In several commencement speeches given last weekend, students heard criticisms of oversensitive liberal behavior — from Democrats.
At Rutgers University’s commencement President Barack Obama said, “If you disagree with somebody, bring them in and ask them tough questions. Hold their feet to the fire, make them defend their positions.”
“Don’t be scared to take somebody on,” the president added. “Don’t feel like you got to shut your ears off because you’re too fragile and somebody might offend your sensibilities. Go at them if they’re not making any sense.”
Obama also criticized the students for dissuading former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from delivering the university’s commencement address two years ago.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that I disagree with many of the policies of Dr. Rice and the previous administration,” Obama said. “But the notion that this community or this country would be better served by not hearing a former secretary of state or not hearing what she had to say — I believe that’s misguided.”
“I don’t think that’s how democracy works best, when we’re not even willing to listen to each other,” he added.
At George Washington University’s commencement, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker chastised students who “call for this idea of tolerance” to solve political and social issues. “So many people want to talk about the problems, but not be the solution themselves,” he said. “We have a nation right now that seems to think the greatest and highest achievement is for us to be a tolerant nation. But, I say no. We’re not called to be a tolerant nation. We’re called to be a nation of love.”
On the conservative front, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas addressed Hillsdale’s graduating class, urging them to simply be “good citizens” in a society that “seems to have gone mad with political correctness.”
“I resist what seems to be some formulaic or standard fare at commencement exercises, some broad complaint about societal injustice and at least one exhortation to the young graduates to go out and solve the stated problem or otherwise to change the world,” Thomas said. “As you go through life, try to be that person whose actions teach others how to be better people and better citizens.”
According to a survey conducted by the Young America’s Foundation, liberal speakers outnumbered conservatives by 40 percent.
