Guru Abad 21

Betsy DeVos spoke through waves of boos and shouted protests during her commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University on Wednesday, delivering a celebratory address with what seemed at times to be grim-faced resolve. In the week and a half since the historically black university announced DeVos would be delivering the address, protest petitions drew thousands of signatures and calls for the school president's resignation have cropped up — as NPR's Anya Kamenetz laid out here. The reaction to the speech itself — which you can watch below — was often no different. As the lightning-rod secretary of education stepped behind the lectern, she was greeted with immediate boos from the students — a deepening roar that had begun in smatters minutes earlier when she received her honorary doctorate from school President Edison O. Jackson. Yet it was also clear DeVos had anticipated this response, opening her speech with a call for understanding. "One of the hallmarks of higher ed...

Barack Obama seems to be enjoying his ex-presidency. Hillary Clinton seems to be anguishing over her ex-candidacy. In accepting the JFK Profile in Courage award, Obama weighed in on the debate over the law nicknamed for him. But he threaded the needle in not mentioning President Trump by name. The media would love to cover a Trump-Obama slugfest. And Obama is clearly not going to retire to a quiet existence and paint portraits, as George W. Bush did. But he is said to have appreciated Bush’s policy of not criticizing his successor and plans to follow a modified version, at least for now. Clinton is following a very different path, speaking out against Trump. The 44th president noted in his speech that some members of Congress risked losing their seats, and ending their political careers, by voting for ObamaCare. “It is my fervent hope and the hope of millions ... such courage is still possible, that today's members of Congress regardless of party are willing to look at the facts an...