Note this is a must read speech from John Kerry, it's smart, funny and on the money...
Kerry Delivers Commencement Address at Emerson, Receives Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree
May 15th, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Senator John Kerry, was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree today at Emerson College in Massachusetts where he delivered the commencement address.
Today Senator John Kerry spoke at the 126th annual Commencement exercises at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Below is a copy of his remarks as prepared for delivery:
Emerson College Commencement Address, Emerson College
Senator John Kerry, May 15, 2006
President Liebergott, Members of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Overseers, Robert Steele, faculty and staff, parents, and of course the great graduating Class of 2006, thank you.
Before I begin I have an announcement-will the student who owns the brand new cherry red Corvette in the parking lot, with the big ribbon on it, the one with the license plate that reads “Emerson 2006″…your lights aren’t on. I just want to tell your parents to send me a campaign check, they can afford it.
President Liebergott asked me if I wanted some music played as I was introduced. I said no. Although 2 years ago I did spend $200 million hoping just once to hear hail to the chief.
It really is an honor for me to be here. I heard you had a great choice of commencement speakers. I was told you wanted a wealthy guy with a full head of hair who is all over T.V. and who desperately wants to be president. But Donald Trump wasn’t available.
So instead you got me. I want you to know, running for president wasn’t pressure-trying to decide on the theme of this commencement address was pressure. On one hand I thought about giving an hour 20 minute speech on foreign policy, global warming, third world debt and the importance of public service. Then on the other hand, I thought if I keep this to 10 minutes we’d all have a lot more time to have a beer together.
Hour 20 versus 10 minutes. Hour 20…10 minutes and a beer. I’ll tell you what, let’s go with the short one. And if I see any of you opening up a red bull midway through, I’ll finish even sooner.
To start off, let’s take a moment right now and give a big hand to your parents.
You know, your parents remember that times were different when we graduated. The good news — we had a guaranteed job plan for immediate full time work after college. The bad news–it was called the draft.
FULL TEXT & MORE PHOTOS -
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2993