Morehouse College announced Monday that it has invited President Biden to deliver the commencement speech at the May 19 graduation ceremony. Backlash quickly ensued.
Morehouse College is designated as a Historically Black College among the HBCUs. It is located in Atlanta. That’s a good opportunity for Joe Biden – a black audience in Georgia. Everything is about Biden’s re-election now and this is a good get for Team Biden.
Biden is losing black voter support, especially black male voters, and Georgia is a battleground state. Can he deliver a memorable speech that will sway voters to come home to Biden as they did in 2020?
Not so fast,,,
Administrators are bracing for demonstrations by the pro-Hamas crowd and the possibility that they might interrupt Biden’s speech. The real hitch is this – the administration at Morehouse is worried faculty members will join in a demonstration.
Awkward.
The college’s provost sent out an email to faculty members when the backlash began.
“This week, I received an inquiry from concerned faculty about rumors they were hearing about President Biden’s selection as the 2024 Commencement speaker,” Morehouse’s provost Kendrick Brown said in an email to faculty members.
Brown has set up a forum to be held on Thursday for faculty members and administrators. It will be a virtual meeting, he said.
Brown said he would convene a virtual meeting Thursday “to extend an opportunity for faculty with different perspectives on the selection of our Commencement speaker to ask questions and make comments.” He said students would also engage with college President David Thomas.
What are they going to decide to do? Are they going to insist that Morehouse disinvite the President of the United States who is only going to deliver two commencement addresses this graduation season? That would certainly be a story but it’s not very likely to happen.
It doesn’t matter where Biden speaks. He is going to have to handle disruptions by demonstrators. The pro-Hamas demonstrations seem to be growing, not fading, and that includes those who show up at Biden’s events to cause a commotion. Other Democrats get the treatment, too, but Biden is the one they have to convince to see the world as they do.
Biden needs all the votes he can find, especially in Georgia. Many graduating seniors will return to their home states, which may well be other battleground states. Biden needs them on board. Who knows what he will bribe the audience with to pander for their votes? Will it be even more student loan debt forgiveness? I don’t know but he will come bearing goodies, you can be sure of that.
Biden is struggling with young voters. They played a role in his victory in 2020 but there isn’t much enthusiasm for Biden this time around. He’s too old and doesn’t seem to be getting the job done. Biden’s campaign joined TikTok to reach young voters but he comes off as an uneasy grandpa who doesn’t quite land the dismount.
Pro-Hamas demonstrators have caused Biden and others in his administration to scale back on speaking engagements on campuses. They hide instead of confronting them. This is what happens when the president does not show moral clarity. Biden has waffled from his original position of strong support for Israel.
The young people demonstrating in support of Hamas are products of American institutions of higher learning. They were indoctrinated by college professors like the ones that Morehouse College is worried will join in a demonstration during Biden’s visit.
The college demonstrations are about as unAmerican as you can get. They chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” “From the river to the sea” wasn’t aggressive enough for them, I guess. It has escalated to “Death to America” on American soil. This isn’t a freedom of speech issue. This is evolving into domestic terrorism.
Colleges have rules in place for demonstrations. These demonstrators aren’t interested in following college guidelines. They should be arrested and charged for their actions. Nothing will change as long as disruptors are led away and then released to go back and do it again.
Biden has been feckless. He wants the votes of Muslim Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan more than he wants to protect Jewish students and faculty members at American universities.