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| A funny poster comparing Obama to Obi Wan Kenobi of Star War |
President Barack Obama addressed an invitation-only crowd at Carnegie Mellon University on Wednesday, June 2nd. He opened his 42-minute speech on the economy, health care, education and clean energy “by thanking Dr. Jared Cohon, President of Carnegie Mellon and the entire staff for welcoming me once again, and for the terrific work that the school and the faculty and staff do here each and every day.” Last year, President Obama was in Pittsburgh for September's G-20 Summit where he hosted a discussion on the global economy on campus.
On the economy, President Obama said, “America does not stand still. We move forward. That is why I’ve said that as we emerge from this recession, we cannot return to the pre-crisis status quo. We cannot go back to an economy that was too dependent on bubbles and debt and financial speculation. We cannot accept economic growth that leaves the middle-class owing more and making less. We must build a new, stronger foundation for growth and prosperity based on our excellent education systems - and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for the last 16 months.”
On education, he said, “It’s precisely our investments in education and innovation that will make America more competitive in the 21st century. This is the reason why I came to Carnegie Mellon, the leading education institution in the U.S because we can’t go back, we’ve got to move forward.”
Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon commented that he was pleased to hear what President Obama had to say about investments in research and technology. “Another aspect of the significance of his speech for us is the fact that it’s here in Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Mellon,” Cohon said. “Why Pittsburgh? I think it’s the same reason why he chose Pittsburgh to host the G-20. We are, as you heard him say, one of the leading models for America, which has transformed its economy. Why Carnegie Mellon? I think it’s because we’re a major actor in education, we are the leader in innovation and technology and he knows that.”
For a video and to read the full text of President Obama’s speech, visit http://www.cmu.edu/multimedia/obama.
In Vietnam, from 2008, Carnegie Mellon University has transferred two undergraduate programs of Software Engineering and Information Systems to Duy Tan University (in Da Nang). Carnegie Mellon has also sent many world-class professors to Duy Tan to give speeches over the last two years, and it co-hosted Da Nang’s IT Festival with DTU in 2009. 
