Obama gets in a few digs at Trump in commencement speech at Rutgers
President Barack Obama used his commencement speech at Rutgers University on Sunday to take a dig at Donald Trump and the Republican party.
After a few local jokes and inspiring the 2016 graduates that they can effectively run this country one day, Obama changed to politics, taking multiple passes at the state of our current political situation.
"The world is more interconnected than ever before, and its becoming more connected every day," Obama said. "Building walls won't change that."
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Obama's speech begins at the 58 minute mark, however this section starts at about 1:15.
After telling the future leaders of this country that a wall will not stop epidemics such as the Zika virus, Obama said, "to help ourselves, we gotta help others. Not pull up the draw bridge and try to keep the world out."
Obama later continued, "Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting that they should be treated differently when it comes to entering this country. That is not just a betrayal of our values. That's not just a betrayal of who we are. It would alienate the very communities at home and abroad who are our most important partners in violent extremism."
On a more lighthearted note, Obama took it a bit further.
"Facts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science -- these are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy. These are qualities you want to continue to cultivate in yourselves as citizens. That might seem obvious," Obama said as the crowd cheered.
He continued, "we traditionally have valued those things but if you were listening to today's political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from," said Obama as the crowd laughed.
"So, class of 2016 let me be as clear as I can be: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That's not challenging political correctness, that's just not knowing what you're talking about," said Obama.
Now sure. Obama never said Donald Trump's name in his diss, but did he have to?
Obama also touched on climate change and used the opportunity to bash Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, a climate change denier who infamously brought a snowball onto the Senate floor.
Finally, Obama criticized the actions of the students of Rutgers University for blocking speech from Condoleeza Rice from giving a commencement speech in 2014.
"I don't think that's how democracy works best, when we're not even willing to listen to each other," Obama said.
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Topics Barack Obama
