Obama's Arizona State Commencement Speech

Obama calls out greed in his ASU commencement speech and redefines success. The "me-first" society is over, he said. (I think that's why republicans are having such a difficult time).
It was one of his finest speeches.
Obama took on the ASU controversy and used it in his speech: "Your body of work is never done." He addressed it early on in his remarks.
Some background: When ASU president Michael Crow announced Obama as the commencement speaker, Crow followed up by saying that Obama wouldn't receive an honorary degree because he didn't have a big enough "body of work." In his speech, Obama said that Michelle Obama concurred, that his body of work wasn't large enough. Obama then went on to say that you can never rest on your laurels.
ASU eventually announced it would name an Obama Scholars program.
Obama concluded his speech saying: "Don't stop adding to your body of work."

Part 2:

Part 3:

Obama Gives Arizona State University Commencement

Update: See the video here.
Update: Live audio stream here. The speech starts at 7:10
ASU also is live streaming the speech here. Or you can watch it below.
Obama will deliver the commencement speech tonight but still won't get an honorary degree. The Obama Scholars is a pretty good idea but it's only an after thought by the school's president Michael Crow, embarrassed the first time around for refusing Obama an honorary degree for reasons no one is really sure of because the answer given is sorta lame. Read the background on that here. I'll post video when it's up.

Vice President Joe Biden got an honorary degree when he addressed the graduates of Syracuse University.

Even Oprah Winfrey got one at Duke University's commencement.

But President Barack Obama will not get one this evening when he addresses the graduates of Arizona State University. The school, which has honored the likes of Cesar Chavez, 1992, Walter Cronkite, 1989, Art Buchwald, 1988, Mo Udall, 1987, Henry Cisneros, 1986, Erma Bombeck, 1980, George Romney, 1962, and Barry Goldwater, 1961, said Obama had not accrued a "body of work'' sufficient for the honor.

Obama will even draw an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame this weekend, the Catholic campus where the appearance of the pro-abortion-rights-pro-stem-cell-research president has created a stir and is prompting a protest sit-out Sunday among some of the school's graduating seniors.

Instead, the Arizona university, which was somewhat embarrassed by the original round of publicity surrounding its lack of a degree for the president, is naming its biggest scholarship program for the president -- the Obama scholars. Swamp

You can watch it here at 7:00 pm:

ASU to Designate Obama Scholars

Poor Michael Crow.
He really blew it. I don't understand why Arizona State University would've invited Obama to speak and then announce a few days later that Obama wouldn't be awarded an honorary degree. It seemed like a set up. At worst it was intentional, meant to embarrass Obama or save face for McCain. At best it was a public relations faux pas.
It now just looks like Crow's feet are all muddy and he's trying to clean them off, saying he's still not sure the university will award Obama a degree but will designate a scholarship in Obama's name. That's pretty cool but ASU's press release still isn't forthcoming. 

Politico: Stung by the embarrassment surrounding his school's initial refusal to award Obama an honorary degree, Crow issued a statement Saturday apologizing for "the confusion" and announced the school would designate a group of scholarship students as the "President Barack Obama Scholars."

But Crow still didn't say whether the president would receive an honorary degree when he speaks at the school's graduation ceremony on May 13th.

“It has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama's accomplishments during his visit, but we had not yet determined the best or most appropriate way to do so," Crow said in the statement, posted on the university's website. "Although the focus and attention of the media and others has been on an honorary degree, we never felt that was the only—or even the best—means of honoring his tremendous service to our country."

Why Did Arizona State Invite Obama To Speak?

Update: See the commencement speech here.
Update: 5-13: live stream here and at CNN.

Update 4-11: Crow now honors Obama with a scholarship--still not certain about that honorary degree. 

Update: Arizona State's lame president Michael Crow says that he's going to reconsider his earlier position of not giving Obama an honorary degree. Perhaps that's because the university became a laughingstock today. I look forward to seeing Obama handle this incident with the utmost grace.
Original post:
Arizona State invited Obama to speak May 13 but will not give him an honarary degree because they say he hasn't done anything yet, which leads me to wonder: why did they invite him?
It seems they're trying to make a point or embarrass him. Perhaps the president of the university, Michael Crow, is a birther?
When I first heard about this, I dismissed it because I thought it was more right wing noise, something with a legitimate explanation. Maybe they never give presidents honorary degrees? It doesn't look like there is a reasonable explanation. 
Another thing, Arizona State? Not to look down on the school, but it's hardly worthy of dissing the president. I wouldn't want to be going to that school in the future. It will be full of hard right extremists. Maybe that was the plan, to boost admissions.  
Arizona State's president Michael Crow is on Twitter, or at least one of his staff is, and I didn't see mention of this issue.

SU has recognized a large number of politicians in the past 60 years. Some, such as former Govs. Rose Mofford and Ernest McFarland, clearly had moved into the twilight of their careers.

But others had much still to accomplish. Barry Goldwater received his honorary degree in May 1961, three years before his Republican nomination for president and only eight years into his three decades as a U.S. senator. Sandra Day O’Connor was similarly recognized just three years in her 25 years on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Of course, all of those people have deep Arizona roots, and Obama has no real ties to the state. But what connection did ASU have to other honorees such as L. Douglas Wilder, the first black governor of Virginia, or Kim Campbell, the first woman to be Canadian prime minister?

Obama almost certainly won’t speak at another ASU graduation, and no one knows if another president ever will either. The university should reconsider this arbitrary decision and honor Obama in May. East Valley News