Out of Cheese

Bo Cowgill writes about Condoleeza Rice’s commencement speech at Stanford today, saying this: “Disappointing and unsubstantial. Plenty of ‘advice to the graduates,’ also known as forgettable cliches. I was hoping she would outline a new political stance or policy initiatives.”

As much as some might have wanted a policy speech, that’s not what graduates typically want to hear. It’s their day, after all, not the speaker’s, and the speaker should be talking to them rather than to the TV cameras. Tom Brokaw got that wrong when he gave Stanford’s commencement address four years ago, giving a speech about Monica Lewinsky that he could have given at any event, graduation or not. The speakers of the following three years — Robert Pinsky, Kofi Annan, and Carly Fiorina — all gave interesting talks that spoke directly to the graduates. I’m glad that Condi decided to do the same, and I’m inclined to think that most of the students who graduated from Stanford today would agree.