362 days

That’s all there is left folks, 362 days until Commencement of the 253rd graduating class of Columbia University, of which I will be a part. This last Tuesday was graduation for the class of 2006, and watching the campus transform for the event was … a little eerie, I gotta tell you. It was the first time since being here that it really hit me that I’ll be graduating next year. It was an inspiring feeling.
Sen. John McCain was invited as the primary commencement guest speaker for Columbia College; I didn’t have a chance to go to the speech myself (security on campus gets pretty tight, for understandable reasons, an average graduation includes as many as 30,000 guests) but both the text of the speech and the webcast for it are available on Columbia’s website (which I’ve linked at the bottom). I think I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, one of the really great things about this school is the number of “famous people”, to use the term loosely, who come through here to speak. Having heard a lot about McCain and having respected the things I’d heard, I wanted to hear him speak, and the webcast I found quite suitable in lieu of going in person. (This picture is from his regular work on Capitol Hill, as I couldn't find any good ones taken at the ceremony. This picture is ALSO reflective of the way I feel about school here; a good, worthwhile, and necessary thing to do, but still makes you grimace from time to time.)
The first half of the speech I found a little boring, and a little predictable, but he ended on a strong note. I don’t like the fact that formal speeches are read from notes, which means the speaker spends most of their time looking down instead of at the audience. Come on guys, we know the speech is prepared, but lie to us a little and at least pretend like it is spontaneous. He talked a bit about his life, his role in Vietnam, the war in Iraq, why disagreement over the war was a good and even necessary thing, and finished with a solid reminder that he himself believed (as a supporter of the war) that it was about ideals, about right vs. wrong, freedom vs. tyranny, extremism vs. tolerance, and exhorted people to remember that even those countrymen with whom they bitterly disagreed were not their enemies, but their fellow citizens.
McCain carries a bit less gravitas than I thought he might, and he is certainly showing his age a bit. However, he still clearly possesses an enormous amount of energy and a focused mind. I wasn’t blown away or overawed of him, as I thought perhaps I might be, but I still regard the man with high respect.
The choice to have him come speak was an interesting one, given what a liberal school Columbia is (and it is very liberal, believe me). From what I understand, Barack Obama and Former President Clinton were invited first, and McCain after they both declined. I also found out that McCain has seven children (Seven! Seriously, where does one find the time to have a career in public service and have seven children!?), and that one of his daughters is a student here at Columbia. I’ve also heard that she has been harassed and heckled on campus because of her father’s stance on the war (I’ve never met her and have no idea what her own political views are), which is very unfortunate. One of the strange things about some liberals is for all their championing of tolerance, how in practice what seems to be the rule is tolerance for anything except a conservative view.
One other note of interest, for any of those who watch the webcast, you will see from time to time these orange & white umbrellas poking up into view of the camera. A fairly large contingent of (I would imagine) liberal students decided they wanted to protest his being chosen as a speaker. They organized under the slogan ‘John McCain does not speak for me’, and decided to wear orange buttons with this slogan, and also to carry the orange umbrellas. However, I was quite impressed that as far as I can tell, they were perfectly respectful of the senator as a person, and were polite and well-mannered during his speech. The only part that got significant reaction was when he stated publicly (as he has before) that he supported the war, which drew equal parts cheers and booing; he smiled and took it all in stride, I’m sure he knew it would get some kind of reaction. But the protesting students were orderly, respectful, and acted in every manner I feel is fitting for a student of this college. I’ve got no problem with people making a statement in a respectful way, and given some of the rancor I’ve seen here on campus, was pleased this was not the case here.

Link to speech:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/05/mccain.html