Word: speech
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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This is a lesson that all U.S. leaders learn. A President cannot dictate the terms of political debate in the U.S., but he can at least set them. Yet as Obama prepares for a foreign trip in which he will give a much heralded speech to the Islamic world, he has to come to terms with the fact that, beyond the water's edge, he depends on the cooperation of others to get things done - European armed forces, Chinese bond holders, an Arab public suspicious of any American initiative, and an obdurate Stalinist Korean dynasty...
...dramatic introduction in the East Room, the President is dazzled by his nominee's Puerto Rican background. Obama has an unfortunate tendency to conflate personality and principle. "I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents," he said during his national-security speech at the National Archives in May. As if there were any American for whom that is not true. Or as if ethnic minorities can make that claim more plausibly than other Americans. (See pictures of Judge Sonia Sotomayor...
...Dividing his speech into three “movements”—beginning with light-hearted remarks, followed by “unsolicited advice,” and concluding with a call to arms—and liberally using the quotes of others, a quick-witted Chu urged graduates to follow their greatest passions for the greater good...
...Some of the graduates in the audience were not wholly surprised by the speech's heavy focus on climate change—especially given Chu's current government position. Though Eyal Dechter '09 did not find the speech "overwhelmingly inspiring," he said the balance between Chu's colloquial humor and specific rallying point made an effective Commencement address...
...When I think 'Steven Chu,' I think of someone who has worked hard to solve this particular problem," Dechter said. "I think it would have been almost inappropriate for him to try to give a too general speech...It would have been weird...