"I love you back"

In response to a rowdy "I love you, Obama!", this "I love you back" was one of the cuter lines from Barack Obama today. I did sacrifice a few hours (try almost 7) of study time to watch the standing president receive his Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree and give a little commencement speech to the Class of 2010 at the Big House today. Love him or hate him, it is an undeniable honor to have a standing president speak at the alma mater. I am obviously not one to editorialize eloquently about politics or government; however, I am now even further convinced of Obama's strong and compelling abilities as a public speaker - he didn't need any teleprompting for the 30 or so minutes of his speech. Also during the commencement ceremony, the Commander In Chief swore in Michigan's 2010 ROTC members and this was a particularly special and poignant way to recognize these brave students. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to witness this moment in history.

"Cheering and Applause"

Here were some of my favorite lines:

• ...democracy in a nation of more than three hundred million people is inherently difficult. It has always been noisy and messy; contentious and complicated.
• ...before we get too down on the current state of our politics, we need to remember our history. The great debates of the past all stirred great passion. They all made some angry. What is amazing is that despite all the conflict; despite all its flaws and frustrations, our experiment in democracy has worked...
• Government is this extraordinary public university - a place that is doing life-saving research, catalyzing economic growth, and graduating students who will change the world around them in ways big and small.
• One of my favorite signs from the health care debate was one that read "Keep Government Out Of My Medicare," which is essentially like saying "Keep Government Out Of My Government-Run Health Care.
• We cannot expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down.... The problem is that this kind of vilification and over-the-top rhetoric closes the door to the possibility of compromise.... It coarsens our culture, and at its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response.
• The point is, when we don't pay close attention to the decisions made by our leaders; when we fail to educate ourselves about the major issues of the day; when we choose not to make our voices and opinions heard, that's when democracy breaks down. That's when power is abused. That's when the most extreme voices in our society fill the void that we leave. That's when powerful interests and their lobbyists are most able to buy access and influence in the corridors of Washington - because none of us are there to speak up and stop them.
• Our government shouldn't try to guarantee results, but it should guarantee a shot at opportunity for every American who's willing to work hard.
• America's success has never been a given. Our nation's destiny has never been certain. What is certain - what has always been certain - is our ability to shape that destiny. That is what makes us different. That is what makes us American - our ability at the end of the day to look past all of our differences and all of our disagreements and still forge a common future.

You can read the full text at the Huffington Post and here is the speech in full:

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EDIT to add: One sad thing about the day was how I missed an opportunity to see this bffer... and also he points out that perhaps there was a discrete teleprompter used after all?