"He's really motivated by public service," he says. "At any point along the way he could have stepped out of the lime-light. He really does care about the United States of America."
Far From the Law
Despite years of involvement and influence in the American political system, Gergen confesses he was taken aback by the HLS invitation to be the Class Day speaker.
"I was flattered, but I was surprised," he says. "I'd fallen off the wagon on law a long time ago, I assumed that they generally ask people who were in the legal field for years and years so I wasn't quite sure why I was asked. [I am] someone who [went] to law school, but who made their way in a different path."
And for everything that life in Washington has taught him, Gergen says that his time at HLS was his "most important intellectual experience."
"Academically I loved my Yale years, but the law school is a very professionalizing experience," he says. "It really requires you to build constructs in your mind and achieve a discipline that has been extremely helpful to me in later years."
Gergen's words have been in high demand this commencement season. He recently delivered a class day speech for that second-rate institution in New Haven loaded with Harvard barbs.
On Class Day, Gergen will focus on what he sees as a greater sense of morality and a larger commitment to public service among the current generation of graduates. He attributes this partly to a historical moment.
He says the new century brings with it a sense that there is "a new beginning. "People are more willing to turn the page."
Gergen says he wants to use his HLS platform as a bully pulpit to expound on the unhappiness he feels prevails in some professions, including law.
"I do want to talk about the discontent that exists in several occupations today," he says, and how the current crop of graduates are ideally suited to address these issues.
Today, the expert in scripting the words of others will showcase his ability to craft his own.
"[His speech will] be worth listening to, and I'll be happy to come along and correct his mistakes," Shields quipped.