--- title: Barack Obama at UC Irvine: Commencement Address Transcript description: Read Barack Obama's commencement address at University of California-Irvine. canonical: https://time.com/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/ author: Barack Obama article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-19T19:25:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:41:19.099Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Obama's 2014 Commencement Address at UC-Irvine og:description: "I’m here to tell you, don’t believe the cynicism" og:url: https://time.com/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb9a9cb2d9f6ed4/698893f0ab6d775e7a6a9c19/obama-uc-irvine-2014.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 Speaks At UC Irvine Commencement Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Obama's 2014 Commencement Address at UC-Irvine twitter:description: "I’m here to tell you, don’t believe the cynicism" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb9a9cb2d9f6ed4/698893f0ab6d775e7a6a9c19/obama-uc-irvine-2014.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of California-Irvine  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama May 19, 2016 7:25 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks at the UC Irvine commencement ceremony on June 14, 2014 in Anaheim, California. President Barack Obama speaks at the UC Irvine commencement ceremony on June 14, 2014 in Anaheim, California.Pool/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](https://time.com/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama May 19, 2016 7:25 PM UTC Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/14/remarks-president-university-california-irvine-commencement-ceremony) from President Obama’s speech at University of California-Irvine in Anaheim, California, in 2014. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of California-Irvine","datePublished":"2016-05-19T19:25:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:41:19.099Z","description":"\"I’m here to tell you, don’t believe the cynicism\"","url":"https://time.com/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fb9a9cb2d9f6ed4/698893f0ab6d775e7a6a9c19/obama-uc-irvine-2014.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/blt9fb9a9cb2d9f6ed4/698893f0ab6d775e7a6a9c19/obama-uc-irvine-2014.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Speaks At UC Irvine Commencement Ceremony","caption":"President Obama Speaks At UC Irvine Commencement Ceremony","creditText":"Pool/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/4341811/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-california-irvine/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at University of California-Irvine"}}]}] ```