Barack Obama urged people to participate fully in elections. He spoke to a crowd in Milan, Italy, relaying his experience as a community organizer in Chicago. Following is a transcript of the video.

BARACK OBAMA: The mark of a good leader is somebody who is able to empower other people. So often, we think of leadership as somebody at the top who is ordering other people around, but it turns out, for me at least, what made me understand leadership was when I could see somebody who thought they didn't have a voice, thought they didn't have influence or didn't have power, and teach them how they could speak up on the things that were affecting their lives.

People have a tendency to blame politicians when things don't work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve. If you don't vote and don't participate and don't pay attention, you get policies that don't reflect your interests