In rousing speech, Obama salutes NAACP

President Barack Obama spoke to the group Thursday evening in New York as the civil rights organization celebrated its 100th anniversary.

The president saluted the work of civil rights leaders from generations past and depicted the NAACP's works as part of the mainstream of American values.

Because Jim Crow laws were overturned, black CEOs now run Fortune 500 companies, the president said. He said "ordinary people did extraordinary things." He also said it was their efforts that led him to run for office and to become the 44th president of the United States of America. "Because of them I stand here tonight, on the shoulders of giants," he said to rousing applause.

"What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past 100 years," Obama told the crowd.

Obama also noted that African Americans were disproportionately affected by the health care system, the prison system and HIV/AIDS. "These are some of the barriers of our time," he said, noting that they are "very different from the barriers" faced by earlier generations.

President Obama also called for commitment, urgency and sacrifice to make the country and the African American community better. "We need to recapture the same sense of responsibility in Washington and in our own lives that made the civil rights movement a success," Obama said.

Obama joked that some believe that discrimination is no longer a problem in the country, but warned that discrimination is still a problem in America. He cited African American women, Muslims and gays as groups that are still suffering. "Prejudice has no place in the United States of America," Obama said. "That's what the NAACP stands for. That's what the NAACP will continue to fight for, as long as it takes," he added.

The president said education is one of the biggest challenges facing America and African Americans. He mentioned an unusual meeting in the Oval Office with Al Sharpton, Newt Gingrich and Mike Bloomberg that struck him as symbolic of the unifying message of education reform.

Obama also mentioned his visit to a slave castle in Ghana last week and noted that there was a church built above the prison quarters were captive slaves were kept. He said that "tells you something ... about saying one thing and doing another."

The president ended his speech by quoting liberally from the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice And Sing," citing the legacy of John Lewis, Emmett Till and the three civil rights workers who were killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi. 

The audience reacted enthusiastically to the president, but not all the media observers were impressed. CNN anchor Lou Dobbs described the speech as "rousing" but complained that the speech could have been given 40 years ago, suggesting that the president did not acknowledge how much has changed since the end of segregation. He also noted that the president waited until 20 minutes in his speech before he addressed the issue of personal responsibility.

Despite Dobbs's critique, the crowds gathered in New York cheered and showed their support with a standing ovation.