Politico: 2020 Democrat Presidential Hopefuls Gave Lame Commencement Speeches

July 1st, 2018 5:06 PM

As you go forward into a future full of many tomorrows...

Yeah, lame. However, probably no more lame than what graduating college students are hearing at the commencement speeches of various Democrat 2020 presidential hopefuls according to Politico.  It was the sad assessment of David Siders and Daniel Strauss writing in the normally Democrat-friendly publication on July 1 that 2020 hopefuls get failing grade for commencement speeches. Their subtitle got into a bit more detail as to why the failing grade: "In place of soaring rhetoric and enduring oratory, college graduates got a dose of banality" [emphasis mine]:

The college commencement speech once offered politicians a rare platform for soaring rhetoric and reflection. But for the class of prospective 2020 presidential candidates, the recently concluded graduation season went down as a dud.

...It’s not that anyone expected enduring oratory at a moment of angry, debased political rhetoric. But what stood out about this year’s speeches is that they hardly survived a single news cycle, much less the test of time.

...And among potential presidential candidates, the most noteworthy speech was one that wasn’t given — when Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California canceled plans to speak at the University of California, Berkeley’s commencement in solidarity with university workers embroiled in a labor dispute.

Sad, sad. Perhaps those 2020 presidential hopefuls whose commencement addresses bombed should study President Donald Trump's speeches as he's able to keep audiences paying close attention for over an hour. Here's more from Politico:

In a meditation on “navigating borders,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, appearing at Southern New Hampshire University in May, challenged the idea “that there are two Americas — there's the rural and urban divide, the immigrant and native-born, the coasts and the heartland, red and blue.”

He said, “I do believe there are two Americas, but it's none of those — it's Washington, D.C., and the rest of us.”

Yawn! John Edwards, a former candidate of National Enquirer fame already performed that "two Americas" shtick years ago. Perhaps next year Joe Biden can lift it from Garcetti who lifted it from Edwards. Does anybody know if Edwards lifted it from a Neil Kinnock commencement speech?