Obama To ASU Graduates: “Don’t Be Greedy, That’s My Job. Also, Bush Did It”

May 14, 2009 10 Comments ›› Erik Wong

Being an Arizona Native and resident, this story pulls a personal chord with me. I am honestly offended that our PR President had to turn MY home state’s graduation ceremony into a drooling, hypocritical Bush-bash. Furthermore, he somehow humiliated the University’s leadership for not granting him an Honorary Law Degree (As usual, people “of color” looking for a handout), he managed to get the very man who denied him a degree to essentially verbally felate him in front of his entire school, AND name a financial aide program after him (another potentially racist joke present here, see above). I couldn’t decide today whether to stay as far away from Tempe as humanly possible or to get in the thick of it and get vulgar.

Politico: TEMPE, Ariz. – President Obama used his first commencement speech since taking office to implore the graduates of Arizona State University to resist the temptations of materialism and status and instead choose a life of service and commitment to help rebuild the country.

Citing the “greed and irresponsibility” exhibited by some of America’s leaders in recent years, he spoke in sober terms about the new direction that graduates and the country must now take.

“It is clear that we need to build a new foundation – a stronger foundation – for our economy and our prosperity, rethinking how we educate our children, and care for our sick, and treat our environment,” Obama told about nine-thousand graduates clad in maroon gowns on the school’s football field and thousands more in the stands of Sun Devil Stadium.

To urge graduates away from a life of mere financial gain – what he called a “me-first approach to life” — he made the case that material success alone “can’t be the central thing.”

“Just ask Bernie Madoff,” he said.

Along with the lofty talk and advice-offering that is requisite at any college graduation ceremony, Obama also used a dose of humor to address head-on the flap that threatened to cast a shadow over his appearance.

Citing a precedent of not honoring elected officials, ASU President Michael Crow said earlier this year that the school would not award the president with an honorary degree. Then a university spokesperson added to the awkwardness by saying that school only honored “someone who’s really outstanding, who has made outstanding contributions in their field.”

Facing national embarrassment, Crow moved to expand a scholarship program and re-name it after the president.

Obama began his remarks by saying he wanted to “clear the air” about a “controversy.”

“Now, before I begin, I’d just like to clear the air about that little controversy everyone was talking about a few weeks back,” he said. “I have to tell you, I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson.

“I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. It won’t happen again.”

And, Obama added with a smile and turn back to those on stage, “President Crow and Board of Regents will soon learn about being audited by the IRS.”

He said that he didn’t dispute that he hadn’t yet achieved enough in life, noting that his wife reminds him of the same thing.

Turning serious, he said he wanted “to affirm that one’s title, even a title like president of the United States, says very little about how well one’s life has been led –that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve.”

Later, whether meaning to get in another reference to the controversy or not, Obama said “the one thing I know about a body of work is that it’s never finished.”

Obama offered his thanks for the new scholarship program and his aides sought to divert attention from the earlier embarrassment by touting some of the students who will benefit from the aid.

Crow made no mention of the controversy, only heaping praise on Obama during his introduction.

The president was greeted by graduates and guests with loud applause and the flash of camera bulbs from across a stadium filled with around 60,000 people. As he walked out from under the stands and onto the dais atop what is usually an end zone, many graduates stood on top of their folding chairs to get a look.

As part of his address, the president frowned on those politicians who put “the next election” ahead of “the national interest.”

But Obama certainly didn’t hurt his re-election prospects with his appearance, the second time he’s been to the state since being sworn in.

Obama lost Arizona by nine points to the state’s senior senator last November, and his aides are determined to put it in the Democratic column in 2012.

Short of speaking before a football game, he probably could not have addressed a larger audience than the estimated 60,000 that sat through 90-degree temperatures for hours before the president arrived at dusk.

The language they heard, and frequently applauded, was drawn from familiar Obama themes and the president even slipped in a reference to the trio of policy initiatives he and his aides frequently trumpet: health care, education and energy.

The president urged the graduates to go to work in needy hospitals, schools and to help “lead a green revolution.”

And, urging the Class of ’09 to not be dismayed about life’s stumbles, Obama offered a nod to a local icon, former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.

“No one thought a former football player stocking shelves at the local supermarket would return to the game he loved, become a Super Bowl MVP, and then come here to Arizona and lead your Cardinals to their first Super Bowl,” Obama said to applause.

In a speech that focused heavily on serving a larger good, Obama made no mention of Pat Tillman, the former ASU and Cardinal football star who quit the NFL to join the military and lost his life in Afghanistan.

After his remarks, Obama met some of the high school seniors who have overcome hardships and will enter ASU this fall as President Barack Obama Scholars.

The president also commissioned 40 new Army and Air Force officers graduating from university ROTC programs.

Alice Cooper, whose son is a student here at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, visited with reporters in the press box before joining his son’s band as part of the pre-ceremony entertainment. Naturally, they played “School’s Out.”