Notre Dame and Obama

Notre Dame Speech

President Obama has angered a lot of people recently with his decision to speak at Notre Dame University's Commencement this weekend. I am one of those people, but probably for different reasons; not only is Notre Dame a perennial football rival of Boston College, but the public outcry against his speech is probably enough to deter him from choosing to speak at another, perhaps Northeastern, Catholic school next year. Not that BC would invite, or even notably gain the attention of the President anyway, but it diminishes our chances...

I applaud the Notre Dame administration for inviting a speaker with views differing from their own and those of the Church - much like Columbia University President Lee Bollinger inviting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak in New York. And for Christ sake, it's Barack Obama! He's the sitting American president and one of the most gifted orators of our time! Let him speak.

Without getting into the contentious abortion issue (and following the president's lead I might add) all I have to say on the topic is that Notre Dame is a private institution with the ability to choose for themselves, absent of public opinion (by the way, 97% of the senior class wants him to speak). They obviously did not invite the pro-choice President to come and convince the audience that his views are the correct views. I will shamelessly try to portray this as a Freedom of Speech issue because that's exactly what it is. Obama is not enacting pro-choice legislation. He has yet to deliver on his campaign promise of signing the Freedom of Choice Act, which has generated loads of criticism on the left. If his speech at Notre Dame were a staged political act to sign that particular piece of legislation, then by all means go picketing in the streets.

But it's not. It's a Commencement Address - a moment in time that no graduating senior will ever forget, especially since it's our rock-star president who is doing the honors. Personally, I think this may be Obama's way of "coming out" on the culture war issues, but only time will tell. For now, what is that saying? Sticks and stones will break my bones...