The Notre Dame Commencement

The President’s recent speech and accompanying honorary degree at Notre Dame was controversial and highly publicized. As always, the president conducted himself well and read his speech very smoothly with a comfortable and relaxed demeanor. He is after all, a very talented orator. As with all of the president’s speeches, if you enjoy the moment and ignore the words you miss a lot of what was said, both good and bad. So here is a break down.

First the controversy.

The fact that the president was speaking at the commencement was not controversial; he is after all, the president. The controversy revolved around the honorary degree that the university was giving him and a particular edict issued from the Catholic church relating to political figures who support abortion. Catholic institutions are strongly discouraged from giving awards or honors to politicians who hold a ‘pro-choice’ viewpoint. This would apply particularly to President Obama, who holds a more ‘pro-abortion’ viewpoint than any of his predecessors. Many students, staff, clergy, and other invited guests protested and even boycotted the graduation to voice their disapproval.

In the midst of this controversy, the president did quite well. Of course, he didn’t do what I would have thought was the best thing, but what he did, he did well. He acknowledged and addressed the issue in his speech. The speech itself was an encouragement to engage on difficult issues and try and find common ground. A very admirable approach to any ‘gray’ issue.

Unfortunately abortion is not one of those issues. There is nothing ‘gray’ about abortion. There is no common ground to be found on murder.

And the President acknowledged that too, I was surprised to find. He said, “… the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.”

Fair enough.

He went on to discuss a variety of issues including giving a powerful example of how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was actually created. It is an example that you don’t normally hear from the Democrats. Not to say they don’t talk about the Civil Rights Act, but they rarely give credit where credit is due. The President quite admirably gave kudos to President Eisenhower, who did more to advance the Civil Rights movement and dialogue than his Democratic successors, especially President Johnson, who merely signed the measures that President Eisenhower spent years assembling.

These were definitely the highlights of the speech, but closer inspection on some of the finer points does show some interesting bits.

A common theme throughout the speech is a sense of ‘fairness’, not so much from a perspective that you would expect at a commencement. Instead it carried the constant drumbeat of a latent hostility against success; an encouragement for service given by the students and a rebuke of the affluence that many of them are aspiring to, an affluence that the President himself has attained.

In the middle of the encouragement to deny yourself, the President, who had just assailed selfishness, pride, and ego, holds himself up as an example and repeats the story of what led him to become a community organizer working to lift up South Side neighborhoods. All while making no mention of the millions of dollars of success that the President has enjoyed after writing two best selling books. He goes on and on about the people that he has learned selflessness from and speaks of the wonders of non-profit ventures and being generous towards others, all while his wallet and his checkbook are telling a remarkably different story.

An odd commencement speech indeed.

I applaud the President for addressing the very issue that brought such controversy to the occasion, though it seems it would have been less self serving and more understanding if he had graciously asked not to receive the honorary degree in order to honor the Catholic heritage of those present.

I fully acknowledge that personal sacrifice, charity, and generosity are great and wonderful things that should be practiced by everyone, including the President, Vice President, and every member of his administration.

I would also encourage everyone to realize that class warfare, rather than helping the whole, actually hurts the whole. If we’ve learned anything from history it is that when you try and ‘level the playing field’ (i.e. promote a socialist doctrine) all you succeed in doing is dragging all but the elite in government DOWN to a common lower standard. When you practice liberty and encourage people to dream and succeed, then give them the freedom to do just that, then everyone is elevated by the success. Yes, naturally a few will rise above the others, but the level of the whole is higher. Our country was not established on equality of results, but rather freedom of opportunity.

When we celebrate the greatness, talent, ambition, creativity, and intelligence of the individual, we inspire the call to greatness within us all. We should not strive to covet the things that our neighbor has, but rather to develop the talents and abilities that God has given each one of us.