The Hill's Blog Briefing Room » Obama, Urging Students to Stay in School, Name Drops Lil Wayne


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July 8, 2008

Obama, Urging Students to Stay in School, Name Drops Lil Wayne

@ 3:08 pm by Walter Alarkon

Lil Wayne

Barack Obama urged students to stay in school at a campaign event in Georgia by telling them that they wouldn't play pro basketball or become the next Lil Wayne.

Obama made his remarks in response to a question about setting a universal drop-out age to better prepare students for the job market.

Obama encouraged states to pass their own limits to require students to stay in school up to a certain age. Then he said he understood the problems that teenagers can face when looking for careers without a high school diploma.

"You can't find a job unless you are a really, really good basketball player, which most of you brothers are not," said Obama, who won high school basketball state championship. "I know you think you are, but you're not. You are overrated in your mind. You will not play in the NBA. You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school."

Obama also agreed with the questioner about the need for U.S. students to learn other languages.

"We live in a global economy," he said. "And, you know, I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, 'We need to have English-only.' They want to pass a law, 'We want English-only.'"

Obama continued: "Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they'll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can you child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language."

"You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say, 'Merci beaucoup.' Right?"

(Lil Wayne image by Ryan Dombal, via Creative Commons.)

Archived under: Campaigns, News, Presidential Campaigns
Tags: Barack Obama, Lil Wayne

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The Hill welcomes comment from anyone and will almost always post it whether it is favorable or critical, as long as it is substantive and advances debate.

[…] think. He's just a pissed off old geezer comin' right at ya. He doesn't claim to venerate Lil' Wayne and then put down kids who aspire to live the life Lil' Wayne boasts about. […]

Pingback by The Column » Blog Archive » Jesse Jackson Has A Point! — July 10, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
[…] Obama: "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school." […]

Pingback by Obama on Lil’ Wayne | Litwack.org — July 10, 2008 @ 8:05 pm

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July 8, 2008

Obama, Urging Students to Stay in School, Name Drops Lil Wayne

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