A presidential candidate gave a commencement address. We noticed that a couple of things were missing in his pitch. Here’s an excerpt of the awful thing:

Each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should by. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live your life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.

But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, though you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, though you do have that debt.

It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in America’s story.

There are so many ways to serve and so much need at this defining moment in our history. You don’t have to be a community organizer or do something crazy like run for President. Right here at Wesleyan, many of you have already volunteered at local schools, contributed to United Way, and even started a program that brings fresh produce to needy families in the area. One hundred and sixty-four graduates of this school have joined the Peace Corps since 2001, and I’m especially proud that two of you are about to leave for my father’s homeland of Kenya to bring alternative sources of energy to impoverished areas.

I ask you to seek these opportunities when you leave here, because the future of this country – your future – depends on it. At a time when our security and moral standing depend on winning hearts and minds in the forgotten corners of this world, we need more of you to serve abroad.

Missing bits from Senator Obama’s speech, among many others: (a) any mention of the great blessing of being able to be part of, and a contributor towards, the continued success of this America with its “big house and nice suits” that have made his campaign possible; (b) any mention of the parents whose sacrifices made their kids’ college educations possible; and (c) in his particularly offensive remark that “we need more of you to serve abroad,” he notably omitted to mention a certain 300,000 Americans serving abroad, many of whom are daily involved in “winning hearts and minds in the forgotten corners of this world.” What a jerk.

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