All Video Clips of Barack Obama Talking About the Importance of Empathy
 

Barack Obama and a New Spirit of Empathy - Rough Cut 2 (1hr 49 min) A Chronological Video of Barack on Empathy. Compiled from about 40 of his speeches and interviews, etc. on the topic of empathy. For links to the individual clips see below.

Video Clip
(On Youtube)

Comments on Empathy

Reference Material, Notes,
and Comments

We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity.

If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It is that fundamental belief - I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family. E pluribus unum. "Out of many, one."

Throughout these visits, I was extraordinarily impressed with the deep care, attentiveness and professionalism of the staff at Walter Reed. They considered these young people to be part of their families and are able to maintain a powerful balance between empathy for those in their care and a cheerful insistence on the ability of these wounded soldiers to recover from their injuries.

One of the values that I think men in particular have to pass on is the value of empathy. Not sympathy, empathy. And what that means is standing in somebody else's shoes, being able to look through their eyes. You know, sometimes we get so caught up in "us" that it's hard to see that there are other people and that your behavior has an impact on them. And sometimes brothers in particular don't like to feel empathy, don't like to think in terms of "How does this affect other people?" because we think that's being soft. There's a culture in our society that says we can't show weakness and we can't, therefore, show kindness. That we can't be considerate because sometimes that makes us look weak.

 That last mile can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy...

As you travel through the Middle East what keeps on striking home to me is how similar everyone is, and yet the degree to which we can find differences to fight wars over. It requires a great deal of empathy, I think, between various sides to overcome this history and live in peace.

For a group of young people that have served countless hours and helped hundreds and dozens of people,  what they are learning is the ability to see the world through somebody  else's eyes, and to stand in somebody else's shoes.  And that strikes me as the most important quality that we need in America right now and around the world right now If you think about so much of the conflict, the war, the cruelties that we have been witnessing,  so much of if it seems to have to do with the inability of people to   recognize themselves in somebody else. 

The world doesn't just revolve around you. There's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit.

The last piece of advice is to cultivate a sense of empathy. There's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through those who are different from us - the child who's hungry, the laid-off steelworker, the immigrant woman cleaning your dorm room.
The fact that you're here and participating in Campus Progress means that most of you have already done this better than most ever will. But as you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will become harder, not easier. There's no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You'll be free to live in neighborhoods with people who are exactly like yourself, and send your kids to the same schools, and narrow your concerns to what's going in your own little circle. Not only that - we live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. A culture where those in power too often encourage these selfish impulses.

You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us - the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town.

If we hope to meet the moral test of our times, we’re going to have to talk more about the empathy deficit—the ability to see ourselves when we choose to empathize with the plight of others. It is time for a sense of empathy to infuse our politics in America.

It is time for a sense of empathy to infuse our politics in America. K.I.D.S. has spent over 20 years making this a reality. Now it is time for the rest of us to catch up.

There is an empathy gap. There is a gap in terms of sympathizing for the folks in New Orleans. It's not a gap that the American people felt because we saw how they responded. But somehow our government didn't respond with that same sense of compassion, with that same sense of kindness. And here is the worst part, the tragedy in New Orleans happened well before the hurricane struck because many of those communities, there were so many young men in prison, so many kids dropping out, so little hope.

 I'm not an ideologue. Never have been. Even during my younger days when I was tempted by sort of more radical or left-wing politics, there was a part of me that always was a little bit conservative in that sense, that believes that you make progress by sitting down, listening to people, recognizing everybody's concerns,  seeing other people's points of views, and them making decisions...
 But keep in mind, I'm not interested in bringing people together just for the sake of bringing people together. I'm not naive enough to think that if we all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" that somehow health care gets solved or, you know, education gets solved. Right now, what we need to make significant progress on these problems is to be able to build enough bridges to get things done.

The world doesn't just revolve around you. There's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit

Question: Who's your favorite past president?

Barack:   Lincoln, ...Stand in their shoes and have great empathy and great feeling for his fellow man.... 

 (version2)

Text Source - Local Copy - Empathy Section
Video Source: @ youtube (new)
Notes:  

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

But the Supreme Court also affects women's lives in so many other ways – from decisions on equal pay, to workplace discrimination, to Title IX, to domestic violence, to civil rights and workers' rights. And the question we face in this election is whether we'll have judges who demonstrate sound judgment and empathy, who understand how law operates in our daily lives, who are committed to upholding the values at the core of our Constitution – or judges who put ideology before justice, with our fundamental rights as the first casualty.

the golden rule, the call to love one another, to understand one another, to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

Today and every day, we have an opportunity as well as an obligation to confront these scourges, to fight the impulse to turn the channel when we see images that disturb us or wrap ourselves in the false comfort that others’ sufferings are not our own. Instead, we have the opportunity to make a habit of empathy, to recognize ourselves in each other, to commit ourselves to resisting injustice and intolerance and indifference, in whatever forms they may take, whether confronting those who tell lies about history, or doing everything we can to prevent and end atrocities like those that took place in Rwanda, those taking place in Darfur.

I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book.  It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation.

I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes.  I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role. 

And you know, I said earlier, that I thought empathy was an important quality and I continue to believe that. You have to have not only the intellect to be able to effectively apply the law to cases before you.  But you have to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living.

For as Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, the life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience; experience being tested by obstacles and barriers, by hardship and misfortune; experience insisting, persisting, and ultimately overcoming those barriers. It is experience that can give a person a common touch and a sense of compassion, an understanding of how the world works and how ordinary people live.

For the struggle waged by the Human Rights Campaign is about more than any policy we can enshrine into law. It's about our capacity to love and commit to one another. It's about whether or not we value as a society that love and commitment. It's about our common humanity and our willingness to walk in someone else's shoes: to imagine losing a job not because of your performance at work but because of your relationship at home; to imagine worrying about a spouse in the hospital, with the added fear that you'll have to produce a legal document just to comfort the person you love -- (applause) -- to imagine the pain of losing a partner of decades and then discovering that the law treats you like a stranger.....

personal acts of compassion.... families can show the same compassion in a time of need

And at every turn, we've made progress not only by changing laws but by changing hearts, by our willingness to walk in another's shoes, by our capacity to love and accept even in the face of rage and bigotry.

I think it is going to be very hard and it's going to take some time.  Let me sort of provide the context for what I saw when I arrived. And I think it's important to be able to stand in the shoes of all the different parties involved here.  In some ways the United States was coming with a somewhat clean slate, because we had been on the sidelines in many of these negotiations over several years.

2010-02-19 - Remarks by The President At Town Hall Meeting In Henderson, Nevada 
    Through their unwavering commitment, they have driven and inspired countless acts of leadership, compassion,
2010-02-25  - Presidential Proclamation -- American Red Cross Month
    responding to challenges at home and abroad with compassion and generosity.
2010-03-09 - Remarks by the President Honoring Greek Independence Day
    and for the wisdom and compassion that has always defined your ministry.
2010-03-10  - Remarks by President Obama and President Preval of the Republic of Haiti
    who represent the true character of our country and who projected to the world the best face of America -- a face of compassion and generosity
2010-03-25  - Presidential Proclamation -- Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.
   To secure a bright future for America, we must instill in our children a love of learning as well as a spirit of compassion.
2010-04-01  - Presidential Proclamation - National Donate Life Month
   these individuals' lives depend on the compassion of a loved one or a complete stranger.
2010-04-11 - Statement by the President on Holocaust Remembrance Day
   those who endured the horrors of the Holocaust remind us of humanity’s capacity for decency and compassion.
2010-04-30 - Presidential Proclamation--National Day of Prayer
    they have driven and inspired countless acts of leadership, compassion, and service across our country
2010-05-07 - Presidential Proclamation--Mother's Day
    Through their unwavering commitment, they have driven and inspired countless acts of leadership, compassion, and service across our countr
etc