Love him or hate him, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a reasonably funny guy. (I'm not going beyond "reasonably funny" until somebody apologizes for "Batman & Robin.") It could just be that he has good writers working for him now (unlike, let's say, when he was in "Batman & Robin"), but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Schwarzenegger gave the commencement address Monday at Emory University in Atlanta, and had a number of good lines.
Emory gave him an honorary law degree, which set up one of his jokes. "This is my first law degree," Schwarzenegger said. "Finally, the Kennedys will think I'm a success." He said he hoped his wife would now finally feel comfortable taking him home to meet the family.
At least I think he was joking about that.
The Governator also weighed in on the current immigration-law controversy. "I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend," he said, "but with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me." Pretty good line, although maybe not so funny to Latinos. Not that there is any reason for concern about the Arizona law being enforced unevenly -- I'm sure illegal Austrians would have to be just as worried about getting pulled over in Arizona as any other group would be.
The address was also full of the usual commencement-speech stuff about success and following your dreams and all the other stuff that was so distracting while you were trying to load another bong hit under your gown. Schwarzenegger has more reason than most to convey that optimism because he is an example of an immigrant who overcame obstacles to have great success in America, even being elected to high political office.
Of course, he can never become president because of his performance in "Batman & Robin," but he is still a remarkable success story.
Link: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Link: Emory University (with link to video of speech)
