(slow music)
- [Jacob] Hello?
- [Obama] Is that Jacob?
- [Jacob] Well, it is.
- [Obama] It's Barack Obama, man.
Do you remember me?
- [Jacob] Yeah, I remember you telling me that your hair
was gonna be gray next time.
- [Obama] (chuckles) And I was not lying.
(music continues)
This gentleman here, Mr. Philadelphia, was a marine
who had served with the National Security Council.
So he comes and he brings his two little boys and his wife.
This young man, the older brother, he's very serious.
He's asking me questions about, you know, weapon systems
and the budget process and clearly, he's been studying.
This young man, Jacob,
he has a different kind of question
and he's kind of standing there looking at me for a second,
but then he says, "Is your hair like mine?"
I go, "Well,
"You want to check and see?"
Then, I lean down and I said, "Go ahead, touch it."
And right as he was putting his hand on the top of my head,
Peter Souza, my White House photographer, took a picture.
I said, "Well, what do you think?"
He says, "Yeah,
"I think that's pretty much what I got."
(music continues)
I think this picture embodied one of the hopes that I had
when I first started running for office.
I remember telling Michelle and some of my staff,
"You know, I think that if I were to win,
"the day I was sworn in to office, young people,
"particularly African American people, people of color,
"outsiders, folks who maybe didn't always feel like
"they belonged, they'd look at themselves differently
"to see a person who looked like them in the Oval Office."
To be able to speak to Black kids
and Latino kids and gay kids,
young girls, now they could see
the world open up for them.
- [Jacob] I was five years old when I met President Obama
in the Oval Office.
When I was younger, I just thought the President
was just my dad's boss.
I didn't know how powerful he was,
but I was slightly intimidated.
It was a really big room, the Oval Office,
so I was a little shy and
I kind of remember touching his hair
and him towering over me.
That was a pretty big highlight of my life.
It is very wonderful to see representation in the government
because if I get to see another Black man be at the top,
be at that pinnacle, then I want to follow that lead.
(music continues)
- [Obama] Well listen, I wanna catch up with you
because we found out that you were gonna
be graduating this month and I thought
how it can it be that that little boy
that I was talking to in the Oval Office is now suddenly
about to graduate from high school?
Tell me what you've been doing.
It seems as if you've been traveling around a lot
and you ended up going to high school in Uganda.
- [Jacob] Yes.
My dad joined the State Department.
- [Obama] Right, right, so he got a bunch
of various posts and sometimes that's hard
moving from place to place.
How's the experience been traveling?
- [Jacob] It's kind of difficult, but at the end of the day,
we get to see a lot of things that a lot of other kids
don't get a chance to.
You get to talk to people, see their ideals
for how they wanna change the world and how
we want to do it our own way.
- [Obama] That's great.
In this world, that can only benefit you.
My understanding is that you're going to be going
to the University of Memphis, huh?
- [Jacob] Yeah, that's the plan.
- [Obama] Do you know what you want to study?
- [Jacob] Yeah, I'm doing Political Sciences.
- [Obama] I think the White House visit clearly
inspired ya', I hope?
- [Jacob] Yes, it really has.
- [Obama] That's fantastic!
So, the thing I'm confused about is how did you get
to be this big man?
Is that like kind of a mustache,
some facial hair you got there?
- [Jacob] Yeah, I'm growing it.
- [Obama] Oh lord!
It sounds like you're doing great, man,
and I'm so proud of you.
Congratulations on your graduation.
Great talking to you.
Tell your family that I said hi.
- [Jacob] All right.
- [Obama] All right, congratulations.
- [Jacob] Thank you.
- [Obama] Bye-bye.
(music continues)