May 22, 2008

Obama to Address Wesleyan U. Graduates in Kennedy's Place

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, will replace Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as commencement speaker at Wesleyan University this weekend, the Associated Press reported today.

The Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts received a diagnosis of brain cancer on Tuesday, and initially it was not known if he would speak at the Wesleyan commencement, on Sunday.

Senator Kennedy endorsed Senator Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination in January. —Kate Moser

Comments

1. I’m 35, and have been following politics for quite a while, and I’ve never been so disappointed with a politician I’ve admired and respected. Yesterday’s tactics weren’t just wrong, they were offensive. For that matter, they seem to be part of a deliberate strategy to tear Democrats apart and ensure a defeat in November.

   For several weeks, I’ve appreciated the fact that Clinton considers herself the superior candidate, and has kept her campaign going in the hopes, from her perspective, of saving the party from itself. But after yesterday, it’s become impossible for me to consider Clinton’s intentions honorable. Her conduct is not that of a leader.

   Instead of trying to help bring the party together — Election Day is 24 weeks away — Clinton went to Florida to argue that if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, his nomination will be illegitimate. And if the DNC plays by the rules Clinton used to support, it’s guilty of vote-suppression — comparable to slavery, Jim Crow, and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe.

   It is disgusting for HRC to co-opt the Civil Rights struggle after weeks of transparent appeals that whites won’t vote for the black guy which JUST SO COINCIDENTALLY took form during the Appalachian primaries (which conveniently occurred after North Carolina, the last state with a large black population)

   It really is disgusting, and yet another nail in the coffin of what used to be Bill and Hillary’s positive legacy to the party. She is now being openly mocked across the media and political spectrum. But I’m sure mentioning that is “sexist”, and that everyone criticizing the joke her campaign has become is sexist as well.

   — SMS    May 22, 04:37 PM    #

2. SMS (#1) AGREED. And, frankly, the thought of disgusting Bill around again makes me sick.

   — Dori    May 22, 04:51 PM    #

3. SMS, for a few seconds I thought you were just angry, then I began to see the wisdom of your post. Yes, I am disappointed too with Sen. Clinton whom I otherwise admire. It’s sad.

   — xol    May 22, 05:46 PM    #

4. I’m puzzled by the above comments in this context. The original story was about Senator Obama giving the commencement address at Wesleyan, in place of Senator Kennedy. I grew up in the Wesleyan community – my father had a distinguished career as a member of its faculty. When Senator Obama speaks, he will do so from the podium from which Martin Luther King spoke when I was young, and he will do so in place of a giant of American public life. In that context, I would argue that the seemingly endless political campaign becomes trivial.

   — BJC    May 22, 11:09 PM    #

5. How did a blurb about Kennedy and Obama turn into yet another forum for Hillary bashing? Can we please take that elsewhere and focus on the positive aspects of this story?

   — elteegee    May 23, 07:09 AM    #

6. Thanks, elteegee. I admire Sen. Obama for rearranging his schedule to fulfill this commitment for Sen. Kennedy. It will be an exciting day for the Wesleyan graduates.

   — Amy    May 23, 08:54 AM    #

7. You know — I am a bit confused as to the responses on this story. Not only do we start with some HRC bashing, but no one says a word about Obama addressing the graduates. A few days ago I read the story about Bush speaking at Furman’s graduation and I thought everyone was going to explode from their posts. Everyone was so mad at him for even thinking of speaking, no one wanted to hear from our own President, and all of you were ashamed at the way he has been conducting himself lately. What about Obama? He is going to use it as a politcal stand for the campaign and you can’t tell me he won’t. Anyone in their right mind would. so why not the bashing of him. Now, please keep in mind that I am not trying to get into Obama bashing. I am still undecided about which party I am voting with this year, and I am happy to listen to each person’s story. I think that we all can learn something by listening to people that are different in views from ourselves. It just makes me sad that we can bash our own President for speaking at a graduation, but say nothing of the fact that a nominee is speaking at one as well.

   — Brooke    May 23, 09:57 AM    #

8. Obama is a great orator and will inspire the graduating class of 2008!

   — jonathan    May 23, 10:11 AM    #

9. Brooke—maybe there is no Obama bashing on this subject because even if he does campaign, his positive message of hope and change is far more suitable to a graduation address than any kind of speech made by a president who—by all contextual analysis of his public communications and policies—is at best cynical and at worst, fraudulent.

   — enkaybee    May 23, 10:19 AM    #

10. #7 I see your point. I think that the reason that students and faculty at Furman are objecting to the Presidents visit has little to do with Bush using his visit to take “a political stand”. That’s what all politicians do. (It is their job). The opposition seems to be based on what the Bush administration represents and has done for eight years: erode the US standing in International Circles, attempt to zero out TRIO and GEAR UP programs for low-income students, initiate a currently unpopular war, sit at the helm of a “pre” recession and huge deficits, and oversee a slow response to a horrific hurricane in the Southern States. Although you or I may not agree, I can clearly see why students and faculty would want to “protest” such a visit.

    — Reggie    May 23, 10:37 AM    #

11. I think Obama is smart enough to keep political specifics out of the Wesleyan commencement address. Of course, because he is a candidate, politics will always be attached to anything he does now. But I think he will focus on the students and their role in the future. I’m sure that they were disappointed that Sen. Kennedy could not participate, and that they are excited about Obama stepping in.

    (While I agree with many of the comments about HRC, this is not where I expected to find them.)

    — Deb    May 23, 10:44 AM    #

12. #7 – Thank you for your response it was right on the money.

    #9 – I keep hearing about Obama’s “positive message of hope and change”, and frankly, I don’t see it. In my view, its more a message of naivete than one of hope and change. Besides, GWB is the President of the United States, whether you or anyone else likes it or not. As such, he deserves a modicum of respect. One can disagree, and disagree strongly, without being disrespectful. The majority of the posts re: Bush’s visit to Furman were quite disrespectful, and as such, don’t deserve much consideration.

    For all you Bush haters out there – you hated Bush from the beginning of his first term because you claim he “stole” the election and didn’t win the popular vote. Let me remind you that it was Al Gore who brought it to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court simply acted on the issue. Let me also remind you that Bill Clinton didn’t win a majority of the popular vote in either of his elections, but he did win a majority of the Electoral College each time, so he became president. That’s the way our system works.

    In 1960, Kennedy and Nixon virtually tied in the popular vote (49.7% for Kennedy to 49.5% for Nixon), and neither got a majority, but Kennedy won a clear majority of the Electoral College. Even though vote fraud on the part of democrats in Texas (can we say LBJ?) and Illinois (can we say Richard Daley?) was strongly suspected, Nixon refused to ask for a recount because he understood that it would, in his words, create a “constitutional crisis.” It could have done more than that. It could have caused what eventually happened in 2000, when the country became divided and the two sides were pushed to a level of hatred that prevents advocates of each side from being civil to each other.

    I really do wish we could go back to the “good old days.”

    — FB    May 23, 11:59 AM    #

13. Wesleyan University would seem to be getting an analogous speaker for its commencement. It is simply astounding how we are so enamored with politics these days. Some argue that all that has been going on has motivated citizens to become involved, start thinking again and get out and vote. Others say that it is deplorable and destructive to the electoral process. As a scientist I say, let nature take its course. The country will survive.

    — Robert    May 23, 12:21 PM    #

14. FB (#12) – yes, Bill Clinton didn’t win a majority of the popular vote in his elections. However, he did win more of the popular vote than the other two candidates won in both elections (www.presidentelect.org). There is a huge difference between winning more popular votes than the other candidates while not winning the majority of them and winning FEWER popular votes than one of your opponents yet still winning the election. Alas, that is the fault of our constitutionally mandated electoral process.

    — Beth    May 23, 01:32 PM    #

15. Brooke: “Our own president.”? I have news for you. As my bumper sticker says, “He’s Not My President.” A president of mine would not trash our nation’s Constitution as this one has.

    — Donald Winters    May 23, 01:42 PM    #

16. Donald Winters, from the various comments you have strewn about this blog I have long ago concluded that George Bush is not your President. The reason, though, is because it is patently obvious that the United States of America is not your country, at least not until we are more like Cuba or North Korea.

    — J. Ward    May 23, 03:07 PM    #

17. As an alumna of Wesleyan, I am only saddened that I did not make arrangements to be there this weekend for graduation. Wesleyan is the type of institution that welcomes people of all backgrounds and uses that openness to build teaching and learning for all faculty and students. Wesleyan is a place where students are allowed to grow as individuals and as critical thinkers. Our Wesleyan community is fortunate to have such a speaker as Senator Obama for graduation weekend.

    — phdgram    May 23, 07:14 PM    #

18. #14 – Beth

    As I said, that’s the way our system works.

    You may disagree, but it is very poor form to do it disrespectfully.

    — FB    May 23, 11:24 PM    #

19. Interesting Comments —- But who does Kennedy support? —- How early was Kennedy’s endorsement (before Super Tuesday —- if memory serves me correctly). —- And, what is the likely hood that Kennedy would have stated his views on the current times, and a need for the future generation to look forward to a “Change”?

    — zahid    May 24, 02:15 PM    #

20. Those initial irrelevant comments ignoring the subject represent a kind of social disease of conversations which I see spreading.
    Non-sequturs seem to reflect a breakdown of normal rules of debate. My undereducated parents often answered my questions with irrelevant responses, but I despair at seeing so much of this irrationality among the supposedly educated.

    — Paul R. Cooper    May 24, 06:32 PM    #

21. J. Ward: Let me see if I understand you correctly. If one is opposed to a particular president and his totalitarian policies, then one is automatically opposed to the whole governmental system? That doesn’t strike me as a very democratic point of view. Rather it strikes me as a narrow, authoritarian position. It sounds to me like you are in full support of Fuhrer Bush’s efforts to rip up the Constitution. After all, as Bush was quoted as saying “it’s just a goddam piece of paper.”

    — Donald    May 26, 07:46 PM    #

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