Bush to advise Aggie grads on living healthy, productive lives By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz | Thursday, December 11, 2008, 02:25 PM President George W. Bush will be in Aggieland on Friday, delivering the commencement speech at Texas A&M’s graduation ceremonies.
Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said today that the president would give some advice to the students about living healthy and productive lives. And she noted that A&M “is near and dear to the family’s heart and his dad’s in particular.”
The presidential library and museum for Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, are at the College Station campus, which is also the site of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. The current president is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, and his library will be housed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
My colleague Ken Herman, who covers the White House for this and other Cox newspapers, asked Perino about Bush’s A&M appearance. Here’s an excerpt from their exchange during today’s White House press briefing:
QUESTION: Dana, do you have any intel on tomorrow’s commencement speech? What might be in it? PERINO: I do. I have read it. QUESTION: Good speech? PERINO: Yes. I would — yes, actually, it’s a very good speech. The — I shouldn’t say “actually.” The… (LAUGHTER) OK. I’m digging myself out of the hole. The speech is about — it’s not focused a lot on policy. The president will — it’s a commencement speech. So one of the things the president will do is talk about, you know, give some advice as to how he thinks that they can have good and healthy and productive lives as American citizens graduating from Texas A&M University. It, obviously, is near and dear to the family’s heart and his dad’s in particular. And I think what he’ll do is highlight the — some individuals that he has met over his time as president and hold them up as examples of what these graduates could aspire to be.
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