Only in Oklahoma.
First there was Nixon.
In May of 1974 President Richard Nixon addressed graduates.
Then there was HW.
Sixteen years later President George H.W. Bush spoke during OSU's spring commencement.
Now there is W.
Bush, who will speak at Boone Pickens Stadium Saturday, May 6, will be the first commander-in-chief to address graduates at a college or university in the state since President George H.W. Bush spoke at OSU in 1990.
I am bringing this to your attention with some final wisps of resignation, as I will be moving out of this Red-Dirt/Red-politics state within two weeks of W speaking to OSU's graduating class.
More below:
I am looking forward to moving into a purple area - on the boundary of congressional district CO-7 and CO-2, where there is a competitive race this year.
After unsuccessfully helping Doug Dodd for several cycles against my inept congressman, John Sullivan, it will be nice to have a Democratic party structure to work with and to be part of the upcoming Western wave of red-cum-blue states.
After trying to unsuccessfully helping Brad Carson against the idiotic Tom Coburn, and hoping for a reasonable candidate to replace Jim Inhofe, I am ready to head to greener pastures.
I say this after 35 years of living here, and with all due respect for the state: these days, Oklahoma isn't the dustbowl it was in the '30s, where the poor leave to find some other life; Oklahoma is now a cultural dustbowl, where anyone who can move on to a better community outside of this fundamentalist state has done so - as quickly as they could manage.
So, fare thee well, Oklahoma. I put my best years into you. I hope you manage to find the salvation for which you are always looking. Lord knows Oklahoma needs it.