How is it determined where the POTUS speaks at commencement?

Parents Forum
21

<p>A family member had an interesting experience with this on a sub-Presidential level. Said member, a mid-level state official, was arranging a large meeting for the community served/regulated by my relative’s office. The relative got a call that a federal Cabinet Secretary planned to come speak at the meeting. It was relatively easy to figure out why – the meeting was scheduled for the day after the President was planning to announce a big policy initiative in the relevant field. The Secretary wanted to be speaking somewhere to a largish crowd that day, and my relative’s meeting happened to be the best available event already scheduled for that day.</p>

<p>Other members of the state’s administration were upset, because they had planned to invite the same Secretary to come two months later to promote a policy that meant more to the Governor. They tried – repeatedly – to tell the Secretary NOT to come speak at the meeting my relative was organizing. The Secretary (well, the Secretary’s secretary), told them – repeatedly – too bad, he was coming and speaking. At one point, they even considered cancelling the meeting. Ultimately, the Secretary promised to come later in the year to promote the other initiative, too, and he came and spoke at my relative’s meeting (and toured some facilities, met with movers and shakers, etc., beforehand).</p>

<p>This, by the way, was a state administration of the same party as the then-current White House occupant. They just had different ideas about what was most valuable to promote. The point, however, is that no one ever actually invited the Secretary, and high-level people actively tried to make him not come, and it didn’t make any difference. His staff had decided this was the right forum for him, and he was going to be there. End of discussion.</p>

22

<p>President Obama is giving 3 commencement speeches this year: at Ohio State, at Morehouse, and at the U.S. Naval Academy. The service academy speech is now standard, and it makes sense given the president’s role as commander in chief of the military forces. Ohio State was probably chosen for the obvious political reasons–although Obama will almost certainly never run for another elected office, and certainly not in Ohio, it remains a crucial swing state in presidential politics, so partly it’s to benefit his party down the road, and perhaps partly a gesture of gratitude to Ohio for helping to put him over the top in his two presidential runs. The speech at Morehouse was more in the way of a message to a particular constituency, young African -Americans and more particularly, young African-American males. The message, as I see it, was threefold: first, you’re not forgotten; second, I know it’s tough out there right now but other black men have had it tough, too, and some went on to become great leaders; and third, you need to be mentors and role models to those coming up behind you.</p>

<p>Each is a “non-political” political event, with the location and message carefully chosen for maximum effect. It can’t help but be political, because everything this or any president does will be seen to have some political significance, so venue and message need to be chosen with care. No doubt the president and his advisers can choose from hundreds of invitations that come in annually; or they can initiate contact with a particular institution where it would serve their purposes to have the president speak.</p>

<p>Some other places President Obama has given commencement speeches: Arizona State (2009), Notre Dame (2009), Naval Academy (2009), West Point (2010), University of Michigan (2010), Kalamazoo (MI) Central HS (2010), Booker T. Washington HS in Memphis (2011), Hampton University, a historically black university in Virginia (2011), U.S. Coast Guard Academy (2011), Miami Dade Community College (2011), Barnard College (2012), Air Force Academy (2012), Joplin (MO) HS (2012). Aoart from the service academies, this list is heavily tilted toward electoral “swing states” and to particular constituencies the president and his advisers have sought to shore up (women, African Americans, perhaps to some extent Latinos with Miami-Dade). But of course, the message is never overtly partisan or political.</p>

<p>Oh, and for the record, I very much doubt the President of the United states needs to line up commencement speeches to get his travel to political fundraisers paid for. His political operation raises hundreds of millions of dollars and could easily pick up the tab for the President’s transportation to a political event; they don’t need to nickel-and-dime the taxpayers. Some such piggy-backing goes on, but it’s because the scarcest commodity is the President’s time; it makes no sense to hold a fundraiser in Atlanta on some other day and require the President to make 2 trips there instead of one. His political fundraising schedule will generally be filled in around his official travel schedule, not vice versa.</p>