Nerd Notes: Obama's Commencement Address

I've been too busy to comment, but it was definitely on my to-do list, because even in the admittedly goofy world of university commencement addresses, the Obama address at Wesleyan made me stop and do a double-take. Say WHAT?

As luck would have it, someone else has done my job for me and furiously disassembled the speech. Take a look.

I'll just quote these pricelessly ludicrous lines from the Obama speech:

"Our collective service can shape the destiny of this generation . . . Individual salvation depends on collective salvation."

"Fulfilling your immediate wants and needs betrays a poverty of ambition."

WHAT?

What kind of rehashed collectivist nonsense is THIS? What kind of total lack of faith in individual potential? If I weren't in a hurry this afternoon, I would launch into a full-scale rant. AND ISN'T THE PURSUIT OF INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OTHERWISE KNOWN AS PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY? Well, thanks a lot, Senator Obama, for basically telling me that I have "poverty of ambition" because I want to be successful and self-sufficient! Oh, oh, and if I ever do become rich and prosperous, I suppose you want to tax away all my money so you can give it to other people. There's no generosity like government generosity with Other People's Money. *snort of derision*

I'm of half a mind to write my own "Mad Minerva's Commencement Address" -- what I would say to a campus of graduating seniors if I had the chance. I guarantee you that it'd be the kind of speech that would never make it past the PC sensors/censors.

But for now, I give you P.J. O'Rourke's hypothetical speech. Now that's a graduation oration I can applaud with sincerity.

UPDATE 1: William Kristol piles on Obama's speech also.

UPDATE 2: The Investors' Business Daily editorial page is likewise hostile.