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Skriven 2006-05-19 23:33:58 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0605191) for Fri, 2006 May 19
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Vice President Delivers the Commencement Address at Louisiana State
University
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For Immediate Release
May 19, 2006

Vice President Delivers the Commencement Address at Louisiana State
University
Pete Maravich Assembly Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana



12:24 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Chancellor O'Keefe, President
Jenkins, members of the LSU Board of Supervisors, distinguished guests,
members of the faculty, parents and families, and members of the Class of
2006. Don't hold back. (Laughter.)

Thank you all for the very warm welcome. I am pleased to be in the great
city of Baton Rouge, on this magnificent campus, and to be a part of LSU's
259th commencement ceremony. I've been looking forward to visiting LSU, and
to sharing this happy occasion with the graduating seniors. It's a real
honor to be here. And I bring congratulations to each and every one of you
from the President of the United States, George W. Bush. (Applause.)

On graduation day I also want to congratulate the men and women who devote
their professional lives to making this institution a place of excellence
and achievement -- the outstanding faculty of Louisiana State University.
(Applause.)

And I want to join the graduates in saying thanks to the people who did so
much to make this day possible -- the ones who rooted for you, believed in
you, prayed for you, and paid for you -- (laughter) -- the parents of the
class of 2006. (Applause.)

I know you will always carry with you the LSU spirit, and fond memories of
your time here. You'll remember your first look around the campus, watching
your first game in Tiger Stadium, and the first time you met those people
who would make these years so special, and who will be your friends for the
rest of your life. You'll remember your time in the classroom, paying
attention to the lectures -- (laughter) -- and occasionally working the
Reveille's crossword puzzle. (Laughter.) You'll remember those late nights
in the lab and the library; and breakfast at Louie's; and all the hours you
spent driving around the campus, looking for a place to park. (Laughter and
applause.)

Something tells me you'll also remember the outstanding basketball teams --
both the men's and the women's -- who went to the Final Four. (Applause.)
Of course, the men went there on the strength of a man called "Big Baby."
And the women's team was led by Seimone Augustus, who recently drafted into
the WNBA. (Applause.) And of course who can forget the 2003 national
co-champion LSU Tigers football team? (Applause.) ˙Around here I imagine
you drop the "co." (Applause.)

In addition to those of you receiving your bachelor's degrees this morning,
I'm told we have many men and women who have earned graduate degrees --
including a number who have earned their PhD's. Their presence here reminds
me that I was once in a PhD program myself, and met all the requirements
except for the dissertation. (Laughter.) I'll get started as soon as I
think of a topic to write about. (Laughter.)

On your final day at LSU, I imagine you're experiencing a mix of emotions.
There is excitement at setting a high goal and reaching it -- and then
moving forward to new adventure. There is also, perhaps, a bit of sadness
at leaving behind this university, and this very special time in your
lives. But you will always remain part of the LSU family -- and as the
years pass, this university will always give you reason to be proud.

Since the middle of the 19th century, LSU's alumni have gone on to lives of
high achievement in Louisiana, and well beyond. And year after year LSU
attracts men and women of extraordinary talent to study, to teach, and to
do research. Your chancellor, Sean O'Keefe, is a former administrator of
NASA and an old friend of mine. He pointed out to me that America's early
space capsules were designed by an LSU alum, and that one of our astronauts
has recently been hired to join your faculty.

The people of Louisiana are rightly proud of this historic school, its
continuing excellence in many fields, and its far-reaching influence on the
life of this state and of our nation. LSU is truly one of the great
universities in the United States. (Applause.)

I especially want to recognize the tradition of service that is so much a
part of the LSU character. We've seen it on display so many times on this
campus over the years, and never more than in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. After a storm that directly affected a region of some 90,000
square miles, the people of LSU stepped up to the challenge with
confidence, with skill, and with kindness. You sheltered evacuees, fed the
hungry, cared for the elderly, and enrolled students who had to flee
universities around New Orleans. In all, it's estimated that some 30,000
storm victims came through the campus -- including 6,000 or more needing
medical attention. The very building in which we gather today became a
medical unit; in fact it has been said that LSU had the largest acute-care
hospital ever established in a contingency situation.

The storm that hit New Orleans and many other communities was among the
greatest natural disasters in our nation's history, and our country is
engaged in an unprecedented effort to help the Gulf Coast to be rebuilt and
to prosper. The American people are showing extraordinary generosity in
this enterprise, with more than $85 billion in federal appropriations so
far and more pending Congressional approval. We will not forget the great
difficulty and suffering that came to so many of our fellow citizens in the
path of the storm. And we look with tremendous respect to what happened on
the LSU campus. This community stood together as one, and provided an
example of teamwork and compassion that impressed the entire nation. And on
behalf of the nation, I thank you. (Applause.)

LSU also has a lengthy tradition of military honor and service. This week
nine members of the ROTC class of 2006 will receive their military
commissions. I want to thank all of them for the commitment they've made.
And as we gather for this ceremony, we are thinking of all the men and
women in our armed forces -- the ones who are defending America,
confronting freedom's enemies, protecting the innocent, and bringing new
hope to the people of a troubled region. Their cause is right, their
performance is superb. They are winning the war on terror. We are proud of
their brave service to the United States of America. (Applause.)

After putting in these years of hard effort as students at LSU, something
tells me you're probably not up for another lecture before you leave -- so
I'm going to keep this short. I know that it's the custom for graduation
speakers to draw from their experiences and share some of the lessons
they've learned along the way. So as you begin this new chapter in your
life, let me offer a few thoughts of my own.

There's one very practical lesson that comes immediately to mind. It goes
back to the year 2000, when then-Governor Bush called to ask if I would
help him find a running mate to be Vice President. The lesson I want to
share with you is this: If you ever get asked to head up an important
search committee, say yes. (Laughter and applause.)

That decision six years ago set me on a path I had not expected to take. I
believed that my time in public office had passed. And looking back, this
seems to be a pattern in my life -- the unexpected turns, the opportunities
that come suddenly and change one's plans overnight.

On the day of my own graduation at the University of Wyoming, I had no
ambition for public life. If you'd asked me at the time what I planned on
doing, I could have described in some detail what I believed the next 10
years would be like. First would be graduate school, then completing that
PhD, and down the road, with some luck, a faculty position at a university.
It all worked out very differently.

Within a few years, my wife, Lynne, and I were living in Washington, D.C.,
and beginning a journey in government and public life that neither of us
ever imagined. We count ourselves fortunate things turned out the way they
did, and as you begin your careers I want to encourage all members of the
class to consider public service. Participating in government, at any
level, carries its own challenges and sacrifices, but the country needs
capable men and women to make that choice. And if you ever hear the call to
serve, I hope you'll say yes.

Many of you will leave LSU today with definite plans of your own. Setting a
plan for your life can be a good thing -- it keeps you focused on the
future, and gives you a standard against which you can measure your
progress. Yet I'll wager that 10 years from now, many of you will find
yourselves following a very different course, all because of an opportunity
that came to you out of the blue.

Be on watch for those certain moments, and certain people, that come along
and point you in a new direction. I think, for example, of the first time I
met my friend and colleague Don Rumsfeld. It was back in the 1960s, when he
was a congressman and I was interviewing for a fellowship on Capitol Hill.
Congressman Rumsfeld agreed to talk to me, but things didn't go all that
well. In fact, he pretty much threw me out of his office. (Laughter.) Don
had the impression of me that I was kind of a detached, theoretical,
impractical academic type. And I thought he was a brash young politician
with attitude. We were both right. (Laughter.)

We didn't click that day, but a few years later it was Don Rumsfeld who
noticed my work and offered me a position in the executive branch. Later
on, when Gerald Ford became President and made Rumsfeld his chief of staff,
it was once again Don who gave me a position of great responsibility in the
White House. Standing here today, I can promise that there will be people
like this in your own life -- who keep an eye on you, and reward your
efforts, and help bring out your strengths. Sometimes others know better
than we do just what our talents are, and how we can best use them. For all
the plans we make in life, sometimes life has other plans for us.

Those of us who've been around a while can also recall a few times when
life took an unexpected turn, not always in a positive direction. As I
mentioned a moment ago, I received my undergraduate degree from the
University of Wyoming. My college experience, though, began at a place
called Yale -- but I didn't finish there. Instead, I dropped out after a
few semesters. Actually, dropped out isn't quite accurate -- "asked to
leave" would be more like it. (Laughter.) Twice. (Laughter.) The second
time around, they said, don't bother coming back.

You, too, may face some disappointing turns of your own -- times when you
fall short, knowing you could have done better. And when that happens,
don't give up or let your doubts get the best of you. I have met some very
successful people in my day -- men and women of talent and character who
have risen to the top of their fields. And it's the rare one who hasn't had
a taste of failure, or a false start along the way. Setbacks in life can
stop you dead in your tracks, or they can inspire you to move forward.
Either way, you'll look back on them as turning points. They are crucial
days in your life, when you see the starkest kind of choice, and know that
it belongs to you alone.

One of the things I love most about our country is that we have such
opportunities. America is still the country of the second chance. Most of
us end up needing one. And when we've gone on to accomplish something, we
can be that much more grateful.

Gratitude, in general, is a good habit to get into. It is usually a correct
appraisal of our situation. Most of us are able to succeed and rise in the
world because someone helped out along the way -- whether it was a
memorable teacher, or a boss who handed us a great opportunity, or the
person who took a chance and gave us the first big break in our career. A
grateful heart is an honest understanding of all that we have been given,
and all that is expected in return.

There is always the temptation to forget this -- to carry ourselves with an
air of entitlement, as if good things come to us by right. They rarely do.
And life has a way of working out better when we don't take things for
granted, when we have a long memory for what others have given us, when we
look for the blessings, great and small, that come with every day we're
alive on this Earth.

For all of you, this day of ceremony in the P-MAC will stand out forever --
as a marker of gifts well used, aspirations fulfilled, hard work rewarded.
It's been my privilege to share it with you and your families. Once again,
my congratulations on a job well done. Good luck and Godspeed to the LSU
Class of 2006.

Thank you very much.

END 12:41 P.M. CDT
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