Obama Asks Wesleyan Students to Serve Their Country

[cal04]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080525/pl_bloomberg/a5t0flir52yw

Barack Obama, standing in for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as commencement speaker at Wesleyan University, invoked the Kennedy family's legacy of public service and challenged students to look beyond material gains and work for our ``collective salvation.''

``No one is forcing you to care,'' Obama said. ``You can take your diploma, walk off this stage and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy. But I hope you don't.''

With a commanding lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama said that if he is elected he will call upon the students and the nation to ``be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a cause of my presidency.''

(snip)
``It is rare in this country of ours that a person exists who has touched the lives of nearly every single American without many of us even realizing it,'' Obama said in tribute to his cancer-stricken Senate colleague from Massachusetts. ``And I have a feeling that Ted Kennedy is not done just yet.''

[my3boyz]

1. Go rate the article Obama supporters! It only has 2 stars. nt

[Swamp Rat]

2. Excellent speech.

Class of 2008! WOOHOO! :woohoo: :party:

[tokenlib]

3. He started with Ted Kennedy and ended up with him...

He used Ted Kennedy's legacy as a framework for a wonderful speech about values, ethics, and duty...

[cal04]

4. Obama urges Wesleyan grads to enter public service w pic

Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Obama is stepping in for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was diagnosed this week with a cancerous brain tumor. (AFP)

(snip)
"At a time of war, we need you to work for peace," Obama said. "At a time of inequality, we need you to work for opportunity. At a time of so much cynicism and so much doubt, we need you to make us believe again. That's your task, Class of 2008."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080525/ap_on_el_pr/obama_2