President George W. Bush didn't mind being called a cowboy on May 6.

Instead, he used a little cowboy charm to earn rousing applause from OSU's class of 2006 while delivering the commencement address.

"If you read the newspapers, you know that when some want to criticize me, they call me a cowboy," Bush said. "This cowboy is proud to be standing here in the midst of a lot of other Cowboys."

Early in the address, Bush told jokes aimed at energizing the already-fervent graduating class of about 2,600 students and an estimated 25,000 poncho-wearing people braving light rain in the Boone Pickens Stadium stands.

While the president said first lady Laura Bush was disappointed she couldn't travel to Stillwater, he added that "she was even more disappointed when she found out I had planned a romantic dinner for two - at Eskimo Joe's."

Bush's father, former President George H. W. Bush, endorsed the Stillwater restaurant's famous cheese fries after delivering the commencement address at OSU in 1990.

Of the many changes since his father's commencement address 16 years ago, Bush spent the most time discussing changes in technology and urged students to harness new technologies for the good of each respective industry.

"By helping each of us do our jobs better, technology is improving life for all of us," Bush said.

He described new technologies in the energy and medical fields, like hydrogen-powered cars and laser eye surgery. But he cautioned students to use technology responsibly.

"My advice is, harness the promise of technology without becoming slaves to technology," he said.

Bush has been photographed with an iPod in recent years, and he used it as an example of how technology has changed over time.

"When I was in college, we listened to music on 45 rpm records, as opposed to the iPod," he said. "We used manual typewriters instead of the personal computer. When we made a mistake while writing a paper, we didn't have the luxury of SpellCheck.

"As a matter of fact, we used something that maybe some of you have heard of. It was big and bulky. It's called a dictionary," he said to hearty laughter from parents in the stands.

He touched on his thoughts about the future of U.S. foreign policy and asked graduates to support competition from other countries, declaring that "a country that shuts itself off from competition will be a country that isolates itself from the duties and opportunities of our world."

That comment marked a transition to a brief discussion of Bush's dedication to advancing causes of liberty and freedom worldwide.

Bush told graduates that one of their generation's greatest opportunities is joining in the effort to advance human freedom.

He cited the increase in democratic governments worldwide during the past 25 years and said if democracy continues to spread, terrorism and tyranny will retreat.

Graduates heard Bush tell a story of one of their own when he talked of the necessity for virtues like courage and compassion, which he said are well-exhibited by OSU graduate Melissa Unwin, a cancer survivor given little chance to beat the disease who proved her doctors wrong and walked across the stage during the graduation ceremony.

Bush commended the volunteer work of OSU students who spent spring break in New Orleans helping with Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and awarded civil engineering junior B.J. O'Connor with the President's Volunteer Service Award earlier that morning.

"We see the spirit of service in the members of the class of 2006 who've stepped forward to defend our freedom," Bush said.

In his only direct mention of the war in Iraq, Bush told the story of OSU graduate Luke James. 2nd Lt. James was a lifetime military man who was deployed to Iraq in 2004. He was an ROTC cadet at OSU.

"Luke had the world at his feet," Bush said. "He had a wife and infant son that he adored. Yet Luke had chosen a life of service."

Shortly after Lt. James arrived in Iraq, he was killed by an improvised explosive device on an Iraqi roadside.

"Luke James is part of a generation who are every bit as selfless and dedicated to liberty as any that has come before. And the future of the United States of America is better because of the character of young Americans like Luke James," Bush said to a roaring applause.

Bush told the class of 2006 to serve causes bigger than their own.

"The day will come when you'll be asked, what have you done to build a better America than the one you found?

"I'm confident that you will answer the call to service. I'm confident that your lives will be more fulfilling and your country more hopeful. And I'm confident that you'll look back and say, job well-done."