Obama addresses race at graduation speech

President Barack Obama told graduates at a historically black university that they had "responsibilities" to help others rise above joblessness, depressed wages and widespread violence in their communities.

"If we're being honest with ourselves, too few of our brothers and sisters have the opportunities you've had here," Obama said at a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta. "In troubled neighborhoods all across the country -- many of them heavily African-American -- too few of our citizens have role models to guide them."

In his second commencement address this year, Obama touted the health care overhaul that he signed into law in his first term, and defended the role of government to improve people's lives. He also tailored his message for his audience, recounting some of his own personal struggles, as well as the excuses he made for them.

"I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down," he said. "But one of the things you've learned over the last four years is that there's no longer any room for excuses."

"There are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves," he said. "There are some things, as Morehouse Men, that you are obliged to do for those still left behind."

Founded in 1867, Morehouse offers an all-male undergraduate education and counts civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King among its alumni. King, who entered Morehouse at age 15 "wasn't the coolest kid on campus," Obama said. "For the suits he wore, his classmates called him 'Tweed.' "

Thunder accompanied Obama to the podium under a covered stage on the campus' outdoor quad, and as he started to speak, rain began to fall. Addressing audience members, many of them wearing plastic trash bags, he acknowledged the obvious. "I also have to tell you you're all going to get wet," he said.