--- title: Barack Obama at Michigan: Commencement Address Transcript description: Read Barack Obama's commencement speech at University of Michigan in 2010. canonical: https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:27:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:39:09.046Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of Michigan og:description: "We can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down" og:url: https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78408a27d492ac17/698893c60a4a22c5599c9b63/barack-obama-michigan-2010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama (C) recieves t og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of Michigan twitter:description: "We can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78408a27d492ac17/698893c60a4a22c5599c9b63/barack-obama-michigan-2010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of Michigan  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:27 PM UTC  President Barack Obama receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws before delivering the commencement address at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 1, 2010. President Barack Obama receives the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws before delivering the commencement address at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 1, 2010.Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:27 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-university-michigan-spring-commencement) from Obama’s speech on University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2010. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of Michigan","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:27:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:39:09.046Z","description":"\"We can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down\"","url":"https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78408a27d492ac17/698893c60a4a22c5599c9b63/barack-obama-michigan-2010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Barack Obama","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/barack-obama/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78408a27d492ac17/698893c60a4a22c5599c9b63/barack-obama-michigan-2010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama (C) recieves t","caption":"US President Barack Obama (C) recieves t","creditText":"Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of Michigan"}}]}] ```