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2009-05-19 Home Front: Politix

Slow Joe Biden Does a Commencement Address: Hilarity Ensues

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Posted by Frank G 2009-05-19 19:16|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Well, you can laugh, but it's not a bad speech, as these things go. Certainly better than Obama's.

Well, I love today and one of the reasons I do is because of all of you. I believe so strongly, as you may recall when I was here in October, not in you particularly but your generation, that I don't have a single doubt in my mind we're on the cusp not only of a new century but a new day for this country and the world. I know what you do â there's not a single thing you're going to be unable to accomplish.

Your generation is off fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Your generation is volunteering in record numbers. Your generation voted and turned out in a way that you literally dictated the outcome of this last election. Your generation gives such strong hope that we'll not only survive today as some pundits argue we may not, but that we will thrive tomorrow. And I believe you believe as I do â that this is all within our grasp.

I know one other thing for certain as well. No graduating class gets to choose the world they graduate into. Every class has its own unique challenges. Every class enters a history that up to that point has been written for them. And your generation is no different. But what is different about your generation is the chance that each of you has to take history into your own hands and write it larger.

If anyone gets to choose the circumstances in which they graduate, I suspect almost all of us would choose your present circumstance. Your generation's opportunities are greater than any generation in modern history â not because you're about to graduate into a nation of ease and luxury, but because you're about to graduate into a point in history where everything is going to change no matter what you do, but you can affect the change.

When I graduated in the '60s, it was a time of turmoil. I graduated from undergraduate school in '65, law school in '68. It was a time of turmoil, of change, of idealism, of war, of violence, of chaos, Vietnam, civil rights, women's rights, JFK, MLK, RFK, black power, flower power. These were our times. That was our history. But still, by the time I graduated, my generation's main goal was simply to restore the order and the hope of an earlier part of that decade; a part of the decade before John Kennedy was assassinated. Our charge was to try to regain control of a world that seemed to beginning to spin out of control.

The semester that I graduated from law school, Johnson stepped down. Two weeks later, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Three days before I walked across the stage, RFK was assassinated. The Tet Offensive occurred earlier in the year, making clear that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But nonetheless we graduated with the expectation that we could restore order.

But today, with all the difficulties you face, you graduated into a moment where your opportunities are much greater. And your charge is not to restore anything but to make anew. You too are graduating in a world of anxiety and uncertainty. You're going to walk across this stage without knowing for certain what's on the other side. Good jobs are hard to find, two wars are being waged on the other side of the globe, there's a global recession, a planet in peril, and a world in flux.

Throughout the span of history though, only a handful of us have been alive at times when we can truly shape history. Without question, this is one of those times, for there's not a single solitary decision confronting your generation now that doesn't yield a change from non-action as well as action.

We're either going to fundamentally revive our economy and lead the way to the 21st century, or we're going to fall behind and no longer be the leader of the free world in the 21st century. We're either going to fundamentally revamp our education system, or remain 17th in the world of graduates from college, and in the process lose our competitive edge and find it difficult to have it restored. We're either going to fundamentally change our energy policy or remain beholden to those who pose the biggest threats to our security. We're either going to revive and reverse climate change, or literally drown in our indifference.

Folks, we're either going to fundamentally change the course of history, or fail the generations that come after us, because change will occur. Non-action is action, unlike most generations.

Posted by KBK 2009-05-19 23:45|| 2009-05-19 23:45|| Front Page Top

#2 Yeah, but what did Hilary do?

Posted by Skidmark 2009-05-19 23:47|| 2009-05-19 23:47|| Front Page Top

#3 low bar, KBK

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-05-19 23:49|| 2009-05-19 23:49|| Front Page Top

23:49 Frank G
23:47 Skidmark
23:45 KBK
23:39 Skidmark
23:37 Cornsilk Blondie
23:36 Frank G
23:35 Frank G
23:25 Mike N.
23:24 Frank G
23:23 Cornsilk Blondie
23:21 KBK
23:14 Skunky Glins 5***
23:13 Alaska Paul
23:11 Frank G
23:10 Frank G
23:09 KBK
23:06 Alaska Paul
23:03 Alaska Paul
23:01 3dc
23:01 SteveS
22:57 OldSpook
22:53 Pappy
22:53 Alaska Paul
22:36 Frank G