--- title: Barack Obama on Veteran's Day: Look to Veterans for Hope description: President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran's Day address, saying: "Whenever the world makes you cynical...look to a veteran." canonical: https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-11T17:25:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:54:02.661Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical' og:description: President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran's Day address, saying: "Whenever the world makes you cynical...look to a veteran." og:url: https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df09e532ef9ebec/6988ae3097cdffc2196ae901/gettyimages-622399622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama Lays Wreath At Tomb Of Unknown Soldier On Veterans Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical' twitter:description: President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran's Day address, saying: "Whenever the world makes you cynical...look to a veteran." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df09e532ef9ebec/6988ae3097cdffc2196ae901/gettyimages-622399622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2491fd77-6fa4-49a8-b63a-865cbdbb360d&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical’ [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gmn1bJJx.m3u8) (2:05)  _Published 2016-11-11. President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran’s Day address while in office on Friday, thanking all 18.8 million veterans in the U.S. for their service._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 11, 2016 5:25 PM UTC President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran’s Day address while in office on Friday, thanking all 18.8 million veterans in the U.S. for their service. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 11, 2016 5:25 PM UTC President Barack Obama delivered his final Veterans Day address while in office on Friday, thanking all [18.8 million veterans in the U.S.](http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2016/cb16-ff21.html) for their service. His remarks were short and direct, lasting no more than 15 minutes, but his message was meant to reach far beyond the ears of those who served. In the wake of the [remarkable 2016 presidential election](http://time.com/4564440/donald-trump-wins-2/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod), in which businessman Donald Trump emerged as the nation’s future commander-in-chief—a man who [insulted a Gold Star family](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/donald-trump-khizr-khan-wife-ghazala.html) along with [veteran and former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317)—President Obama called for unity and understanding in his Friday morning address. “As we search for ways to come together…some of our best examples are the men and women we salute on Veterans Day,” he said. “Whenever the world makes you cynical; whenever you seek true humility, and true selflessness—look to a veteran.” Our nation’s veterans, he said, are the embodiment of courage and selflessness and are deserving of not only our thanks but our support. The president remarked on the efforts his administration undertook to cut veteran homelessness, increase jobs for vets, and improve veteran health care despite the intense backlogs at Veteran’s hospitals that roiled the administration. The president praised the U.S. military as the “single most diverse institution in our country” and urged Americans to tap into the spirit of commonality that defines the armed forces as the country moves forward. “We can show how much we love our country by loving our neighbors as ourselves,” he said. ## Transcript [00:00] And today, on Veteran's Day, we [00:04] honor those who honored our country with [00:09] its highest form of service. You who once wore [00:14] the uniform of our Army, Navy, Air [00:18] Force, Marines or Coast Guard. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:24] We owe you our thanks. We owe you our respect and [00:30] we owe you our freedom. Veterans they often [00:34] follow the hard fought political campaign. An [00:38] exercise in the free speech and self government that you [00:41] fought for. It often lays bare [00:46] disagreements across our nation. But [00:50] the American instinct has never been to find isolation in [00:53] opposite corners, it is find strength in our common [00:57] creed. To forge unity from our great diversity, [01:03] to sustain that strength and unity even when it is hard, and [01:09] when the election is over, as we search for ways [01:13] to come together, to reconnect with one another, and [01:18] with the principles That are more enduring than [01:23] transitory politics. Some of our best examples [01:28] are the men and women we salute on Veterans Day. [01:31] Whenever the world makes you cynical, whenever you [01:35] doubt that courage and goodness and selflessness is [01:38] possible, And stop and look to a veteran. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [01:43] They don't always go around telling stories of their [01:46] heroism, so it's up to us to ask and to listen, to [01:52] tell those stories for them, and to live, in [01:56] our own lives, the values for which they were prepared to [01:59] give theirs. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] It's up to us to make sure [02:03] they always get the care that they need. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/"},"headline":"President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical'","datePublished":"2016-11-11T17:25:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:54:02.661Z","description":"\"Whenever the world makes you cynical,\" he said, \"look to a veteran\"","url":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/","keywords":["White House","Veterans","Barack Obama","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df09e532ef9ebec/6988ae3097cdffc2196ae901/gettyimages-622399622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5df09e532ef9ebec/6988ae3097cdffc2196ae901/gettyimages-622399622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Lays Wreath At Tomb Of Unknown Soldier On Veterans Day","caption":"President Obama Lays Wreath At Tomb Of Unknown Soldier On Veterans Day","creditText":"Alex Wong—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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/","name":"President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama: Look to Veterans for Hope 'Whenever the World Makes You Cynical’","description":"President Barack Obama delivered his final Veteran’s Day address while in office on Friday, thanking all 18.8 million veterans in the U.S. for their service.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gmn1bJJx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-11T18:19:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gmn1bJJx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/","duration":"PT2M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4568093/president-obama-veterans-hope/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```