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Obama's remarks, which he gave upon receiving the 2017 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, are his first since the House voted to repeal and replace Obamacare on Thursday. They mark a rare post-presidency appeal on a policy matter for Obama, who has steered clear of discussing political issues since leaving office.

Obama called on lawmakers to have the courage to "champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm." He said he hopes they understand that "courage does not always mean doing what is politically expedient, but what they believe deep in their hearts is right."

The former President also said there was a reason why health care reform had not been accomplished earlier: "It was hard."

In his acceptance speech, Obama talked about the need for courage in times when politics "remains filled with division and discord, and everywhere we see the risk of falling into the refuge of tribe and clan."

The former President also spoke about challenging the status quo and "fighting the good fight." Although Obama did not explicitly mention the health care vote from last week, he focused on the need for health care for all Americans. He spoke of the courage of the men and women who were in Congress when he was President, who risked their political futures to pass the Affordable Care Act.

"They had a chance to insure millions," Obama recalled. "This same vote would likely cost them their new seats and perhaps end their political careers. And these men and women did the right thing, the hard thing, and theirs was a profile in courage."

Obama's speech came together over the past week, "so the courage part of the 2010 health care vote given current events wasn't really a stretch," a source familiar with the former president's speech told CNN.

"For him, it's the perfect example of leaders doing the right thing even though it may not be politically advantageous. That's the crux of Kennedy's whole point," the source said. "When those guys lost their seats in the midterms, Obama called them individually -- he knew how tough of a vote that was, but also how important it was to the country."

Obama alluded to the coming legislative fight when he said of the current crop of lawmakers: "This great debate is not settled, but continues, and it is my fervent hope and hope of millions that regardless of party, such courage is still possible."

The award Obama received Sunday is given to a public official or group of public servants "whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership," according to the John F. Kennedy library's website.

Songwriter James Taylor was also at the ceremony and said it is a "great relief" to be in the presence of the Obamas again.

Taylor said there were similarities between the Kennedy and Obama administrations in that "both summoned the very best of our spirit and generosity."

Obama was introduced by former Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy and her son and grandson of President Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg.

Former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush have also received the Profile in Courage Award.

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said Obama received the award for "expanding health security for millions of Americans, restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba and leading a landmark international accord to combat climate change."

CNN's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

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Obama calls for 'courage' to oppose Obamacare repeal ...

President Obama criticized congressional Republicans and their proposed health-care bill, the American Health Care Act, during a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on May 7 in Boston. (JFK Library)

President Barack Obama signaled when he left office that he'd largely stay out of U.S. politics, as former presidents traditionally do, but would break his silence to weigh in on issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake.

And aside from a few short statements released through aides, Obama has largely stayed out of the political fray in the months since President Trump's inauguration. But that all changed Sunday, when Obama went directly after Republicans attempting to overturn his signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

Obama, accepting a Profile in Courage award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, gave a half-hour speech in which he discussed broad ideas about leadership and the role of public servants in American politics. Then he got a lot more specific, attacking congressional Republicans and their proposed health care bill, the American Health Care Act.

It is my fervent hope that today's members of Congress are willing to look at the facts and speak the truth, even when it bucks party dogmas, Obama said. I hope that current members of Congress recognize it takes little courage to aid those who are already powerful, already comfortable, already influential, but it takes great courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm.

Those aren't the words of an ex-president who's trying to stay out of the political fray. In fact, calling the political opposition cowards for their votes is about as public a call-out as an ex-president can utter.

Notably absent from Obama's speech? Trump. Perhaps Obama is trying to stick to the model followed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, who subjected him to almost no direct criticism. But maybe Obama also knows that he doesn't need to mention Trump's name to get his point across. Repealing and replacing Obamacare was one of Trump's core campaign promises and a direct assault on Obama's legacy. He can stay on the high road by not assailing Trump directly but still be free to throw his political weight around by arguing against Trumpism.

It's traditional for ex-presidents to stay out of the political fray. Bush, when Obama was set to take office, explained it succinctly, saying Obama deserves my silence and the chance to enact an agenda without running commentary from predecessors.

But Obama seems to feel that times have changed and that the old norms have been thrown out the window. Does Trump deserve Obama's silence?

Obama clearly doesn't think so.

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Ray Locker , USA TODAY 12:16 p.m. EDT May 8, 2017

by David Garrow

(William Morrow)

in Biography

When he gave his speech before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama seemed to have exploded outof nowhere, and his political career never looked back. Four years later, he was elected president, and polls now show a majority would welcome him back.

But maybenot historian and biographer David J. Garrow. The young Obama he shows in the mammoth Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (William Morrow, 1,078 pp.,*** out of four stars)is a magnetic but calculating shape shifter who nursed presidential ambitions for far longer than he admitted or wanted anyone to know.

Garrow, who has written well-regarded and deeply researched books on Martin Luther King Jr. and the history of reproductive rights, has a huge challenge with Obama. Few presidents had already written memoirs on their own lives, as Obama had, before becoming president. Dreams From My Father, which Obama wrote after he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, created the template for future books about the president.

Author David Garrow portrays former president Barack Obama as a magnetic but calculating shape shifter who nursed presidential ambitions for far longer than he admitted or wanted anyone to know.(Photo: David Rubin)

Rising Star is Garrow's attempt to crack that template, and he does so with a book as heavy as a paving brick and about as subtle as one heaved through a picture window.

Consider, for example, Obama's comments about the impact his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, had on his life. "He had never spoken so glowingly during Ann's lifetime of her impact on his life, but in the years following her death at age fifty-two, his memories of her became far warmer than they had ever been when she was alive."

Not content with questioning Obama's love for his mother, Garrow goes into great detail about the future president's relationship with his wife, Michelle, and whether his decision to marry her stemmed more from politics than love. Garrow puts great faith in the memoriesof Obama's onetime girlfriend, Oberlin professor Sheila Miyoshi Jager, whose three-year relationship with Obama is treated with as much seriousness as the decision to kill Osama bin Laden. Ultimately, Obama decided that if he wouldpursue a career in politics in black Chicago, he could not be married to a white woman.

While Garrow devotes too much time to that part of Obama's life, he deserves credit for locating Jager. Biography doesn't belong to the subject but to the biographer, and Garrow makes the most of this opportunity.

Each page crackles with the strength of his research, and the footnotes groan with great detail. It's a prodigious work, and one that will provide the foundation for any serious Obama biographer in the future. It shows the depth and richness of Obama's life.

Then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama gives the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July 2004.(Photo: Timothy A. Clary, AFP)

For all its length and heft, however,Rising Starlacks the same kind of sense of place and time that other presidential biographers, such as Robert Caro and David McCullough, brought to their books about Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman. We don't feel the heat and humidity of Indonesia, where Obama spent some of his formative childhood years, the way Caro made us feel about the Texas Hill Country that shaped Johnson.

Instead, Garrow's research criesout for a discerning editor. There's simply too much. Do we really need to know the title of Obama's English textbook at the Punahou School or the catalog number for his physics course at Columbia?Everything, including Obama'sinability to figure out how to use the mouse for his new Macintosh computer, is here. It didn't need to be in the story of such a historic figure.

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New bio questions Obama's motives in marrying Michelle - USA TODAY

Former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaFive takeaways from Yatess dramatic Senate testimony Overnight Defense: Senate confirms Trump Air Force chief | Yates' dramatic testimony on Flynn | Watchdog sues to get legal basis for Syria strike | F-35s heading to Paris Air Show Overnight Tech: Round two in John Oliver, FCC fight over net neutrality | Sinclair to buy Tribune for .9B | Writers Guild blasts FCC over Colbert | What Macron's win means for tech MORE is traveling to Italy, where he will speak this week about food security and climate change.

The former president is expected to go to Milan to meet with several Italians and discuss the issues.

On Monday, the former president is scheduled to meet with former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

That evening, he will attend a private dinner held by the Institute for International Political Studies.

The theme of the summit this year is "The Impact of Technology and Innovation on Climate Change and Food Availability Around the World."

Following his keynote, the former president will take part in a Q&A session.

Obama on Sunday night spoke broadly about the healthcare debate gripping the United States while he accepted the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston.

During his speech, he praised the lawmakers who passed ObamaCare when he was in office.

These men and women did the right thing, they did the hard thing," Obama said. "Theirs was a profile in courage. Because of that vote, 20 million people got health insurance who didnt have it, and most of [those lawmakers] did lose their seats.

Obama said the debate is not settled, adding it is his "fervent hope ... that regardless of party, such courage is still possible."

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