ohio State University on Sunday during his first commencement address of 2013. Tens of thousands of people swarmed the campus as the president stressed the importance of citizenship and civic duty to college graduates who came of age amidst economic turmoil, terrorism, and war. He urged grads to become engaged in issues dominating the political debate as they move into the workforce, quoting a line from George W. Bush’s speech to OSU seniors in 2002: “America needs more than taxpayers, spectators and occasional voters. America needs full-time citizens.”