How Obama Would Have Addressed College Students

So Obama's speech to our nation's students on Tuesday didn't strike the socialist tone some had expected.

The president:

That last part didn't make the prepared remarks, though many heard those sentiments echoing throughout.

Obama's message of personal accountability in the speech isn't new -- he's made it before to absent black fathers and the government in his inaugural address -- but it is still compelling. His ability to include anecdotes from his personal life, speak with honesty about the need for responsibility, and do so with his ever-impressive rhetorical skill makes the awkward message of personal change easy to understand and convincing.

But what if Obama left Virginia's Wakefield High School, where he gave the speech, and graduated to another audience, say, the liberal arts college? How would he address the young men and women most loyal to his campaign? Would he, as conservatives fear, rally his zealots to socialism? Would his critics ease away from those fears due to the more mature audience?

I can envision such a speech. In fact, channeling my inner Obama, one of our nation's greatest speakers, I've already written it, below. A good venue would be Bowdoin, my college.

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States:

Hello everybody. I'm here with the students of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

(Raucous applause)

And we've got young men and women from all over America tuning in from dorm rooms and student centers. I'm glad you all could join us today.

It was not so long ago that I was a college student, too -- walking across the quad, cramming in the library, and letting loose on occasion. College was a really important time in my life, a point of inflection, when I began to confront the uncertainties of my life. When I grew up.

It was in my two years at Occidental, a liberal arts college in Los Angeles, that I found the inspiration of great professors, and experienced a diverse and active student body. It wasn't all fun and easy. There were moments I regret. Moral failures that stemmed from troubled teenage years and a struggle for identity and understanding. I turned to drugs to cope and to let go, and my story could have ended there.

But it was at college that I also took control. Instead of running away from the problems and uncertainties of my past I confronted them. It was in the self-reflection of my college years that I became the man I am today. That I went from young, confused Barry Obama to the still young, still confused, but hopeful and motivated Barack Obama. I buckled down. I have a great faith in the power of higher education -- as one who has studied or worked at four different colleges and universities I'd better! -- and it is with this enthusiasm for our system that I speak to you all today.

Back in July, I spoke about the need to reform our nation's community colleges. It was a call to reform an outdated model so that more people could graduate with degrees from institutions of higher education and skills to help them excel in their vocations.

The liberal arts college is not built on the vocational model. Your colleges favor a well-rounded education that in most cases does not incline you to one specific job. There are many that call that outdated. That in today's economy you need to be trained for a particular career or college is not worth the expense. And it is expensive. But I am here to tell you that my faith in the liberal arts college is unshakable.

Yes, there are some jobs that require specific training that some liberal arts colleges cannot provide. But as our economy becomes more dynamic and varied, liberal arts students will find they have the well-rounded background necessary to adapt and thrive in the face of tomorrow's challenges. We do not know what the landscape of our economy will look like in 20 years, but it will be those who are most adaptable that will succeed. The liberal arts inform some of our most important professions like business, law, medicine, and government. It is the strength and diversity of the liberal arts education that beats in the heart of American democracy. It was the education of the founders, it is the education of today's leaders, and will be the education of tomorrow's innovators.

But many of you are probably worried about what to do after graduation. Unemployment is high, even more so for young people like yourselves. As the economics majors among you will know, employment is slow to improve, so joblessness will probably remain high even as we see signs of our economy picking up.

This is not grounds to give up, it is a call to work harder. The government has the responsibility to strengthen the economy so you can get jobs, and we are continuing to work to promote enduring job creation in all economic sectors. But part of the responsibility lies with you folks. College should be fun but it should also be challenging. Challenge yourselves to become better writers; better scientists; better mathematicians. Take advantage of the knowledge and experience of your professors. Start clubs. Debate your classmates. Read.

College is what you make it. A college degree is not bestowed on you by virtue of your acceptance as a freshman. You must earn it. Breezing through on the winds of the easiest classes will leave you ill-prepared for the storms of later life. Take risks and go for the harder class, the tougher professor, the position in student government. You will become smarter, more mature, and also more employable. Hard work is rewarded.

And in addition to your hard work, understand that once you graduate you will have two things on your side: power and youth. College-age citizens can lead, and those with a strong education and a will for change can have an amazing impact. When hope and education unite in a common purpose the impact is extraordinary. Things will turn around. You are young. You have time for self-discovery and you still have growing to do. And at your age you wield an optimism that is electric. It ran through the cheering crowds of my campaign. It carries you through these troubled times. Let it inspire you to lead by the strength of your convictions. You, even as an individual, have the means to define your generation.

So as I leave you to consider the responsibilities you have to yourselves, I ask that you also to consider your nation.

As you go off to careers in the far-flung sectors of our economy, be mindful of the public good. Embrace the jobs that will benefit your fellow citizens: teaching; public service; social service. It is not enough to hope for change. In the words of Ghandi that I have often quoted, "be the change you seek." This is about hard work, this is about optimism, and this is about courage. The courage to take your passion for the public good beyond the dorm room and to apply it in the real world. Yes, the country still needs investment bankers. But I have the feeling that as long as Goldman Sachs pays what it does, it will receive no shortage of applications. There are jobs in public service whose rewards extend far beyond the paycheck. Find them. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

(Raucous applause)

But how would students react? Books in hand, would they crowd the library as they do Girl Talk concerts, or just shrug off the president's words and unpause their Xbox?

Even if this speech were his own, I don't think the president's words would have much of an effect on college-aged students. Much as a we support him, these messages are nothing new. The advice above -- work hard, read, take risks -- is great, but it has been trumpeted by parents, teachers, and coaches since we before we probably care to remember. I seriously doubt that even a person as eloquent and influential as Barack Obama could make a reluctant reader of 21 years pick up a book. I doubt the rationale -- read books because they're good for you and will help you later in life -- would be convincing to one who has heard it hundreds of times before and remained unaffected.

The last part of the speech -- ask not what your country can do for you -- is not new either, but, if Obama's campaign is any indication, it does resonate. Young people showed the drive to work for Obama's political cause and its social/political/economic implications of change because they truly believed in his message and in him. That enthusiasm still lingers and is apparent in the popularity of organizations like Teach For America. With the economy floundering and unemployment high, more people might be drawn to jobs in social/public service. The federal government -- in all its expansiveness -- is certainly hiring.

Sadly, it is on the message of public service that conservatives would likely pounce. I doubt Obama could ask college students to consider jobs in public service and social service, without some backlash from the right against his "indoctrinating our youth," "stealing America's talent for his own socialist agenda," or "raising a socialist army".

Regardless of its reception, this is a speech that, in the opinion of this college student, should be made. The message may fall on deaf ears, and may trigger an eruption of misinterpretation among some fuming conservatives, but it is frankly one that gets Americans thinking about accountability -- to themselves and their nation -- and that is to everyone's benefit.

If the Obama administration doesn't have the time or energy to communicate to our nation's college ranks, I'll write the speech myself. Though he'll still have to show up and give it.