For Clinton, a Proud, Sad Day

WASHINGTON — In a commencement address unlike any other he has given, President Clinton on Friday urged his daughter, Chelsea, and her high school classmates to “dream big and chase your dreams” because even in failure “amazing things will happen.”

The president’s sentimental appearance at graduation ceremonies for the private Sidwell Friends School here marked the end of Chelsea’s high school career. In September she will begin classes at Stanford University, a choice that is much farther from home than her parents had hoped.

With such thoughts clearly in mind, the president on Friday sounded much more like a dad braced for the departure of his only child than the commander in chief whose most recent commencement address was about global security issues.

“Our pride and joy are tempered by our coming separation from you,” Clinton said during an outdoor ceremony under sycamore trees. “We hope someday you will have children of your own to bring to this happy day and know how we feel. Remember that we love you and, no matter what anybody says, you can come home again.”

In his remarks, the president gave a glimpse at the impact Chelsea’s parting will have on he and his wife. “I ask you at the beginning to indulge your folks if we seem a little sad or we act a little weird,” the president told the graduates. “You see, today we are remembering your first day in school and all the triumphs and travails between then and now.

“Though we have raised you for this moment of departure and we are very proud of you, a part of us longs to hold you once more as we did when you could barely walk, to read to you just one more time ‘Good Night Moon,’ or ‘Curious George,’ or ‘The Little Engine that Could.’ ”

When it came her turn to graduate, Chelsea took the diploma from Principal Bernard T. Noe, then turned back across the stage to give her father a long hug.

Clinton told the 2,000 attendees that he had consulted with his daughter on what he should say at the ceremony.

“Dad, I want you to be wise--briefly,’ ” he recalled being advised. Later, Chelsea added: “ ‘The girls want you to be wise. The boys just want you to be funny.’ ”

Chelsea, 17, and her female classmates wore ivory-colored dresses and carried daisies and babies’ breath trimmed with ribbons. During the ceremony, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton watched from the audience.

If the late-spring season of graduation speeches seems a familiar national ritual, these platforms are typically a matter of deadly serious politics inside the White House, where comments from the president at the gatherings are viewed as opportunities to send messages miles beyond the campuses at which they are delivered.

Just last week, the president used graduation ceremonies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., to make the case for expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and for greater U.S. engagement in Asia in the future. Before that, he chose a commencement address at Morgan State University in Maryland to talk about technology and propose a national effort to create an AIDS vaccine.

And a week from today he will employ the podium at UC San Diego to unveil a long-awaited initiative on race relations. In Friday’s speech, Clinton touched on some of the very same racial themes he is planning to spotlight next week, describing the diversity of Sidwell’s student body as an example for the nation.

“As you look around this class today, we have to make out of our rich diversity the world’s first truly great multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious democracy. No one has ever done it before, and I hope our country can do as well as you have done with each other.”

For all that, however, Clinton mainly sounded a lot like a dad attempting to dispense hard-earned lessons in the speech before 122 graduating seniors and their families.

“First be brave. Dream big and chase your dreams. You will have your failures, but you will grow from every honest effort. . . . Even if you don’t get what you think you want, amazing things will happen.

“Second, be optimistic and be grateful. Some bad things are going to happen to you--to some of you, unfair things, perhaps even tragic things. . . . When these things happen, try to remember that each new day is still a gift, full of the mystery and magic of life. Try not to waste even one of those days trapped by hatred, the desire to get even, self-pity, despair or cynicism.”

“Third, be of service to others. . . . Fourth, be humble and proud.”

The president and first lady have zealously guarded the privacy of their only child during the family’s years in the White House. But, while media presence was kept to a minimum Friday, the day was clearly a landmark in the emergence of Chelsea Clinton’s identity, a focus likely to continue after she moves to California.