at these two spots, what is your reaction? >> as i watched some of these spots, if you had taken away who sponsored them, you would not know when the ad ran. the last ad that we saw was an obama ad, but the basic message is still the same. the cases when mitt romney came in and factories were closed and people lost jobs. bain and romney made money. if mitt romney is talking about it, he will be talking about the success stories. it is a more complicated story than what both sides are saying. it is interesting, complicated, and to understand where he is coming from, an important story

to understand. >> more details available in the book. thank you very much for being with us. you can get more information at c-span's video library. our live coverage begins at 10:50. interior secretary. that is live at 1:00 p.m. on c- span.

first lady michelle obama cape commencement speeches. one of them is this one. this is about 25 minutes. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. rest yourselves. let me thank chancellor martin for that kind introduction. i also want to thank everyone from the board of governors, the board of trustees and the faculty and all of the staff who have worked so hard on this event and making you the men and women that you are. i also have to thank the university choir. you all are amazing. as the chancellor said, you are becoming regulars at the white

house. that is a good thing, singing at our black history month events for the last few years. it is amazing to hear those voices pouring in the white house. it is a pleasure to hear your beautiful music here today. of course, i want to join in on banking be folks who made this day possible -- thanking the folks who made this day possible, the people who have been with you every step of the way. your parents. these folks have given you that shoulder to lean on or that hug or that kick in the butt when you need to do better. none of you would be here without their support. let's give them a round of applause because it is their day, too.

i also want to thank this group in front of me, the graduates of the north carolina agricultural state university class of 2012. [applause] congratulations. you all have worked so hard. i know you have grown so much. you have come to truly come to represent something called aggie pride. all right. i like that. let me tell you, it is an honor to be here at north carolina a & c.

for years, you have produced more african american engineers, and more african american female engineers than just about anywhere else in america. you have produced some of our nation's finest leaders in business, government, and our military. the first african american justice on the north carolina supreme court was an aggie, so was the second african american astronauts. [applause] and so were those four young men who sat down at a lunch counter 52 years ago and will stand forever in bronze. i know that all of you know the story of the greensboro four and how they changed the course of our history. but since we have the nation

watching, let's talk a little bit. [applause] it is easy to forget that before they were known as heroes, they were young people just like all of you. they were freshmen here at anc. three of them grew up here in north carolina. they all lived on the same floor in scott hall. they were not trailblazers back then. we have to ask ourselves, how did these young men get from where they were into the history books? one of them had spent christmas in new york. he could eat wherever he chose. we got out at the station in greensboro, the food counter

here would not serve him. this was not exactly new. joseph had lived with these boundaries for years. but this time, it hit him. even though he had been just the same person in greensboro that he was in philly, he felt like a fraction of the man he had become. in the state where he was born and raised, in the city where he was working to get an education to grow into a peace possible, self respecting man, he was treated as if he did not matter, as if he was not welcome in the place he called home. imagine the humiliation he must

have felt. imagine his pain and outrage. when joseph got back to his dorm that night, his mind was probably already raging. he sat down with his friends and they decided to do more than just talk. they decided to act. on a monday afternoon, the back of them headed downtown and i am sure their hearts were racing. i am sure they barely slept the night before. everything was on the line for these young men. they were considered the lucky ones. they were some of the few african-american men who had the chance to attend college. they were on the path to achieve something most black folks could only dream of. they were risking all of that for what they believe in. this was something that a lot of people -- black folks back then -- did not do because the

stakes were so high. remember, this was 1960. if you used the wrong water fountain or sat on the wrong seat on the bus or step your foot in the wrong part of the theater, you might get heckled or spat on or beaten. one of them wondered if he would arrive back to campus in a pine box. but there was no turning back. they sat down on those four stools at the lunch counter and ordered coffee. they were refused, but they did not get up. that first day, they were there

for an hour or so. they went back to campus and told people what they did. most people did not believe them. the next day, more people showed up. the demonstrations spread from greensboro to national and jackson and more than 50 other cities across the country. by the end of july, woolworth was forced to end their policy of discrimination. the civil-rights movement was growing stronger every day. all of this started because of a bus ride and some dorm room conversations. it started because a small group of young people had their eyes open to the injustice around them. it started because they decided that it was time for someone to wake up and change the situation.

that, more than anything else, is the story of our nation's progress right from the very beginning. it is the story of the farmers, and cobblers and the abolitionists who ran the underground railroad, the workers who organized the individuals of every background, color, creed, orientation who worked in ways, large and small, to give us the country we have today. every single one of them decided that at some point, it was time to wake up and change the situation. that is what i want to talk with you about today. about how all of the work and the sweat and the passion that so many people poured into this country must be met with work and sweat and passion of our own. as young people like those who

always stoked the fires of progress, our country is counting on you to step forward and help us with the work that remains. we need you. i would be first to it meant that it is easy to lose sight of that responsibility, especially when you first graduate college. you are struggling to pay off your student loans. you are putting in extra hours at work. you are trying to figure out who you want to spend the rest of your life with. i remember that like it was yesterday.

i worked hard all through school and i earned my b.a. i got a great job at one of the biggest in chicago. i checked all of the boxes. nice paycheck. got it. nice car. got it. when i was 26 years old, one of my best friends died from cancer. my father died after battling multiple sclerosis for years. i had lost two of the people i loved most in the world. i began to do some soul- searching. i began to ask myself some hard questions.

if i died tomorrow, what did i really do with my life? what kind of mark would i leave? how would i be remembered? none of my answers satisfied me. i had everything i was told i should want. it still wasn't enough. i realize no matter how long i stayed on that job and pursued someone else's definition of success, i would never have a life that felt like my own. i quit that high-paying job and took a job in the mayor's office. that hurt. i became the executive director of a non-profit organization to train young people to pursue careers in public service. i was making a fraction of my law firm salary and i added years to my student loan

repayment process. i woke up in the morning feeling engaged and inspired in ways i had never felt before. i felt i was doing something that truly make a difference in people's's lives. 20 years later looking back on that journey, i realized all of that started those questions i asked myself in that law office. as you are looking ahead to your own journeys, i would like to pose those questions to you. the first question i asked myself was, who do i want to be? not what to do i want to be, but who? it is easy to think about your future as a series of lines on a resume.

that is how our society is wired. when you meet somebody, they always ask you the first question. what do you do? and you said, i am a nurse, i am a teacher. whatever it is. there is nothing wrong with that. a meaningful, fulfilling career that can be the cornerstone of what can be a happy life. your job responsibilities are those things to do. they are not who you are. as you all are thinking about your careers, i want you to think about what is important to you. how does your job fit into a complete life? are you going to be an engineer, or are you going to be an engineer that volunteers in a science class at a local school twice a week? are you going to go into

business, or are you going to be the ceo that sponsors theatre productions and the local little league team? are you going to be the nurse that service in the national guard every other weekend? are you going to be the award winning journalist who raises the wonderful family who drives the car pool and who has voted in every election, every single year? it is critical that you start thinking about these things now. i am going to warn you. those daily to do lists that will creep up on you, those things that keep climbing and acquiring, those add up. it forms a powerful currant. if you are not focused on who you want to be and how you want to live your life, it will sweep you away. you have got to keep your bearings. you have to figure out what matters to you and stay true to

those values. you have to keep your eyes open as you make your way in the world. that leads me to my second question. i want you to ask yourselves, what is going on in the world around me? the world is different from the days of the greensboro four. you may not hear the words of hatred and discrimination every day. those are signs of how much progress we have made. but we all know there is still plenty of serious injustice crying out for our attention. we know this. yes, we outlawed segregation in our public schools nearly 60 years ago. we all know every child is not getting the same quality of education every day. women have the right to vote, but they just make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes.

we have outlawed hate crimes, but it's still exists. take a look around and i guarantee you, you will see that there is plenty of work to be done. maybe it is the school on the

other side of town with crumbling classrooms and the teachers who are as outnumbered as they are overworked. maybe it is the cash strapped homeless shelter that keeps people warm, but their grant money ran out. maybe it is a river lined with trash. everywhere we look, there are wrongs just waiting to be made right. those wrongs will not go away. they will introduce themselves deeper and deeper unless we act. that leads me to the third and final question. we need you to ask yourself, how can i help? it is a simple question. how can i help?

the answers are often obvious. that failing school, volunteer their before work. donate your old laptop. the homeless shelter in danger of shutting its doors, start a fund raising drive. those nationwide in the qualities, that stagnant city hall, immersed yourself in information. become familiar with your elected representatives. vote, not just once in a while, but every year in every election. even better, run for a seat at the table yourself. we simply cannot move forward unless all of us are engaged. be engaged means not simply recognizing what is wrong, not

simply complaining about our talking about our problems, but acting. it means waking up and changing the situation. that is a lesson that so many of you have already began to learn during your time here at anc. you have volunteered 35,000 hours of service. you have mentored your peers and marched and walked four causes you believe in. you have cleaned up streets. you have served at the ymca and so many other organizations. some of you have committed yourselves to serving our

country, including 11 of you who will be commissioned in the army or the reserves later this afternoon. with that kind of action and that kind of commitment, all of you have begun to carry on that proud legacy of the greensboro four. today, i am reminded of a quote of one of those young men. he said these words. this is my country. i fought for the chance to make it right. no one is going to deny me my opportunity. that is why they sat down on those schools, so they could be full participants in their communities. they were fighting so that all of you, and me, could have opportunities they could not even imagine. look around. that is exactly what we got.

we are not weighed down by the kind of baggage folks had back then. we live in a country that is more open, more inclusive than before. we have rights and possibilities they would have given anything to have for themselves. with all those advantages comes a set of responsibilities. we have a responsibility to protect the ground that has already been won. just as it was won, it can just as easily been lost. we have a responsibility to do all that we can to help those who come after us. that is how we have always made progress, each generation lifting up the next, each generation doing its part to help our union.

each generation looks around and decide it is time to wake up and change the situation. we have always looked to our young people to lead the way. graduates, now it is your turn. it is time for you to take that baton. it is time for you to wake the rest of us up and showed us what you have got -- and show us what you have got. that is your history. that is your legacy. that is who you are. not forget that. that is why me and my husband and the folks across the country are so proud of you all. we are so hopeful about our future because of you.

yes, we are. know that. so, graduates, i love you all. i cannot wait to see all that you will achieve and all you will contribute in the years ahead. you have everything before you. god bless you all and good luck. [applause] >> we recently attended the commencement seri -- ceremony for mount st. mary's university. we spoke with some of the school's graduates. >> my name is caitlin. i am from pennsylvania. >> what did you think of today? >> i thought -- i love how

traditional it was and how supportive everyone in the audience was a half. the fact that we were able to be onstage and everyone was so happy for us and it meant a lot to me. to see the faculty and administration smiling at me and clapping. it made me feel even better. >> how about the speakers? >> i thought they did a great job. one was phenomenal. i love to the way she wrapped it up. i thought she was excellent. >> what did you study? >> i studied communications and english. i have two interviews next week. i just want to relax for the summer after a stressful but upfun four years. i am looking anywhere.

>> i just graduated and i am from maryland. it was awesome. it was a little bit long, but that is to be expected. it was awesome. i have a great feeling. >> how about the speeches? >> they were good. i like them. one speech was great. some of the speeches could have been shorter. >> how about, what did you study? >> fine arts. i recently got into graphic design and that is what i am hoping to do later. >> now that you have graduated, what is your first course of action? >> go to the beach. enjoy a week of college life and then i will endeavor off into the real world. >> do you have a job lined up? >> i have a summer job lined up and i will submit my resignation anywhere and everywhere gone -- presume anywhere and everywhere

for graphics design. >> this year's commencement address. his remarks are about 25 minutes. >> it is terrific to be with you all today and shared this wonderful occasion with you, especially given how much dickinson means to my family with my wife and my daughter both being alumni of the classes of 1974 and 2004, respectively. i was happy to see medieval academic robe. academic robe.