This is the season of graduations. College graduations, high school graduations, even elementary school graduations.
Turns out, our glorious leader, despite being accused of profound inexperience by political opponents during the election, has given several commencement addresses which I can quote from in this diary!
Funny thing is, we mostly didn't think of using his graduation addresses as evidence of his experience, or fitness for office. This is a small attempt to correct that omission.
And, given the potential controversy over the impending Supreme Court nominee appointment, I think I've found something that every graduate, and every person regardless, should be aware of regarding that decision.
So, let's commence, shall we?
Memorable or Forgettable?
Graduation speeches are more famous for being forgettable than for being memorable. I suspect this may be, in some part, due to the emotional rollercoasters ridden by the graduates who have to sit through them, thinking the whole time about other things like walking across the stage, what happens next, anxiety about college or getting a job, having to spend the afternoon with crazy relatives, etc... Given that inner monologue, I'm surprised graduates remember just about anything from their graduation ceremonies.
However, some graduation speeches are preserved in electrons that can be downloaded in nifty packets and analyzed after the fact!
Teachers Lounge
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Arizona State U., U. of Notre Dame, & The Naval Academy
President Obama is speaking at 3 graduations this year. One of them has attracted more attention than the other two combined: The University of Notre Dame.
Arizona State = May 13th
University of Notre Dame = May 17, tomorrow
Naval Academy = May 22
Arizona State University, 2009
Remember that theme of inexperience I brought up in the introduction above? Obama brought it up himself in the introduction to this speech:
I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life. I come to embrace it; to heartily concur; to affirm that one's title, even a title like President, says very little about how well one's life has been led - and that no matter how much you've done, or how successful you've been, there's always more to do, more to learn, more to achieve.
I'm hooked already. Talk about turning a perceived weakness into a strength. Mmmm mmmm good.
In this speech Obama encouraged the ASU graduates to pursue substance, depth, and service in their future lives. To work for deeper and more meaningful things than titles, money, and status. He argues that our collective obsession with these things, celebrity and wealth, are part of the problem(s), not the solution(s).
I want to highlight two main problems with that old approach. First, it distracts you from what is truly important, and may lead you to compromise your values, principles and commitments. Think about it. It's in chasing titles and status - in worrying about the next election rather than the national interest and the interests of those they represent - that politicians so often lose their way in Washington. It was in pursuit of gaudy short-term profits, and the bonuses that come with them, that so many folks lost their way on Wall Street.
The leaders we revere, the businesses that last - they are not the result of narrow pursuit of popularity or personal advancement, but of devotion to some bigger purpose - the preservation of the Union or the determination to lift a country out of depression; the creation of a quality product or a commitment to your customers, your workers, your shareholders and your community.
Now, I read that first bolded quote and I immediately think of John McCain, Colin Powell, and all those who rebuked Rush Limbaugh and then were pressured into apologizing to him on-air. Are there liberals who have compromised or corrupted their values and principles? Of course. But, as easily as I could name some, their names are not the first that come to my mind, even when their wives write tell-all stories about their infidelities!
The second problem with that approach?
The second problem with the old approach is that a relentless focus on the outward markers of success all too often leads to complacency. We too often let them serve as indications that we're doing well, even though something inside us tells us that we're not doing our best; that we are shrinking from, rather than rising to, the challenges of the age. And the thing is, in this new, hyper-competitive age, you cannot afford to be complacent...We've become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn't reckless deals and get-rich-quick schemes that got us there; but hard work and smart ideas -quality products and wise investments. So we started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings. We saw businesses focus more on rebranding and repackaging than innovating and developing new ideas and products that improve our lives.
Hmmmm...where else have I recently hearda lot of news about rebranding...? Oh yes, it was here:
At a pizza restaurant in Arlington, where they officially unveiled the National Council for a New America, party leaders attempted to portray Republicans as sensitive to the concerns of average Americans and to shake off the "Party of No" label that Democrats have tried to affix to the GOP.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) rejected the idea that yesterday's event, the first in a national series, was about "rebranding" the GOP, but it gave the impression of a party looking for a fresh start. Source: WaPo
Obama's speech then goes on to advise the soon-to-be-former-Sun-Devils that the future depends on their ability and willingness to take risks, that the problems of the future will not be fixed with the solutions of the past.
A willingness to follow your passions, regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame. A willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink the old dogmas. A lack of regard for all the traditional markers of status and prestige - and a commitment instead to doing what is meaningful to you, what helps others, what makes a difference in this world...it is moments like these that force us to try harder, to dig deeper, to discover gifts we never knew we had - to find the greatness that lies within each of us.
Northwestern, 2006
The Northwestern speech from 2006 gives some insight into a more recent event, the Obama interruption of the Gibbs press conference where he went on to answer questions about his thinking concerning the appointment of a Justice to fill Souter's seat. At that press conference, Obama said this:
I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook, it is also about how our laws effect the daily realities of peoples lives--whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome and their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with peoples' hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes. I will seek someone who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our Constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process, and the appropriate limits of the judicial role. Source: TPM
From Obama's appearance at Northwestern's Commencement Ceremony, 3 years ago:
Once, after a particularly long night of partying, we had spilled a little too much beer, broke a few too many bottles, and trashed a little too much of the dorm. And the next day, the mess was so bad that when one of the cleaning ladies saw it, she began to tear up.
And when a girlfriend of mine heard about this, she said to me, "That woman could’ve been my grandmother, Barack. She spent her days cleaning up after somebody else’s mess."
Which drove home for me the first lesson of growing up:
The world doesn’t just revolve around you.
There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit – the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes; to see the world through those who are different from us – the child who’s hungry, the laid-off steelworker, the immigrant woman cleaning your dorm room.
As you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will become harder, not easier. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You’ll be free to live in neighborhoods with people who are exactly like yourself, and send your kids to the same schools, and narrow your concerns to what’s going in your own little circle.
Not only that – we live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principal goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. A culture where those in power too often encourage these selfish impulses.
They will tell you that the Americans who sleep in the streets and beg for food got there because they’re all lazy or weak of spirit. That the inner-city children who are trapped in dilapidated schools can’t learn and won’t learn and so we should just give up on them entirely. That the innocent people being slaughtered and expelled from their homes half a world away are somebody else’s problem to take care of.
I hope you don’t listen to this. I hope you choose to broaden, and not contract, your ambit of concern. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all of those who helped you get to where you are, although you do have that debt.
It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. And because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential – and become full-grown. Source: Northwestern U.
If you go back, and compare the speech from 3 years ago to the press conference of a few weeks ago, you can reach a completely different conclusion about the kind of "code word" empathy is for Obama than the one promoted in Republican sound bites and punditry of the past few weeks. In fact, In another diary today, NCrissieB's Morning Feature, you can find an expert and experienced analysis of the legal implications and arguments involving Obama's call for empathy in the selection of a Supreme Court Justice. Highly Recommended.
Obama, however, offers in this speech two more life lessons he has learned from experience:
So the second lesson is this: Challenge yourself. Take some risks in your life.
and
The third lesson is one that I learned once I got to Chicago...Persevere.
He closes with the thought that what is good for individuals is also good for nations: empathy, intentional and appropriate risk taking to solve problems, and perseverance. I can think of worse graduation day messages.
The Takeaway
Notice the parallels between these public statements. There are some obviously consistent messages between them. Consistency that I predict allows us to anticipate (a little bit) what may be in tomorrow's Notre Dame speech. But, consider this op-ed piece from one of my favorite NYT blogging-types, Judith Warner. She's not writing about graduation speeches but a shirtless Obama on the cover of a magazine. However, her observation serves as well as a summary for this diary as any I could write. So, here you go:
Just as having a president who can string a sentence together with subject-verb agreement makes us all look a little bit smarter, just as having a really admirable family in the White House makes us all seem a little less dysfunctional, perhaps having a president who can look good in a bathing suit is in some bizarre way good for the nation.
Maybe we, too — fancy this! — can aspire to combine intelligence with attractiveness. Maybe desirability can be defined now in a much broader way than the empty-eyed visions of red-carpet celebrity that normally greet our eyes at the checkout line.
Would that really be such a terrible thing? Source: NYT
I'd love to know what graduation speeches you have found to be memorable, or important, either ones you heard, gave, or also read about after the fact. I will be speaking at a graduation in less than a month, and I keep finding myself wanting to give a speech full of quotes from the above speeches! I'd also, therefore, love to hear what you would include in your own commencement address were you to give one this year, too.
Have a good Saturday!