Steven Gardner writes:
You may have heard that some people were less than enamored with Congressman Norm Dicks’ speech at the UW commencement ceremony Saturday. The Belfair Democrat’s biggest sin was going too long in the rain. But some people were upset that he ventured into politics. I haven’t read the speech, but based on the two stories in the Seattle Times, he mentioned the Democrats regaining the House and cleaning up Puget Sound. Compared to what I saw at my father’s 1972 graduation from Cal State Los Angeles, Dicks’ speech sounds mild.
The second Times story reveals that Al Gore was the UW’s first choice and Dicks’ response to the heckling.
To be fair, Dicks did get loud applause at times — such as when he mentioned how the Huskies beat the Cougars three years running when he was playing on the team in the early 1960s and when he talked about the Democrats taking control of Congress last year.
“At the end of the speech, the applause was very good,” Dicks added.
“They were glad it was over.”
I was a graduate at the ceremony from the class of 2007. I was polite and sat through his horrible speech. For me, the weather had little to do with my disgust. I did not appreciate his political grandstanding during the commencement ceremonies on June 9th. His words were self-indulgent and self-centered. We learn something everyday and I did learn that he is much more committed and interested in himself than he is to the University of Washington or its students which many of, incidentally, are his constituents. I plan to keep his speech fresh in my mind when he is campaigning to be re-elected.
Jason,
I am disappointed in your post. As a graduate of the U myself I would have been proud to sit through a speech by Norm, especially since I know what he has done for our area. You are entitled to have your opinion but to say that he doesn’t care about the University of Washington is horse****. There is no more committed alum than the Congressman and there is no more committed politician to this area. You should have taken away themes from his speech such as the consideration of public service and having a commitment to the environment.
You did say you graduated from college, right?
I like how Norm Dicks has his own category on the blog. Is Jay Inslee going to get one?
Yes, Inslee will get his own category. It’s probably a good idea to have categories for all the electeds.