What are everyone's thoughts on Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame? I'm not sure this was the right venue for his comments 1.) A College Commencement Ceremony 2.) At an institution with such a large Catholic student body (not to mention professors, family members and others in attendance.)
The comments where relative to the controversy. Which he offered a middle ground. If not those comments, why come and speak at all.
Yes, he did. He emphasized the need to reduce unwanted pregnancies and improve adoption procedures. Still think it took cojones to speak on a Pro-Choice platform at ND.
i agree with mm on this one. there were protests surrounding his visit based on his abortion views. while it was largely driven by "outside" forces, the crowd IN the commencement was largly split, just like american catholics seen to be split on the issue. from what i saw, the didnt try to push his beliefs on anyone, but spoke of common ground in finding a way to reduce circumstances which lead to unwanted pregnancies in the first place. i think to not address it at all would have been to ignore the elephant in the room given the controversy and protests.
I agree. And I believe he accepted the invitation to speak knowing full well the controversy that would ensue. I agree with his remarks but I would rather commencement ceremonies not be used in such a manner. Personally, I would have been po'd if Buch spoke at my graduation at length about the war in Iraq or problems in Afganistan.
but you would have remembered it, agree with it or not. we had senator breaux. and it was the typical pumping sunshine speech. i dont remember a bit of it. all i remember is it was so boring the business students were having a contest to see who could hit him with a champagne cork.:hihi:
An offer should have never been extended for him to speak. A pro-abortion President has no place at a Catholic university. In this case Notre Dame failed to place the values the institution is supposed to uphold ahead of the prestige associated with a presidential delivered commencement address.
My problem is not WHAT he said. It is WHERE he said it. But you are right, the university should have never extended an invitation for him to speak.
I agree. If he wants to pander to his base, which all politicians do, that is fine. It was in poor taste to discuss a pro-choice platform at a Catholic University. The speech should have been about the graduates and their future and sunshine and farts.
It should have been a day for the graduates. Obama should have just gave "inspiration" to the graduates about going into the real world and what not and stayed away from the campaign like speech. One the same token, the protesters heckling Obama inside should be ashamed for disrupting the ceremony. All politics aside, it all commencements should be focused on the graduates. It's their day damnit.
