Well, it's official, and, as a member of the Class of 2001, I guess I should be honored that the President of the United States will be here to hail us when we graduate next month.

But I must admit I'm less than fired up about George W. Bush being our commencement speaker.

Yes, it is impressive that out of the probably dozens of invitations he received, Bush chose Notre Dame and the Naval Academy to deliver his first commencement addresses as president.

It certainly makes Notre Dame look good. The most powerful man in the world will be here, just to address our graduates. Of course, with him will come national media attention and the prestige of adding another president to our roster of famous commencement speakers. There were surely lots of smiles and congratulations all around in the Dome when word arrived that Bush was coming to South Bend.

But what is he going to say?

Will he tell us about his college years? What he remembers of Yale frat boy glory days?

Will he turn it into a policy speech, making the ludicrous case for a missile defense system or pushing for a tax cut for the rich?

Or maybe he will give us advice on how to succeed in life: use daddy's connections to buy a baseball team, run for governor of a big state and then get yourself, by hook or by crook, elected president.

Who knows? Who cares? The president is coming.

My classmates will remember the flap three years ago when Notre Dame lost out on some bigger names and had to "settle" for Joe Kernan as commencement speaker. "Joe who?" everyone asked. Joe Kernan, the lowly Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, a Notre Dame alum, a dynamic former mayor of South Bend and a Vietnam P.O.W.

Despite that honorable resume, Kernan's selection was derided by some. The Lieutenant Governor? Of Indiana? This was a travesty, an insult. We deserve better.

But Kernan is a good man, and he stayed out of the fray, came to Notre Dame and delivered what by all accounts was a great speech. A man with some real life experiences shared them with the graduates of his alma mater, and maybe inspired some of them to go out into the world and lead a better life.

Few people outside Indiana know who Joe Kernan is. CNN and The Washington Post were not there to cover his speech. And Notre Dame did not get any big publicity boost for having him, but that's okay.

Commencement addresses should not be about big publicity boosts or political speeches, and if Notre Dame needs Bush to come to "validate" its status as a "prominent university,"as one school spokesman suggested, than it's got some serious image problems.

No, these addresses should be about doing what Kernan did. They should be about providing a role model for the graduates, a role model who can come and speak and inspire. They should not be about enhancing the reputation of the university.

In all the hoopla surrounding President Bush's selection, let's try to remember that.

• W. is nice, but I'll take Joe