I dare say there would have been little or no negative reaction if he had crapped all over Bush in his speech. They probably would have been applause lines.

Oh, I doubt that. There's a sizable number of young military officers who attend RPI, not to mention the fact that, for a small school, it has a student body from an amazingly diverse geographic area. Some of the Southerners even play hockey these days! ;) Besides 37 US states, 30 nations were represented among the graduates. Our family plan for after the ceremony, in the event we got separated, was to rendezvous at the Korean flag.

Besides, though debate is a cherished pasttime, the school flourishes on collaboration. It's not the habit of these students to hold people in contempt for their political opinions. They appreciate it when the courtesy is returned. They also appreciate it when someone who begins his speech saying he will not talk about politics then follows up by not talking about politics.

I looked for a transcript at the website, but there isn't one. Maybe later.