Obamas doin' work

Every time around this year, universities court big profile speakers to come talk to their graduating classes, and in such precarious times, perhaps no graduating class in recent memory needs inspiring advice as badly as 2009's.USC had Governor Scharzenegger, Duke had Oprah Winfrey, and Tulane University had Ellen Degeneres, among other celebrity speakers. But perhaps the luckiest graduates were from Arizona State, Notre Dame, and UC Merced because they had the privilege of hearing the President and First Lady speak at their ceremonies.

Michelle Obama spoke yesterday at UC Merced's first graduating class, and you can watch the first part here (click the vid to see the other parts):



Mrs. Obama said, "We need your ideas, graduates. We need your resourcefulness. We need your inventiveness. And as the students who helped build this school, I ask you, make your legacy a lasting one. Dream big, think broadly about your life, and please make giving back to your community a part of that vision."

She also talked about the importance of those who are blessed to give back to the less fortunate, saying, "Remember that in exchange for those blessings, you must give something back. You must reach back and pull someone up. You must bend down and let someone else stand on your shoulders so they can see a brighter future."

President Obama spoke earlier today at Notre Dame, and you can watch the first part here (click the vid for the other parts):



There were protesters who criticized the choice of Obama as a speaker because of his pro-choice stance on abortion, and he commented on the abortion debate in his speech. He said, "the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."

As for the graduating class, Obama said, that graduates were part of a "generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before this crisis hit an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day's work."

If you have time, I recommend listening to both speeches because I found both truly inspiring. Here's to hoping that UCI gets a commencement speaker that's even half-decent as both were for their 1 PM Social Science grad ceremony.

-Steven