Hard work, hope and persistence are common themes each spring, as successful speakers address new graduates. President Barack Obama emphasized the factor of "luck" while speaking last weekend to Howard University's Class of 2016. He will talk in Colorado Springs, Colorado on June 2 at the Air Force Academy graduation.

The president's Howard talk created a divisive sound bite reminiscent of his "you didn't build that" speech in 2012. He said, in part:

"That's a pet peeve of mine: People who have been successful and don't realize they've been lucky. That God may have blessed them. It wasn't nothing you did. So don't have an attitude," the president said, encouraging students of the mostly black college to "stand up for African-Americans who haven't been so lucky" as they have been.

He failed to stress how luck, by itself, is relatively useless.

The crudely stated passage came in an otherwise inspiring speech full of solid wisdom and advice. Obama told graduates to oppose "a trend around the country of trying to get colleges to disinvite speakers with a different point of view." Obama warned against "simple majority rule."

He mentioned "terrorism" and "climate change" in the same sentence, as challenges facing our country. Obama explained how progress has lifted more than 1 billion of the world's people from poverty in the past two decades. He acknowledged GIs who have "bled oversees for our freedom." He encouraged graduates to never give up.

After telling them to care about less fortunate blacks, Obama advised the scholars to likewise empathize with "the middle-aged white guy who you may think has all the advantages, but over the last several decades has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change."

Despite all that, his luck comment got most of the attention. Isolated out of context by pundits and their listeners, it stands to promote counterproductive socioeconomic envy.

A Harvard graduate, Obama would be the first to credit part of his success to luck. He is lucky (or, substitute, "blessed") to have good looks and intelligence. As a child, he had the luck of good schools and caring adults. Multiple examples of luck played a role in his ascent to the White House.

If the president continues talking about the luck involved with success, we hope his words are not further misunderstood, misrepresented or misconstrued. Air Force Academy graduates will help protect our country's future. We need them, and all young graduates, to lead with character, intelligence, persistence and strength — without disproportionate regard for good or bad luck that comes their way.

Yes, Obama has been lucky. But luck played only a bit role in his success. Without his proper use of good fortune, he would not be president of the United States. Good luck in a void of character and persistent action is seldom enough. If it were, most lottery winners would have easy lives. They do not. A survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education found 70 percent are bankrupt within a decade.

"Diligence is the mother of good luck," Benjamin Franklin said.

"Luck is preparation meeting opportunity," Oprah Winfrey said.

Few embody these observations better than our first black president, who has turned good and bad luck to his advantage. If he continues talking about luck, hear it in context. We each control how luck gets used, for better or worse.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE