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President Barack Obama hosted the Star-Studded Medal of Freedom ceremony; Aired 3:30-4:00p ET
Aired November 22, 2016 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00] BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We admire Bob not just for his remarkable acting but for having figured out what to do next. He created a platform for independent filmmakers with the Sundance Institute. He has supported our national parks and national resources as one of the foremost conservationists of our generation. He has given his unmatched charisma to unforgettable characters like Roy Hobbs, Nathan Muir and of course the Sundance kid, entertaining us for more than half a century.
As an actor, director, producer, and as an advocate he has not stopped and apparently drives so fast that he had breakfast in Napa and dinner Salt Lake.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: At 80 years young, Robert Redford has no plans to slow down. According to a recent headline, the movie "Sully" was the last straw, we should never travel Tom Hanks.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I mean, you think about it, you have pirates, plane crashes, you got marooned, and airport purgatory, volcanos, something happens with Tom Hanks. And yet somehow we can't resist going where he wants to take us. He has been an accidental witness to history, across woman's baseball manager, an every man who fell in love with Meg Ryan three times.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Made it seem natural to have a volleyball as your best friend.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: From a Philadelphia courtroom to Normandy's beachheads to the dark side of the moon, he has introduced us to America's unassuming heroes. Tom says you just saw ordinary guys who did the right thing at the right time. Well, it takes one to know one. And America's dad has stood up to cancer with his beloved wife Rita, he has championed our veterans, supported space exploration, and the truth, is Tom has always saved his best roles for real life. He is a good man which is the best title you can have.
So we have got innovators, entertainers, three more folks who have dedicated themselves to public service. In the early 1960s, thousands of Cuban children fled to America seeking an education they would never get back home. And one refugee was a 15-year-old named Eduardo Padron whose life changed when he enrolled at Miami-Dade College. That decision led to a bachelor's degree, then a master's degree, then a Ph.D. and then he had a choice. He could go to corporate America or he could give back to his alma mater. And Eduardo made his choice to create more stories just like his.
As Miami-Dade's president since 1995 Dr. Padron has built a dream factory for one of our nation's most diverse student bodies, 165,000 students in all. He is one of the world's preeminent education leaders, thinking out of the box, supporting students throughout their lives, embodying the belief that we are only as great as the doors we open.
Eduardo's examples one we can all follow, a champion of those who strive for this same American dream that first drew him to our shores.
When Elouise Cobell first filed a lawsuit for recover lands and money for her people, she didn't set out to be a hero, she said "I just wanted to give justice to people that didn't have it." And her life long quest to address the mismanagement of American-Indian lands, resources, trust funds, wasn't about special treatment but the equal treatment at the heart of the American promise. She fought for almost 15 years across three presidents, seven trials, ten appearance before a federal appeals court. All the while she traveled the country some 40 weeks a year telling the story of her people. And in the end, this graduate of a room-room schoolhouse became a, McArthur genius. She was a proud daughter of Montana's Blackfeet nation, reached ultimately a historic victory for all Native Americans through sheer force of will and a belief that the truth will win out. Elouise Cobell overcame the longest odds reminding us that fighting for what is right is always worth it.
Every journalist in the room, every media critic knows the phrase Newt Minow coined (ph), the vast waste land. But the two words Newt prefers we remember from his speech to the nation's broadcasters are these -- public interest. That's been the heartbeat of his life's work advocating for residents of public housing, advising a governor and Supreme Court justice, cementing presidential debates as our national institution, leading the FCC. When Newt helped launch the first communications satellites, making nationwide broadcasts possible and eventually GPS possible and cell phones possible. He predicted it would be more important than the moon landing. This will launch ideas into space, he said. And ideas last longer than people. As far as I know, he's the only one of today's honorees who was present on my first date with Michelle.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Imagine our surprise when we saw Newt, one of our bosses that summer, at the movie theater.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: It was "do the right thing." So he has also been vital to my personal interests. (LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: And finally we honor five of the all-time greats in sports and music. The game of baseball has a handful of signature sounds. You hear the crack of the bat. You have to crowd singing in the seventh inning stretch. And you have got the voice of Vin Scully.
Most fans listen to a game's broadcast when they can't be at the ballpark. Generations of Dodgers fans brought their radio into the Stans because you didn't want to miss one of Vin's stories. Most play by play announcers partner with an analyst in the booth to chat about the action, Vin worked alone and talked just with us. Since Jackie Robinson started at second base, Vin taught us the game and introduced us to its players, he narrated the improbable years, the impossible heroics, turned contests into conversations. With when he heard about this honor then asked with characteristic humility "are you sure? I'm just an old baseball announcer." And we had to inform him that to Americans of all ages you are an old friend. In fact I thought about him doing all these citations, which would have been very cool.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I thought we shouldn't make him sing for his supper like that.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Up next -
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Here's how great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was. 1967 he had spent a year dominating college basketball, the NCAA bans the dunk. They didn't say it was about Kareem but it was about Kareem.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: When a sport changes its rules to make it harder just for you, you are really good.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: And yet despite the rule change, he was still the sport's most unstoppable force. It's a title he'd hold for more than two decades, winning NBA finals MVPs a staggering 14 years apart. Bless you.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: And as a surprisingly similar-looking co-pilot, Roger Murdoch once said in the movie airplane -- I mean, we have got great actors here. "Space Jam," "Airplane."
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OBAMA: He did it all while dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes. But the reason we honor Kareem is more than just a pair of goggles and
the sky hook. He stood up for his Muslim faith when it wasn't easy and it wasn't popular. He has as comfortable sparring with Bruce Lee as he is advocating on Capitol Hill or writing with extraordinary eloquence about patriotism. Physically, intellectually, spiritually, Kareem is one of a kind, an American who illuminates both our most basic freedoms and our highest aspirations.
When he was five years old, Michael Jordan nearly cut off his big toe with an ax. Back then his hand holds needed a little work. But think, if things had gone differently, air Jordans might never have taken flight.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I mean, you don't want to buy a shoe with, like, one toe missing.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: We may never have seen him switch hands in midair against the Lakers or drop 63 in the in the garden or gut it out in the flu game or hit the shot three different times over Georgetown, over (INAUDIBLE), over Russell. We might not have seen him take on Larry Bird in horse or lift up the sport globally along with the dream team.
Yet MJ is still more than those moments, more than just the best player on the two greatest teams of all time, the Dream team and the 1996 Chicago bulls. He is more than just a logo, more than just an internet me.
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OBAMA: He is more than just a charitable donor or business owner committed to diversity. There is a reason you call somebody the Michael Jordan of. Michael Jordan of neurosurgery. The Michael Jordan of rabbis.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: The Michael Jordan of out rigger canoeing. They know what you are talking about. Because Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of greatness. He is the definition of somebody so good at what they do that everybody recognizes him. That's pretty rare.
As a child, Diana Ross loved singing and dancing for family friends, but not for free.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: She was smart enough to pass the hat. And later in Detroit some housing projects she met Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. Their neighbor Smokey Robinson put them in front of Barry Gordy and the rest was magic. Music history. The Supremes earned a permanent place in the American sound track. Along with her honeyed voice, her soulful sensibility, Diana exuded glamour and Grace and filled stages that helped to shape the sound of Motown.
On top of becoming one of the most successful recording artists of all time, raised five kids, somehow found time to earn an Oscar nomination for acting. Today from the hip-hop that samples her to the young singers who have been inspired by her, to the audiences that still cannot get enough of her, Diana Ross' influence is as inescapable as ever. He was sprung from a cage out on highway 9.
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OBAMA: Quiet kid from jersey. Just trying to make sense of the temples of dreams and the mystery that dotted his hometown, pool halls, bars, girls, and cars, altars and assembly lines. And for decades, Bruce Springsteen has brought us all along on a journey consumed with the bargains between ambition and injustice and pleasure, and pain, the simple glories and scattered heartbreak of everyday life in America.
To create one of his biggest hits he once said "I wanted to craft a record that sounded like the last record on earth. The last one you would ever need to hear. One glorious nice, then the apocalypse. Every restless kid in America was given a story born to run. He didn't stop there. Once he told us about himself, he told us about everybody else. Steelworker in Youngstown, the Vietnam vet in "born to run -- born in the USA." The sick and marginalized on the streets of Philadelphia. The firefighter carrying the weight of a resilient nation on the rising. The young soldier reckoning with devils and dust in Iraq. The communities knocked down by wrecking ball.
All of us with our faults and our failings, every color and class and creed bound together by one defiant restless train rolling toward the land of hope and dreams. These are all anthems of our America, the reality of who we are and the reverie of who we want to be. The hallmark of a rock and roll band, Bruce Springsteen once said, is that the narrative you tell together is bigger than anyone could have told on your own. And for decades alongside the big man, little Steven, a Jersey girl named Patti and all the men and women of the E street band, Bruce Springsteen has been carrying the rest of us on his journey, asking us all what is the work for us to do in our short time here?
I am the president, he is the boss. And pushing 70, he is still laying down four-hour live sets. If you have not been at them, he is working. Fire-breathing rock 'n roll. So I thought twice about giving him a medal named for freedom because we hope he remains in his words a prisoner of rock 'n roll for years to come.
So I told you this is like a really good class.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Ladies and gentlemen, I want you all to give it up for the recipients of the 2016 presidential Medal of Freedom.
(APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Now, we have got actually good medals. So please be patient. We are going aide read the citations. Each one of them will come up and receive the medals and then we will wrap up the program. OK. That's it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
OBAMA: This one is going to be tough.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An iconic basketball player who revolutionized the sport with his all-around play and signature skyhook Kareem Abdul- Jabbar is a 19-time all-star, a six-time world champion, and the leading scorer in NBA history.
Adding to his achievements on the court, he also left his mark off of it, advocating for civil rights, cancer research, science education and social justice. In doing so, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leaves a towering legacy of compassion, faith, and service to others. A legacy based not only on the strength and Grace of his athleticism, but on the sharpness of his mind and the size of his heart.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louise Cobell, accepting on behalf of his mother, Elouise C. Cobell, yellow bird woman.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A member of the black feet nation, Elouise Cobell spent her life to odds in working on behalf of her people. As a young woman, she was told that she wasn't capable of understanding accounting, so she mastered the field and used her expertise to champion a lawsuit whose historic settlement has helped restore tribal homelands to her beloved black feet nation and many other tribes.
Today her tenacious and unwavering spirit lives on in the thousands of people and hundreds of tribes for whom she fought and in all those she taught to believe that it is never too late to right the wrongs of the past and help shape a better future.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ellen DeGeneres.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a career spanning three decades, Ellen DeGeneres has lifted our spirits and brought joy to our lives as a standup comic, actor and television star. In every role, she reminds us to be kind to one another and to treat people as each of us wants to be treated.
At a pivotal moment, her courage and candor helped change the hearts and minds of millions of Americans, accelerating our nation's constant drive toward equality and acceptance for all. Again and again, Ellen DeGeneres has shown us that a single individual can make the world a more fun, more open, more loving place so long as we just keep swimming.
(APPLAUSE)
[15:50:15] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robert De Niro.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For over 50 years Robert De Niro has delivered some of screen's most memorable performances cementing his place as one of the most gifted actors of his generation. From the Godfather Part Two and the Deer Hunter to Midnight Run and Heat, his work is legendary for his range and depth. Relentlessly committed to his craft, De Niro embodies his characters creating rich, (INAUDIBLE) that reflects the heart of the human experience. Regardless of genre or era, Robert De Niro continues to demonstrate the extraordinary skill that has made him one of the most revere and influential artists.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Richard L. Garwin.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most renowned scientific and engineering minds of our time, Dr. Richard Garwin has always answered the call to help solve society's most challenging problems. Had he has couples his pioneering work in defense and intelligence technologies with leadership that underscores the urgency for humanity to control the spread of nuclear arms. Through his advice to Republican and Democratic administrations dating to President Eisenhower, his contributions in fundamental research and his inventions that power technologies that drive our modern world, Richard Garwin has contributed not only to this nation's security and prosperity, but to the quality of life for people all over the world.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: William H. Gates III and Melinda French Gates.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Few people had have the profound impact of Bill and Melinda Gates. Through their word at the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, they demonstrated how the most capable and fortunate among us have a responsibility of use their talents and resources to tackle the world's greatest challenges. From helping women and girls lift themselves in a families out of poverty to empowering young minds across America, they had transformed countless lives with their generosity and innovations. Bill and Melinda Gates continue to inspire us with their inpatient optimism that together we can we remake the world as it should be.
(APPLAUSE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank Gehry.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never limited by conventional material, styles or processes, Frank Gehry's bold and thoughtful structures demonstrate architecture's power to induce, wonder and revitalize communities. A created mind from an early age, he began his career by building imaginary homes and cities with scrap material from his grandfather's hardware store. Since then, his work continues to strike a balance between experimentation and functionality resulting in some of 20th century's most iconic buildings from his pioneering use to technology to the dozens of all inspiring sites that bare his signature style to his public service as a citizen artist through his work. With turnaround arts, Frank Gehry has proven himself an exemplary scholar of American innovations.
(APPLAUSE)
