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I'm generally not a fan of politicians speaking at commencement exercises because typically, they use the occasion to promote their political point of view. If you're a graduate who happens to support that point of view, I suppose that's okay, but I tend to prefer commencement addresses which focus on the graduates and their accomplishments. I also like speeches which give advice to graduates as they "commence" with next chapter of their lives.

Every once in a while, our president will rise to the occasion and deliver an address which avoids going down the policy path. George W. Bush did that, Bill Clinton did that and so did, George H.W. Bush -- but generally that's not always that case.

Fortunately, for the graduates of the University of Michigan, President Obama gave an address which focuses on the level of civil discourse in our country and why it's up to all of us to protect our democracy by speaking with one another in a civil manner.

I think his remarks are worth a listen -- and incidentally, I think the same speech could have been delivered by any of our previous presidents. The speech isn't particularly partisan, but it is definitely timely.