0:00:00.788,0:00:02.415
What I want to do this afternoon

0:00:02.415,0:00:05.280
is something a little different than what's scheduled.

0:00:05.280,0:00:07.226
Foreign policy, you can figure that out

0:00:07.226,0:00:10.260
by watching, I don't know, Rachel Maddow or somebody,

0:00:10.260,0:00:12.094
but — (Laughter) —

0:00:12.094,0:00:15.656
I want to talk about young people and structure,

0:00:15.656,0:00:17.623
young people and structure.

0:00:17.623,0:00:19.871
This was last Wednesday afternoon

0:00:19.871,0:00:22.375
at a school in Brooklyn, New York,

0:00:22.375,0:00:25.309
at Cristo Rey High School, run by the Jesuits.

0:00:25.309,0:00:29.146
And I was talking to this group of students, and take a look at them.

0:00:29.146,0:00:31.613
They were around me in three directions.

0:00:31.613,0:00:34.409
You'll noticed that almost all of them are minority.

0:00:34.409,0:00:36.254
You'll notice that the building is rather austere.

0:00:36.254,0:00:40.385
It's an old New York school building, nothing fancy.

0:00:40.385,0:00:42.916
They still have old blackboards and whatnot.

0:00:42.916,0:00:45.507
And there are about 300 kids in this school,

0:00:45.507,0:00:48.159
and the school's been going now for four years,

0:00:48.159,0:00:51.113
and they're about to graduate their first class.

0:00:51.113,0:00:53.184
Twenty-two people are graduating,

0:00:53.184,0:00:55.427
and all 22 are going to college.

0:00:55.427,0:00:58.167
They all come from homes where there is, for the most part,

0:00:58.167,0:01:00.690
just one person in the home,

0:01:00.690,0:01:03.596
usually the mother or the grandmother, and that's it,

0:01:03.596,0:01:06.083
and they come here for their education

0:01:06.083,0:01:07.496
and for their structure.

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Now I had this picture taken, and it was put up

0:01:10.304,0:01:12.797
on my Facebook page last week,

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and somebody wrote in,

0:01:14.431,0:01:19.417
"Huh, why does he have him standing at attention like that?"

0:01:19.417,0:01:23.788
And then they said, "But he looks good." (Laughter)

0:01:23.788,0:01:26.498
He does look good, because kids need structure,

0:01:26.498,0:01:30.004
and the trick I play in all of my school appearances

0:01:30.004,0:01:32.903
is that when I get through with my little homily to the kids,

0:01:32.903,0:01:35.087
I then invite them to ask questions,

0:01:35.087,0:01:36.952
and when they raise their hands, I say, "Come up,"

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and I make them come up and stand in front of me.

0:01:39.291,0:01:41.405
I make them stand at attention like a soldier.

0:01:41.405,0:01:43.187
Put your arms straight down at your side,

0:01:43.187,0:01:46.639
look up, open your eyes, stare straight ahead,

0:01:46.639,0:01:50.074
and speak out your question loudly so everybody can hear.

0:01:50.074,0:01:53.331
No slouching, no pants hanging down, none of that stuff.

0:01:53.331,0:01:54.702
(Laughter)

0:01:54.702,0:01:57.967
And this young man, his name is -- his last name Cruz --

0:01:57.967,0:02:01.804
he loved it. That's all over his Facebook page and it's gone viral.

0:02:01.804,0:02:03.991
(Laughter)

0:02:03.991,0:02:06.734
So people think I'm being unkind to this kid.

0:02:06.734,0:02:08.378
No, we're having a little fun.

0:02:08.378,0:02:10.792
And the thing about it, I've done this for years,

0:02:10.792,0:02:13.952
the younger they are, the more fun it is.

0:02:13.952,0:02:16.892
When I get six- and seven-year-olds in a group,

0:02:16.892,0:02:18.771
I have to figure out how to keep them quiet.

0:02:18.771,0:02:20.774
You know that they'll always start yakking.

0:02:20.774,0:02:22.379
And so I play a little game with them

0:02:22.379,0:02:23.951
before I make them stand at attention.

0:02:23.951,0:02:26.224
I say, "Now listen. In the army,

0:02:26.224,0:02:28.552
when we want you to pay attention,

0:02:28.552,0:02:31.737
we have a command. It's called 'at ease.'

0:02:31.737,0:02:35.311
It means everybody be quiet and pay attention. Listen up.

0:02:35.311,0:02:36.449
Do you understand?"

0:02:36.449,0:02:41.314
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.""Let's practice. Everybody start chatting."

0:02:41.314,0:02:44.611
And I let them go for about 10 seconds, then I go, "At ease!"

0:02:44.611,0:02:48.116
"Huh!" (Laughter)

0:02:48.116,0:02:50.638
"Yes, General. Yes, General."

0:02:50.638,0:02:53.041
Try it with your kids. See if it works. (Laughter)

0:02:53.041,0:02:56.094
I don't think so.

0:02:56.094,0:02:59.108
But anyway, it's a game I play, and it comes obviously

0:02:59.108,0:03:00.830
from my military experience.

0:03:00.830,0:03:04.259
Because for the majority of my adult life,

0:03:04.259,0:03:08.319
I worked with young kids, teenagers with guns, I call them.

0:03:08.319,0:03:10.764
And we would bring them into the army,

0:03:10.764,0:03:13.213
and the first thing we would do is to put them

0:03:13.213,0:03:17.300
in an environment of structure, put them in ranks,

0:03:17.300,0:03:18.723
make them all wear the same clothes,

0:03:18.723,0:03:21.217
cut all their hair off so they look alike,

0:03:21.217,0:03:23.421
make sure that they are standing in ranks.

0:03:23.421,0:03:25.201
We teach them how to go right face, left face,

0:03:25.201,0:03:27.118
so they can obey instructions and know

0:03:27.118,0:03:30.046
the consequences of not obeying instructions.

0:03:30.046,0:03:31.511
It gives them structure.

0:03:31.511,0:03:35.691
And then we introduce them to somebody who they come to hate immediately, the drill sergeant.

0:03:35.691,0:03:37.565
And they hate him.

0:03:37.565,0:03:39.913
And the drill sergeant starts screaming at them,

0:03:39.913,0:03:43.762
and telling them to do all kinds of awful things.

0:03:43.762,0:03:46.766
But then the most amazing thing happens over time.

0:03:46.766,0:03:49.792
Once that structure is developed,

0:03:49.792,0:03:53.010
once they understand the reason for something,

0:03:53.010,0:03:57.016
once they understand, "Mama ain't here, son.

0:03:57.016,0:04:00.836
I'm your worst nightmare. I'm your daddy and your mommy.

0:04:00.836,0:04:03.448
And that's just the way it is. You got that, son?

0:04:03.448,0:04:06.286
Yeah, and then when I ask you a question, there are only three possible answers:

0:04:06.286,0:04:08.682
yes, sir; no, sir; and no excuse, sir.

0:04:08.682,0:04:10.845
Don't start telling me why you didn't do something.

0:04:10.845,0:04:13.497
It's yes, sir; no, sir; no excuse, sir."

0:04:13.497,0:04:14.620
"You didn't shave.""But sir —"

0:04:14.620,0:04:17.875
"No, don't tell me how often you scraped your face this morning.

0:04:17.875,0:04:19.615
I'm telling you you didn't shave."

0:04:19.615,0:04:22.821
"No excuse, sir.""Attaboy, you're learning fast."

0:04:22.821,0:04:25.209
But you'd be amazed at what you can do with them

0:04:25.209,0:04:27.663
once you put them in that structure.

0:04:27.663,0:04:32.521
In 18 weeks, they have a skill. They are mature.

0:04:32.521,0:04:35.638
And you know what, they come to admire the drill sergeant

0:04:35.638,0:04:37.536
and they never forget the drill sergeant.

0:04:37.536,0:04:40.171
They come to respect him.

0:04:40.171,0:04:44.086
And so we need more of this kind of structure and respect

0:04:44.086,0:04:46.117
in the lives of our children.

0:04:46.117,0:04:48.090
I spend a lot of time with youth groups,

0:04:48.090,0:04:51.381
and I say to people, "When does the education process begin?"

0:04:51.381,0:04:53.060
We're always talking about, "Let's fix the schools.

0:04:53.060,0:04:56.807
Let's do more for our teachers. Let's put more computers in our schools.

0:04:56.807,0:04:59.748
Let's get it all online."

0:04:59.748,0:05:03.054
That isn't the whole answer. It's part of the answer.

0:05:03.054,0:05:06.316
But the real answer begins with bringing a child to the school

0:05:06.316,0:05:10.924
with structure in that child's heart and soul to begin with.

0:05:10.924,0:05:13.793
When does the learning process begin? Does it begin in first grade?

0:05:13.793,0:05:15.976
No, no, it begins the first time

0:05:15.976,0:05:18.657
a child in a mother's arms

0:05:18.657,0:05:21.421
looks up at the mother

0:05:21.421,0:05:24.785
and says, "Oh, this must be my mother.

0:05:24.785,0:05:27.158
She's the one who feeds me.

0:05:27.158,0:05:29.364
Oh yeah, when I don't feel so good down there,

0:05:29.364,0:05:31.878
she takes care of me.

0:05:31.878,0:05:34.901
It's her language I will learn."

0:05:34.901,0:05:37.650
And at that moment they shut out all the other languages

0:05:37.650,0:05:40.006
that they could be learning at that age,

0:05:40.006,0:05:42.955
but by three months, that's her.

0:05:42.955,0:05:45.275
And if the person doing it, whether it's the mother

0:05:45.275,0:05:47.268
or grandmother, whoever's doing it,

0:05:47.268,0:05:49.482
that is when the education process begins.

0:05:49.482,0:05:51.210
That's when language begins.

0:05:51.210,0:05:53.459
That's when love begins. That's when structure begins.

0:05:53.459,0:05:55.947
That's when you start to imprint on the child

0:05:55.947,0:05:58.165
that "you are special,

0:05:58.165,0:06:01.354
you are different from every other child in the world.

0:06:01.354,0:06:03.438
And we're going to read to you."

0:06:03.438,0:06:05.509
A child who has not been read to

0:06:05.509,0:06:07.653
is in danger when that child gets to school.

0:06:07.653,0:06:09.713
A child who doesn't know his or her colors

0:06:09.713,0:06:12.727
or doesn't know how to tell time, doesn't know how to tie shoes,

0:06:12.727,0:06:14.126
doesn't know how to do those things,

0:06:14.126,0:06:16.796
and doesn't know how to do something that

0:06:16.796,0:06:19.672
goes by a word that was drilled into me as a kid: mind.

0:06:19.672,0:06:23.560
Mind your manners! Mind your adults! Mind what you're saying!

0:06:23.560,0:06:27.083
This is the way children are raised properly.

0:06:27.083,0:06:29.878
And I watched my own young grandchildren now come along

0:06:29.878,0:06:33.971
and they're, much to the distress of my children,

0:06:33.971,0:06:38.647
they are acting just like we did. You know? You imprint them.

0:06:38.647,0:06:43.872
And that's what you have to do to prepare children for education and for school.

0:06:43.872,0:06:46.131
And I'm working at all the energy I have

0:06:46.131,0:06:48.461
to sort of communicate this message that

0:06:48.461,0:06:52.340
we need preschool, we need Head Start,

0:06:52.340,0:06:54.860
we need prenatal care.

0:06:54.860,0:06:59.075
The education process begins even before the child is born,

0:06:59.075,0:07:01.783
and if you don't do that, you're going to have difficulty.

0:07:01.783,0:07:04.197
And we are having difficulties in so many of our communities

0:07:04.197,0:07:07.242
and so many of our schools where kids are coming

0:07:07.242,0:07:09.553
to first grade and their eyes are blazing,

0:07:09.553,0:07:13.164
they've got their little knapsack on and they're ready to go,

0:07:13.164,0:07:16.565
and then they realize they're not like the other first graders

0:07:16.565,0:07:21.029
who know books, have been read to, can do their alphabet.

0:07:21.029,0:07:23.723
And by the third grade, the kids who didn't have

0:07:23.723,0:07:27.869
that structure and minding in the beginning

0:07:27.869,0:07:29.779
start to realize they're behind, and what do they do?

0:07:29.779,0:07:33.100
They act it out. They act it out, and they're on their way

0:07:33.100,0:07:36.186
to jail or they're on their way to being dropouts.

0:07:36.186,0:07:38.050
It's predictable.

0:07:38.050,0:07:41.016
If you're not at the right reading level at third grade,

0:07:41.016,0:07:45.093
you are a candidate for jail at age 18,

0:07:45.093,0:07:47.330
and we have the highest incarceration rate

0:07:47.330,0:07:50.258
because we're not getting our kids the proper start in life.

0:07:50.258,0:07:52.474
The last chapter in my book is called

0:07:52.474,0:07:55.385
"The Gift of a Good Start."

0:07:55.385,0:07:59.077
The gift of a good start. Every child ought to have a good start in life.

0:07:59.077,0:08:01.780
I was privileged to have that kind of good start.

0:08:01.780,0:08:03.671
I was not a great student.

0:08:03.671,0:08:06.339
I was a public school kid in New York City,

0:08:06.339,0:08:08.979
and I didn't do well at all.

0:08:08.979,0:08:12.791
I have my entire New York City Board of Education transcript

0:08:12.791,0:08:15.234
from kindergarten through college.

0:08:15.234,0:08:17.504
I wanted it when I was writing my first book.

0:08:17.504,0:08:19.543
I wanted to see if my memory was correct,

0:08:19.543,0:08:22.818
and, my God, it was. (Laughter)

0:08:22.818,0:08:25.606
Straight C everywhere.

0:08:25.606,0:08:28.047
And I finally bounced through high school,

0:08:28.047,0:08:30.126
got into the City College of New York

0:08:30.126,0:08:33.766
with a 78.3 average, which I shouldn't have been allowed in with,

0:08:33.766,0:08:36.505
and then I started out in engineering,

0:08:36.505,0:08:39.063
and that only lasted six months. (Laughter)

0:08:39.063,0:08:43.076
And then I went into geology, "rocks for jocks." This is easy.

0:08:43.076,0:08:45.078
And then I found ROTC.

0:08:45.078,0:08:49.012
I found something that I did well and something that I loved doing,

0:08:49.012,0:08:52.906
and I found a group of youngsters like me who felt the same way.

0:08:52.906,0:08:56.892
And so my whole life then was dedicated to ROTC and the military.

0:08:56.892,0:08:59.560
And I say to young kids everywhere, as you're growing up

0:08:59.560,0:09:02.161
and as this structure is being developed inside of you,

0:09:02.161,0:09:05.197
always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing,

0:09:05.197,0:09:08.334
and when you find those two things together, man, you got it.

0:09:08.334,0:09:10.698
That's what's going on. And that's what I found.

0:09:10.698,0:09:13.352
Now the authorities at CCNY were getting tired of me being there.

0:09:13.352,0:09:15.153
I'd been there four and a half going on five years,

0:09:15.153,0:09:19.563
and my grades were not doing particularly well,

0:09:19.563,0:09:22.705
and I was in occasional difficulties with the administration.

0:09:22.705,0:09:25.619
And so they said, "But he does so well in ROTC.

0:09:25.619,0:09:28.969
Look, he gets straight A's in that but not in anything else."

0:09:28.969,0:09:33.325
And so they said, "Look, let's take his ROTC grades

0:09:33.325,0:09:36.771
and roll them into his overall GPA and see what happens."

0:09:36.771,0:09:43.487
And they did, and it brought me up to 2.0. (Laughter)

0:09:43.487,0:09:47.221
Yep. (Laughter) (Applause)

0:09:47.221,0:09:50.270
They said, "It's good enough for government work.

0:09:50.270,0:09:53.768
Give him to the army. We'll never see him again. We'll never see him again."

0:09:53.768,0:09:55.620
So they shipped me off to the army,

0:09:55.620,0:09:59.288
and lo and behold, many years later,

0:09:59.288,0:10:03.594
I'm considered one of the greatest sons the City College of New York has ever had. (Laughter)

0:10:03.594,0:10:06.796
So, I tell young people everywhere,

0:10:06.796,0:10:10.987
it ain't where you start in life, it's what you do with life

0:10:10.987,0:10:14.598
that determines where you end up in life,

0:10:14.598,0:10:17.283
and you are blessed to be living in a country that,

0:10:17.283,0:10:20.469
no matter where you start, you have opportunities

0:10:20.469,0:10:23.173
so long as you believe in yourself,

0:10:23.173,0:10:26.164
you believe in the society and the country,

0:10:26.164,0:10:29.583
and you believe that you can self-improve

0:10:29.583,0:10:31.994
and educate yourself as you go along.

0:10:31.994,0:10:34.227
And that's the key to success.

0:10:34.227,0:10:37.577
But it begins with the gift of a good start.

0:10:37.577,0:10:40.050
If we don't give that gift to each and every one of our kids,

0:10:40.050,0:10:43.728
if we don't invest at the earliest age,

0:10:43.728,0:10:46.470
we're going to be running into difficulties.

0:10:46.470,0:10:50.736
It's why we have a dropout rate of roughly 25 percent overall

0:10:50.736,0:10:53.458
and almost 50 percent of our minority population

0:10:53.458,0:10:56.932
living in low-income areas,

0:10:56.932,0:10:59.713
because they're not getting the gift of a good start.

0:10:59.713,0:11:03.691
My gift of a good start was not only being in a nice family,

0:11:03.691,0:11:07.246
a good family, but having a family that said to me,

0:11:07.246,0:11:11.193
"Now listen, we came to this country in banana boats

0:11:11.193,0:11:14.555
in 1920 and 1924.

0:11:14.555,0:11:18.730
We worked like dogs down in the garment industry every single day.

0:11:18.730,0:11:22.256
We're not doing it so that you can stick something up your nose

0:11:22.256,0:11:26.636
or get in trouble. And don't even think about dropping out."

0:11:26.636,0:11:29.687
If I had ever gone home and told those immigrant people

0:11:29.687,0:11:32.156
that, "You know, I'm tired of school and I'm dropping out,"

0:11:32.156,0:11:34.813
they'd said, "We're dropping you out. We'll get another kid."

0:11:34.813,0:11:41.171
(Laughter)

0:11:41.171,0:11:43.697
They had expectations for all of the cousins

0:11:43.697,0:11:47.280
and the extended family of immigrants that lived in the South Bronx,

0:11:47.280,0:11:50.439
but they had more than just expectations for us.

0:11:50.439,0:11:54.350
They stuck into our hearts like a dagger

0:11:54.350,0:11:59.212
a sense of shame: "Don't you shame this family."

0:11:59.212,0:12:00.875
Sometimes I would get in trouble,

0:12:00.875,0:12:02.718
and my parents were coming home,

0:12:02.718,0:12:06.199
and I was in my room waiting for what's going to happen,

0:12:06.199,0:12:08.410
and I would sit there saying to myself, "Okay, look,

0:12:08.410,0:12:13.185
take the belt and hit me, but, God, don't give me that 'shame the family' bit again."

0:12:13.185,0:12:15.942
It devastated me when my mother did that to me.

0:12:15.942,0:12:18.106
And I also had this extended network.

0:12:18.106,0:12:21.094
Children need a network. Children need to be part of a tribe,

0:12:21.094,0:12:22.975
a family, a community.

0:12:22.975,0:12:27.199
In my case it was aunts who lived in all of these tenement buildings.

0:12:27.199,0:12:29.055
I don't know how many of you are New Yorkers,

0:12:29.055,0:12:30.976
but there were these tenement buildings,

0:12:30.976,0:12:34.189
and these women were always hanging out one of the windows,

0:12:34.189,0:12:35.811
leaning on a pillow.

0:12:35.811,0:12:38.570
They never left. (Laughter)

0:12:38.570,0:12:41.604
I, so help me God, I grew up walking those streets,

0:12:41.604,0:12:43.086
and they were always there.

0:12:43.086,0:12:45.960
They never went to the bathroom. They never cooked. (Laughter)

0:12:45.960,0:12:48.506
They never did anything.

0:12:48.506,0:12:51.219
But what they did was keep us in play.

0:12:51.219,0:12:53.505
They kept us in play.

0:12:53.505,0:12:55.763
And they didn't care

0:12:55.763,0:13:00.510
whether you became a doctor or a lawyer or a general,

0:13:00.510,0:13:03.603
and they never expected any generals in the family,

0:13:03.603,0:13:07.463
as long as you got an education and then you got a job.

0:13:07.463,0:13:09.454
"Don't give us any of that self-actualization stuff.

0:13:09.454,0:13:12.269
You get a job and get out of the house.

0:13:12.269,0:13:14.747
We don't have time to waste for that.

0:13:14.747,0:13:18.322
And then you can support us. That's the role of you guys."

0:13:18.322,0:13:23.844
And so, it's so essential that we kind of put this culture

0:13:23.844,0:13:28.126
back into our families, all families.

0:13:28.126,0:13:31.461
And it is so important that all of you here today

0:13:31.461,0:13:34.137
who are successful people,

0:13:34.137,0:13:38.692
and I'm sure have wonderful families and children and grandchildren,

0:13:38.692,0:13:40.430
it's not enough. You've got to reach out and back

0:13:40.430,0:13:43.081
and find kids like Mr. Cruz

0:13:43.081,0:13:46.451
who can make it if you give them the structure,

0:13:46.451,0:13:48.438
if you reach back and help, if you mentor,

0:13:48.438,0:13:50.812
if you invest in boys and girls clubs,

0:13:50.812,0:13:52.703
if you work with your school system,

0:13:52.703,0:13:53.977
make sure it's the best school system,

0:13:53.977,0:13:58.800
and not just your kid's school, but the school uptown in Harlem,

0:13:58.800,0:14:01.622
not just downtown Montessori on the West Side.

0:14:01.622,0:14:05.775
All of us have to have a commitment to do that.

0:14:05.775,0:14:08.425
And we're not just investing in the kids.

0:14:08.425,0:14:10.478
We're investing in our future.

0:14:10.478,0:14:13.299
We're going to be a minority-majority country

0:14:13.299,0:14:15.292
in one more generation.

0:14:15.292,0:14:18.661
Those that we call minorities now are going to be the majority.

0:14:18.661,0:14:21.241
And we have to make sure that they are ready to be the majority.

0:14:21.241,0:14:23.472
We have to make sure they're ready to be the leaders

0:14:23.472,0:14:26.424
of this great country of ours,

0:14:26.424,0:14:29.900
a country that is like no other,

0:14:29.900,0:14:31.585
a country that amazes me every single day,

0:14:31.585,0:14:34.205
a country that's fractious. We're always arguing with each other.

0:14:34.205,0:14:37.177
That's how the system's supposed to work.

0:14:37.177,0:14:40.756
It's a country of such contrasts, but it's a nation of nations.

0:14:40.756,0:14:44.752
We touch every nation. Every nation touches us.

0:14:44.752,0:14:46.437
We are a nation of immigrants.

0:14:46.437,0:14:49.581
That's why we need sound immigration policy.

0:14:49.581,0:14:52.816
It's ridiculous not to have a sound immigration policy

0:14:52.816,0:14:55.899
to welcome those who want to come here and be part of this great nation,

0:14:55.899,0:14:58.052
or we can send back home with an education

0:14:58.052,0:15:01.433
to help their people rise up out of poverty.

0:15:01.433,0:15:05.276
One of the great stories I love to tell is about my love

0:15:05.276,0:15:06.673
of going to my hometown of New York

0:15:06.673,0:15:08.467
and walking up Park Avenue on a beautiful day

0:15:08.467,0:15:10.948
and admiring everything and seeing all the people go by

0:15:10.948,0:15:12.402
from all over the world.

0:15:12.402,0:15:16.040
But what I always have to do is stop at one of the corners

0:15:16.040,0:15:19.426
and get a hot dog from the immigrant pushcart peddler.

0:15:19.426,0:15:22.577
Gotta have a dirty water dog. (Laughter)

0:15:22.577,0:15:25.557
And no matter where I am or what I'm doing,

0:15:25.557,0:15:26.832
I've got to do that.

0:15:26.832,0:15:29.497
I even did it when I was Secretary of State.

0:15:29.497,0:15:32.398
I'd come out of my suite at the Waldorf Astoria

0:15:32.398,0:15:35.478
— (Laughter) —

0:15:35.478,0:15:38.789
be walking up the street, and I would hit around 55th Street

0:15:38.789,0:15:41.100
looking for the immigrant pushcart peddler.

0:15:41.100,0:15:43.299
In those days, I had five bodyguards around me

0:15:43.299,0:15:46.193
and three New York City police cars would roll alongside

0:15:46.193,0:15:51.013
to make sure nobody whacked me while I was going up Park Avenue. (Laughter)

0:15:51.013,0:15:52.681
And I would order the hot dog from the guy,

0:15:52.681,0:15:55.127
and he'd start to fix it, and then he'd look around

0:15:55.127,0:15:56.804
at the bodyguards and the police cars --

0:15:56.804,0:15:58.886
"I've got a green card! I've got a green card!" (Laughter)

0:15:58.886,0:16:03.222
"It's okay, it's okay."

0:16:03.222,0:16:05.670
But now I'm alone. I'm alone.

0:16:05.670,0:16:08.461
I've got no bodyguards, I've got no police cars. I've got nothing.

0:16:08.461,0:16:11.123
But I gotta have my hot dog.

0:16:11.123,0:16:14.887
I did it just last week. It was on a Tuesday evening

0:16:14.887,0:16:17.187
down by Columbus Circle.

0:16:17.187,0:16:20.042
And the scene repeats itself so often.

0:16:20.042,0:16:23.396
I'll go up and ask for my hot dog,

0:16:23.396,0:16:25.758
and the guy will fix it, and as he's finishing,

0:16:25.758,0:16:28.460
he'll say, "I know you. I see you on television.

0:16:28.460,0:16:30.354
You're, well, you're General Powell."

0:16:30.354,0:16:33.044
"Yes, yes.""Oh ... "

0:16:33.044,0:16:34.195
I hand him the money.

0:16:34.195,0:16:39.120
"No, General. You can't pay me. I've been paid.

0:16:39.120,0:16:42.883
America has paid me. I never forget where I came from.

0:16:42.883,0:16:46.073
But now I'm an American. Sir, thank you."

0:16:46.073,0:16:48.341
I accept the generosity, continue up the street,

0:16:48.341,0:16:50.570
and it washes over me, my God,

0:16:50.570,0:16:54.588
it's the same country that greeted my parents this way 90 years ago.

0:16:54.588,0:16:56.775
So we are still that magnificent country,

0:16:56.775,0:16:59.550
but we are fueled by young people coming up

0:16:59.550,0:17:02.554
from every land in the world,

0:17:02.554,0:17:06.081
and it is our obligation as contributing citizens

0:17:06.081,0:17:07.867
to this wonderful country of ours

0:17:07.867,0:17:11.014
to make sure that no child gets left behind.

0:17:11.014,0:17:13.092
Thank you very much.

0:17:13.092,0:17:25.199
(Applause)