Speakers

The inevitable campus arguments over speakers chosen to inspire 2009 graduates are playing out as scheduled. Think of it all as a last stand before graduates enter the world of work where they will need to watch what they say and how they say it. So, President Barack Obama did not receive an honorary degree from Arizona State University. University officials now say that's because they have not given out such degrees to donors or politicians still in office, not, as a university spokeswoman previously said, because he has not established a "body of work" to justify the fake though honorary degree. But that doesn't mean his words didn't inspire at least some of the 63,000 gathered in Sun Devil Stadium. He took the whole honorary degree flap and ran with it:

“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 I want to say to you today, graduates, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone, one that you and your families are rightfully proud of, you too cannot rest on your laurels. Your body of work is yet to come.”

Some more commencement wisdom after the jump. Read More »