We were thrilled to be in Michie Stadium as Pres. Obama gave the commencement address at West Point yesterday. I have looked for the transcript to refresh my memory, but can’t yet find it. It is being talked about and was broadcast widely. We were tired. We had been up and going since 4 am and the speech dragged a bit as we were trying to get our second wind. We were in our seats in the stadium by about 6 am for the speech that started about 10:45 am.

First, let me note that it is a privilege to have any sitting President speak at a commencement. It is customary for the sitting President to speak at a military academy each year.

I did think the speech a bit long and a bit meandering. His speechwriters did a good job of personalizing the speech to West Point. He spoke of the cadets patriotism. Good choice. It was a bit too political for me. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I felt he got into the weeds regarding America’s new place in the world. There was some silly women’s rights and diversity stuff that is basically boilerplate. There was too much gratuitous talk about the religion of peace. Why is religion even an issue at a military academy speech?

The worst part by far for me was when he was talking about Eisenhower not being able to forsee the fall of the Berlin Wall at the conclusion of WWII. Obama and his speechwriter’s have no modern history knowledge. Eisenhower couldn’t have forseen the fall of the Berlin Wall at that time because there was no Berlin Wall at that time.

I am going to print off a copy of the speech when it becomes available on the whitehouse.gov website. I need to read it over and see what else I can see about it. I also need to put a copy in a memory book for our son, the lieutenant. I can’t actually put in the the memory book for my son, because such a book does not yet exist.