Last weekend, amongst the hustle and bustle of my parents being here and seeing three baseball games in three days, I also graduated. I am officially a Master of Science now… of course, that means very little to me right now since my prelim paper is due tomorrow and I really shouldn’t be wasting time writing this. But I wanted to post a link to the commencement address, given by former President Clinton. The speech exceeded even my high expectations, even as planes flew over the stadium with banners proclaiming anti-Hillary/anti-abortion rhetoric. (He didn’t mention Hillary once, for whatever that’s worth.) It was infinitely better than the speech given by the head of the NIH, who spoke at MIT in 2004. Plus, at Michigan they don’t call all the graduates by name and have them walk on stage — they have separate graduations by college for that, which I happily skipped. All in all, it was a nice way to spend a morning before heading off to Toledo for a ballgame.
So without further ado: the speech.
Edit: Bill Clinton just got a lot more awesome in my book.
May6
Colossus of Rhode 
Bill made two references to Hillary, albeit both were oblique. The first was in his opening. To wit,
“Thank you very much. I am delighted to be here and delighted to be given this degree by the University of Michigan’s first female President. That has a great ring, I think.”
I suspect he wasn’t really complimenting the UofMI on their choice of President.
And later, in a section on our interdependence he ringingly stated, “Divorce is not an option.” It’s an interesting choice of words. And not particularly appropriate to the context. On the other hand, given his situation with Hillary, it becomes more meaningful. And, let’s face it, Bill is way too polished for this to be a slip of the tongue.
Ignoring the flyover banners, Hillary and Bill are always there together; whether or not you physically see them both.
Congratulations on the MS!
Hey, he mentions my T2D paper in his speech! Bill Clinton reads my papers!