Good morning.
    In the book of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 20, it says, “It is by your fruits that you will know them,” and since we know that is true, right now I am looking out on an orchard of organic opportunity that lies before me. Congratulations to all the graduates of the Class of 2009, and congratulations to your friends and family and colleagues who came here today to see you be so successful and launch your careers. It is wonderful to stand before so much achievement and so much promise that exists for all of you, even in these very difficult times.
    And we in public service do a lot of graduations, and you might think that we get jaded coming to graduations, but we actually do not, because every graduation I have ever attended I have heard something I never heard before. And what I heard today was that [Wagner College] President [Richard] Guarasci said that not everyone has reached the peak of their achievement. He read an array of stellar achievements among the Class of 2009, and then he said to those of you who were not listed among them that the best may be yet to come. And that makes me feel pretty good, because at my graduations I was sitting there sinking into the seat as they recognized all this great academic wisdom and achievement and community service, none of which I had performed. And so I would like to be here today to symbolize those who have not reached their peak yet.
    As a matter of fact, when I graduated college, I saw those students who were represented so well, they graduated magna cum laude; and those students who similarly performed with extraordinary brilliance, they graduated summa cum laude; and then there were people like me, who found everything to do but study when they should have, and we graduated thank you laude.
    And so to President Guarasci and to [Wagner College board chairman] Jay Hartig and to all of the faculty and administration at Wagner College — and, by the way, this is not the first graduation I ever attended at Wagner College. I attended the graduation of a family member of my friend Maurice McLaughlin Powell in 1975, and we come back here 34 years later to find that the new chair of your board of trustees, Louise Kaufman, graduated in 1975 as well. So congratulations again, Louise.
    And to my partners in government who were kind enough to come today, Senator Diane Savino and Senator Andrew Lanza, and to Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Assemblyman Matt Tutone, and also to the [New York] City Councilman Ken Mitchell who is here … and I left out one of the legislators, and he’ll be waiting at the foot of the stage for me when I leave … oh, and Assemblywoman Janelle Hyer-Spencer. Sorry, Janelle, it was just a little oversight — age catching up with me. And to all of those who are here today greeting me, thank you.
    These are very difficult economic times. Our country is in a recession, the greatest of which since we saw in the Great Depression. It is a very difficult time. Over 3 million Americans have lost their homes in the last 5 years. Over 3 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last 21 months. And yet, with that great, indomitable spirit that urges us forward, these can be the greatest times.
    In his inaugural address in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said that the Chinese character for crisis has two parts: one connotes danger, and the other invites opportunity. Shortly after his inaugural address, the Chinese government released a press release saying there is no Chinese character for crisis, but I thought it was a good thought, so I thought I’d share it with you.
    The reality is that even in our slumping job market, there is great opportunity. In New York, we want to create 50,000 jobs in the area of clean and renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. We want to be in the national leadership of solar power, wind power, geothermal and biotech, and also in hydropower. We want to be the state that finds the energy storage technology that could be used for an advanced technical battery that would power not only industry but a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that would replace the automobile run by oil and gas, that will move us into the 21st century and that will replenish our economy for years to come. And we have the great companies that invest in this research, and we have the great colleges and universities like Wagner that have the academic achievement and proven ability to engage in cutting-edge research to take us to that next level.
    But the one thing that we need that we are starting to lose is the adequate workforce, because even though New York state has the highest importation of college students of any state in the country, 28 percent of our homegrown graduates are going to other cities to seek opportunities. And yet, at this time, when the whole country is in the recession that New York has been in for a number of years, we realize that we are replacing the economic growth from Wall Street downstate, and from the auto industry and from other industrial manufacturing upstate, with a new high-tech and innovation economy. There will be great excitement and great productivity and great vigor and great innovation in this state. So I would like to invite all you graduates to stay in New York to continue your careers — and besides, your friends and family are here. In spite of that, stay here anyway. You’ll get to understand the value of your friends and family as you become a little older.
    But we have a rich tradition in New York of being on the cusp of the nation. The population of New York was the same as the amount of economic development we conducted in 1820; we were 3 percent of the national population, and we did 3 percent of the business. And all the states corresponded their populations, like Pennsylvania that was 2 percent of the population did 2 percent of the business. But New York went from 3 percent of the population to 13 percent of the population in 20 years because the people moved where the jobs were. And the establishment of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad and the development of the Erie Canal took New York to a new place where we were conducting 47 percent of the economic development of the entire country by 1843, and New York became the engine of the new economic superpower known as the United States.
    Now, unfortunately, people are moving away because we haven’t created the jobs. But that is the goal of our administration, that economic development is more than rebuilding the infrastructure — it is creating work for the people who live here. And so I want to thank all of you in advance for being a part of it, because that great skill that we heard Dr. Guarasci illustrate in his remarks is what we need to power New York.
    For those still seeking a higher education degree, we installed a higher education loan plan, because in these times when credit agencies and financial lenders are not giving resources to younger people, we will invest $350 million for the academic scholarships at the right rates that so many of you need.
    The great financial award executive agency known as the Higher Education Service Corporation will launch today the first Web site in the country [www.hesc.com] that will review all of the loan opportunities so that young people and their families can go on the Internet and find the lowest student loan rates and help them to receive their college and graduate educations. And we couldn’t be happier that the chair of our Higher Education Service Corporation is our own Wagner College President Richard Guarasci. Congratulations.
    So now I’m standing here talking to you and I’m thinking about my high school graduation, and it occurred to me that I don’t remember who the keynote speaker was. So then I thought about my college graduation, and my law school graduation, and I kind of don’t remember who spoke at those graduations either. So I was thinking about that last year, and I spoke to a former governor of this state, Mario Cuomo.
    I said, “What is the purpose of the keynote speaker at a college graduation?”
    And he said, “At a college graduation, the speaker could be compared to the body at an old Irish wake. They need you to have the party, but you’re not expected to say much.”
    So on that, I think it’s about time for me to conclude. [Good-natured cheers from the students.] But I thought I would leave by reminding all of you who have demonstrated this great academic achievement that your families, those who stood behind you, those who cared about you, were there for you, and in the future we hope you will be there for others. One day, you’ll be standing up here — maybe as the keynote speaker at a graduation, maybe as a head of state, maybe as the head of a school or a laboratory, maybe just as the head of a family. Whatever you have learned and can translate and communicate to the next generation is what makes our country so great.
    And the best way for me to remember that story is what I do remember about my high school graduation. There are two students who stand out in my mind forever because of that graduation. One is Pamela Clayborn, and the other is Emery Cooper. They actually succeeded each other in coming up and receiving their diplomas. The lectern was not as raised as it is here today, and as Pamela Clayborn, our school valedictorian — who I believe had a school average of about 106, one of the most brilliant people that I ever met and, frankly between us, a young lady that I had a crush on, but I could never think of how to start a conversation with a person who sits around wondering about concepts like, “Why is there air?” — and so as she was coming up to receive her diploma as valedictorian, a little kid who had to be 2 or 3 years old runs up on the stage, and the valedictorian basically walked right past the little kid and got her diploma.
    And then came Emery Cooper.
    When I was graduating from high school, we had what we called the “respect rule” — everybody got to march, but then you found out whether you were really graduating. And since Emery rarely came to school, I wondered if he ever really got his diploma — but he sure didn’t receive the certificate, because he walked away from the lectern and took the little baby back into the audience and handed him back to his mom. The little baby drooled all over him, and we all laughed at Emery — but I think Emery taught me something that day that Pamela Clayborn, with all of her brilliance, couldn’t teach me, and I think it’s called priorities.
    Good luck to all of you. Congratulations to the Class of 2009, and long live the great Wagner College! Thank you.