New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered the commencement address for Stanford's class of 2013 on Sunday. In it, he makes a lot of in-jokes about campus life that must have been fed to him by speechwriters, as well as a plea for immigration reform, and marriage equality.
Bloomberg spent the first section of speech making a lot of jokes and references to life on the Stanford Campus, like Full Moon on the Quad, Sunrise over the Dish, and doing beer columns at Old Pro.
Also, he joked, "Apparently every single person here has a great idea for a new tech start-up. I’ve been here for two days and so far 27 students, 14 professors, and the checkout guy at Ax and Palm have approached me for VC funding."
Then he got a little more serious and talked about how the current immigration policy in the U.S., which stands to send a number of graduating seniors back to their home countries, is "national suicide," and "the most backwards economic policy you could possibly come up with." He said that every foreign student should get "a green card stapled to their diploma" in order to keep talent here in the States.
Then he made some mention of the Prop 8 and DOMA decisions which are set to arrive from the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, saying that gay marriage is "the civil rights issue of our time."
And he concluded by telling the kids to "have one last beer at Illusions [tonight] and tomorrow, with the wind of freedom at your back, go out and pursue your American Dream and help make it a reality for others."