Rep. Boehner to 9,700 OSU grads: Be humble

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner poked brief fun at one scandal on Sunday and Ohio State University’s president sought to elevate his institution above another during the university’s largest ever graduation ceremony.

Boehner, a Cincinnati Republican, peppered his 8-minute speech to a record 9,700 graduates and about 40,000 relatives and friends with emotion, advice and a joke about the name of a colleague involved in a scandal over lewd photos.

Saying his own name was often mispronounced — sometimes rhyming with the words “honor” and “leaner,” sometimes even being called “boner” — Boehner said, “Thank God it’s not Weiner.”

Fellow U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, admitted last week to sexually explicit communications with as many as six women via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Graduates assembled under clear blue skies. Many sported shorts and flip-flops under their black robes, and some wore mortarboards decked out with scarlet and gray O’s, sequins, gift-wrap bows, feathers or pipe-cleaner creations. Students held balloons or flags to identify themselves, or scanned the crowd — cellphones to their ears — looking for loved ones.

Boehner told graduates that it is important to work hard, persevere and be humble.

“You know, life isn’t always about you,” he said. “I’m a big believer that everything in life is a two-way street, and being useful to others, being involved in your community, finding some way to serve is part as what I would describe as humility.”

With emotion in his voice, Boehner recalled his bartender father working 10 or 12 hours a day yet still finding time to volunteer.

“So before you think about what you want to do in your life, I would suggest to all of you: Think about who you want to be before you think about what you want to be,” he said.