--- title: Barack Obama at Ohio State: Commencement Address Transcript description: Read Barack Obama's commencement address at the Ohio State University in 2013. canonical: https://time.com/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T18:33:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:41:06.420Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Ohio State University og:description: "Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be" og:url: https://time.com/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c27f42f553ce2ae/698893ea8e06012cb0465f47/obama-ohio-state-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Gives Commencement Address At Ohio State University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Ohio State University twitter:description: "Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c27f42f553ce2ae/698893ea8e06012cb0465f47/obama-ohio-state-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Ohio State University  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Jun 2, 2016 6:33 PM UTC  President Barack Obama gives the commencement address to the graduating class of The Ohio State University on May 5, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. President Barack Obama gives the commencement address to the graduating class of The Ohio State University on May 5, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio.Matt Sullivan—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/2013/05/05/remarks-president-ohio-state-university-commencement) from Obama’s speech at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio in 2013. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Ohio State University","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:33:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:41:06.420Z","description":"\"Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be\"","url":"https://time.com/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c27f42f553ce2ae/698893ea8e06012cb0465f47/obama-ohio-state-2013.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/blt3c27f42f553ce2ae/698893ea8e06012cb0465f47/obama-ohio-state-2013.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Gives Commencement Address At Ohio State University","caption":"President Obama Gives Commencement Address At Ohio State University","creditText":"Matt Sullivan—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/4341688/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-ohio-state-university/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at the Ohio State University"}}]}] ```