Bush Taking Sober Tone in 2004 College Speeches

BATON ROUGE, La. — With images of bombings and tortured prisoners dominating the national debate over the Bush administration’s wartime policies, the president’s annual tradition of addressing college graduates is taking on unusually grave overtones.

Last week, for example, the president cited the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers as he advised graduates of a Lutheran school in Wisconsin to remain true to their morals, telling them: “One person can do so much harm, or so much good.”

On Friday, Bush did not mention the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison directly as he addressed more than 3,000 graduates of Louisiana State University and their families -- but he seemed to hint at them once again.

“For your sake and for the sake of our country, I hope you will always strive to be men and women of conviction and character,” the president told the graduates and their families, gathered in a school gymnasium.

“Our country depends on ... soldiers who put their duty above comfort, and men and women in every walk of life who conduct themselves with integrity, even when no one is watching,” he said.

Though the prison scandal has enraged members of Congress and has prompted Bush’s approval ratings to fall, the president’s two commencement addresses so far this spring have seemed to turn his political problem into a life lesson for his listeners -- many of them about the same age as the soldiers accused of wrongdoing.

His comments came in a largely lighthearted speech in which he noted that he was a “C student” in college, told the graduates to always be on time and offered “a very valuable” life lesson: “Listen to your mother.”

One other piece of advice carried overtones -- unintended, according to a Bush aide -- of the latest events in Iraq.

On Thursday, U.S. troops and Iraqi police raided the offices of Ahmad Chalabi, who at one time was considered one of the U.S. government’s closest allies in Iraq, but who has since lost favor amid suspicions that he mishandled funds and gave U.S. officials faulty intelligence.

“Choose your friends carefully,” Bush said. “The company you keep has a way of rubbing off on you -- and that can be a good thing, or a bad thing.”

Bush made no mention of Chalabi in his 16-minute address, and a spokesman said later that the advice was a common theme for the president and was totally unrelated to the Iraqi Governing Council member.

Also Friday, the White House announced the president would deliver a prime-time address Monday at the Army War College to outline how the government was preparing for the handover of power in Iraq on June 30.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters that the speech would cover “a number of fronts, which involve the security front, the sovereignty front, humanitarian and civil infrastructure, and the international and diplomatic fronts as well -- all in the context of keeping Iraq on a path of progress to democracy.”

As of Friday evening, the White House had not asked the major networks to carry the speech, set for 5 p.m. PDT, Duffy said.

Bush used his university speech to repeat his vow that, despite the handover of power in just six weeks, the U.S. would not abandon Iraq.

“We’re at war with enemies that have many destructive ambitions, and one overriding goal: They want to spread their ideology of hatred by forcing America to retreat from the world, in weakness and fear,” Bush said. “Yet they’re finding that Americans are not the running kind. When this country makes a commitment, we see it through.”

Like Wisconsin, the site of Bush’s commencement speech last week, Louisiana is considered a campaign battleground.

The president won Louisiana by about 8 percentage points in 2000. But his presumed Democratic challenger this year, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, has campaigned in the state, hoping to capitalize on last year’s victory by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

This graduation weekend comes with personal significance for Bush and his family.

His twin daughters are set to receive their college degrees, Barbara from Yale and Jenna from the University of Texas. The president opted not to showcase himself as commencement speaker at either school, fearing he would draw protesters and overshadow his daughters’ big days. The first family will hold private receptions Saturday in Austin, Texas, and Sunday in New Haven, Conn.

While Bush’s appearance in Baton Rouge was brief, he took nearly three hours near New Orleans to raise money for the Republican National Committee. The RNC announced it had raised $2 million at the two events.