Who Needs Obama? Michael Vick Speaks to Schoolkids in Philly

Rather than suffer through mundane cliches from Barack Obama, some kids in Philadelphia today got a real life lesson from a guy who just did an 18-month stretch in prison and flushed a $100 million contract down the drain.

Michael Vick, speaking to a group of Philadelphia high school students Tuesday, warned against the dangers of peer pressure and offered himself as a cautionary tale of what can happen when someone is a follower instead of a leader.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback addressed a rapt audience of 200 freshmen on their first day at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a North Philadelphia charter school. He urged students to make the right choices and to resist the temptation to follow the crowd.

Vick used his conviction for operating a dogfighting ring as an example of the result of bowing to peer pressure. Speaking without notes, Vick told the students his decisions imperiled the goals he had set for himself since childhood.

"Growing up, I had dreams and I always wanted to have this great, lavish life and make it to the NFL, go and accomplish great things and leave a great legacy. That was my goal from a young kid," Vick said. "My future was promising ... at some point, I got sidetracked. I started listening to my friends and doing some things that were not ethical and not right."

He managed to get through without using notes or a TelePrompter? He's already got more to teach these kids than Obama does.