Obama Notre Dame Speech is a Winner
President Barack Obama was the commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient at Notre Dame. The honor was met with cheers and applause inside the commencement ceremonies while angry protests sparked outside the campus gates of Notre Dame University. But Obama’s Notre Dame speech won a warm reception from graduates and their families with humor and an appeal for tolerance.
“We must find a way to live together as one human family,” the president said.
Appearing on the campus of one of the nation’s premier Catholic universities, Obama acknowledged differences with the Catholic church’s teachings on abortion, stem cell research and gay rights. On abortion, he said “the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.” But he argued that Americans can find common ground if they maintain “open hearts” and “open minds.”
The president’s appearance here capped a week of demonstrations and arrests. Inside the hall where he spoke, a handful of students pasted crosses and replicas of baby feet on their mortarboards to protest the president’s refusal to ban abortion. Several others who tried to express their opposition verbally were quickly shouted down by other students.
“I am pro-life and very offended by the university honoring the most pro-abortion politician in American history,” said Christine Szcza, 58, of Wheaton, Ill. On the other side was Sunsara Taylor of New York, who carried a large banner reading: “Abortion on demand and without apology.”
“It is a good thing for woman and for society to control their destiny,” Taylor said.
But overall, it’s a mission accomplished for President Barack Obama. He addressed the controversy surrounding his commencement address at Notre Dame, making his critics look petty.
This country may be riven by abortion, Obama implied, but it must in tough tough times coalesce around shared values.
And the graduates at Notre Dame will never forget the day the president of the United States spoke to them.
Part of Obama Notre Dame speech:
Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?
Watch Barack Obama’s Notre Dame Speech Video
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