President Barack Obama peppered his Rutgers commencement address with references to the Garden State and its quirks. Watch video
PISCATAWAY -- President Barack Obama has never lived in New Jersey, but his speech to Rutgers University's graduating class Sunday showed someone clued him in on some of the state's quirks and cultural touchstones.
"RU rah-rah!" Obama said at the start of his speech, revving up the Rutgers crowd in High Point Solutions Stadium on the Busch Campus in Piscataway.
Obama: 'Ignorance is not a virtue'
Then, he launched into a string of shout-outs to Jersey and Rutgers, including:
Rutgers vs. Princeton in the first college football game in 1869:
"So I am here off Exit 9, on the banks of the old Raritan, at the site of one the original nine colonial colleges, winners of the first-ever college football game."
Rutgers' much-criticized campus bus system:
"You also survived the daily jockeying for buses from Livingston to Busch to Cook to Douglass and back again."
Rutgers' notorious grease trucks and their "fat sandwiches":
"Mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers on your cheese steaks. I am sure Michelle would approve."
Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen:
"A friend of mine who happens to be from New Jersey, a guy named Bruce Springsteen, once sang,'They spend their lives waiting for a moment that just don't come.' . . . Don't let that be you."
Is it called Taylor Ham or pork roll?:
"I come here for a simple reason, to finally settle this pork roll versus Taylor ham question . . . I'm just kidding. There's not much I'm afraid to take on in my final year of office, but I know better than to get in the middle of that debate."
New Brunswick's Olde Queens Tavern, a popular bar with students:
"I suspect that a few of you are trying to survive this afternoon after a late night at Olde Queens. You know who you are."
Rutgers students' achievements:
Obama gave shout-outs to several Rutgers graduates, including Yasmin Ramadan, a School of Arts and Sciences graduate, who is an anti-bullying advocate and heads the Muslim Public Relations Council, and Madison Little, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences graduate who has done work to confront the AIDS epidemic.
"Is it any wonder that I'm optimistic?" Obama said of his hope for the future.
Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find NJ.com on Facebook.