Why was Obama on at ND?

Recently, Notre Dame has been in the news for inviting President Obama to speak at graduation and receive an honorary degree. There was a bunch of blah blah blah about Obama being pro-choice and the local bishop announcing he would not attend the commencement because of Obama’s stance on this single issue. There was even talk about not conferring a degree.

As an alumnus, I am proud and a little relieved that Notre Dame decided to allow him to speak and conferred an honorary degree. Arizona State University apparently has higher standards than my alma mater, deciding that Obama had not done enough to warrant an honorary degree. I think we should settle which school is better on the football field, even though I would not buy tickets to see that contest of mediocrity. I think it’s pretty clear that we won the contest of better graduation speeches though. Obama clearly understood his audience.

He began with talking about Father Hesburgh and sports. Hesburgh was the University’s president for 35 years, has received 150 honorary degrees, and played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement. The library with “Touchdown Jesus” is named after him. Obama then moved on to sports, a language almost every Notre Dame alumnus understands. A small, warranted joke about our football team preceded mention of an event that makes Domers (not a fan of the nickname, but it’s what we sometimes call ourselves) proud. Notre Dame hosts the largest five-on-five outdoor basketball tournament in the world, and just about everybody competes. It’s just single elimination street ball until the final rounds when they add some refs. It’s fun and it consumes ND life for a month, even if a certain person never saw a second round game.

Obama then went on to talk about the problems that the graduating generation faces and how they are unique. That part is not too original in my book, but it’s an important reminder in any speech, especially at Notre Dame, where service, community, and family are foundations. He threw in a sprinkle of God and Christianity, which are concepts that most Domers at least recognize, even if they do not strongly embrace them. Though this segment’s topic wasn’t necessarily new, it was eloquently delivered. He invoked the ideas of harmonious living and finding common ground, which provided a good segue into the part of his talk that received the most press.

Notre Dame and abortion were on the front web pages of the major newspapers on Sunday. I was surprised that Obama addressed the issue that caused all the controversy, but I was glad that he did. He chose to trust the audience to be civil and intellectually curious, despite what the Pope or bishops say. I like to think that Notre Dame students and families can handle hearing opinions, even if they happen to be different from their own. That being said, not everybody that went to Notre Dame disagrees with Obama on abortion.

For Obama’s part, he didn’t provoke or preach on the topic. He simply called for a dialogue, which has kind of been his MO during his first one hundred and something days. And how can you argue with a having a chat and exchanging ideas, especially at a college graduation? I think he took a smart approach to addressing a captive, pretty conservative crowd. Don’t anger them, but don’t be afraid of them. Invite them to the table. Obama invited and then moved on to topics that the audience found very agreeable.

He spoke of service to the community, tradition, the role Father Hesburgh in the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of Notre Dame in the world. I thought it was a great speech, and after watching it, I felt that sense of inspiration that any good graduation speech should evoke. He got the audience; at the very least, he understood this Notre Dame alumus.