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At Prayer Breakfast, Obama Urges 'Humility'

President Obama speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Mandel Ngan
/
AFP/Getty Images
President Obama speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Speaking at his fifth National Prayer Breakfast since taking office, President Obama said Thursday morning that the annual gatherings are always "wonderful." But he worries, Obama told the lawmakers and clergy gathered in Washington, D.C., that "as soon as we leave the prayer breakfast, everything we've been talking about the whole time at the prayer breakfast is forgotten ... on the same day as the prayer breakfast."

"It's like we didn't pray," he added.

What he hopes, said Obama, is that he and other leaders retain the humility they express each year at the prayer breakfast, "not just during this hour, but for every hour." Those with the "most power and influence," he said, "need to be the most humble."

C-SPAN has video of the prayer breakfast here.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.