He briefly touched on issues of foreign policy, saying that the United States involvement in Africa is “not charity, it’s self-interest” and that he expects to know by next spring whether the U.S. can achieve necessary goals to ensure a stable Iraq.

“If it cannot, then we’re going to have some very hard decisions to make,” he said.

Obama, the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, received a Harvard Law School Association award at the luncheon.

Prior to his address, HLS Dean Elena Kagan spoke of the qualities she thought made Obama worthy of the award.

“And it’s that passion for service, that commitment, to be of use, to give back, to make a real difference in the world...that’s what makes Barack Obama for me and for so many others a hero,” said Kagan, who was a colleague of Obama’s at the University of Chicago Law School.

Longtime Obama friend Peter C.B. Bynoe ’72 also warmed the crowd, delivering a roast of the senator in the style of a “top ten” list. Bynoe listed the fact that Obama “married well,” “stayed married,” and revealed that he “did more than inhale” as top reasons the 44-year-old politician ascended to the U.S. Senate.

In his remarks, Obama jokingly chided Bynoe for “putting all my business out there” and for “not understanding the gravity of the occasion.”

The three-day celebration was the second in HLS’s history, and included panels, discussions, and the presentation of the HLS Medal of Freedom to author Randall Robinson.

—Staff writer Javier C. Hernandez can be reached at jhernand@fas.harvard.edu.