--- title: Barack Obama at Air Force Academy: Commencement Address description: Read Barack Obama's commencement speech at the Air Force Academy in 2012. canonical: https://time.com/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:33:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:41:00.230Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Air Force Academy in 2012 og:description: "We will maintain our military superiority in all areas" og:url: https://time.com/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abe2f328fadfb28/698893e90a4a22a1509c9b8b/obama-air-force-academy-2012.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Air Force Academy in 2012 twitter:description: "We will maintain our military superiority in all areas" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abe2f328fadfb28/698893e90a4a22a1509c9b8b/obama-air-force-academy-2012.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Air Force Academy in 2012  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:33 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on May 23, 2012. President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on May 23, 2012.AAron Ontiveroz—Denver Post/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:33 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/23/remarks-president-air-force-academy-commencement) from Obama’s speech at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2012. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Air Force Academy in 2012","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:33:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:41:00.230Z","description":"\"We will maintain our military superiority in all areas\"","url":"https://time.com/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abe2f328fadfb28/698893e90a4a22a1509c9b8b/obama-air-force-academy-2012.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/blt5abe2f328fadfb28/698893e90a4a22a1509c9b8b/obama-air-force-academy-2012.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post","creditText":"AAron Ontiveroz—Denver Post/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/4341655/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-air-force-academy-2012/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Air Force Academy in 2012"}}]}] ```