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Obama's Witness at Notre Dame
What did you think of President Obama's commencement speech Sunday at Notre Dame? How will the Notre Dame controversy change the abortion debate in America?
1.....Not surprisingly, this oration was an honest, masterful, Hail Mary by-pass of all the phrases his "pro-life" enemies might use as banners against him. It was an intellectually cool, emotionally calm, personally warm appeal for "honest, thoughtful dialogue" toward common ground - confirming his having set up a taskforce to that end.
2.....In the oratorical category of bearding the lion in his den, this speech was up to last year's on race, in which he turned the minus of Jeremiah Wright into a plus. For me, to hear and see these historic orations was a tearful privilege and a grateful joy.
3.....While the pro-life demonstrations against Notre Dame for having a pro-choice commencement speaker were well-organized and extensive, that movement did not disgrace itself by violence. And the interruption of the speech by shouting objectors was brief - the President smiling and saying, "It's all right." The seated audience was respectful throughout, often applauding, with several ovations.
4.....To reach his dominantly Roman Catholic audience at Notre Dame, Obama leaped over the resistance structures set up by "culture of life" radicals, who denounce the effort to find common ground on the ground that abortion is an "intrinsic" evil: abortion is murder, and "culture of choice" defenders are in league with the devil. The problem with demonizing your enemies, however, is that when for some reason you must work with them, you yourself will be cooperating with hell.
5....The speech's identified theme was, "We must find a way to live together as one human family" in America and on the planet. "How do we walk through these conflicts?" This is possible only to the degree that we have "open hearts, open minds," living "the golden rule" that we should treat others as we want to be treated. This requires that we watch our language: we cannot expect to be fairly treated unless we ourselves use "fair-minded words."
6.....In political situations, Obama is cautious about using religious language. But at a Christian institution, his language was religious and specifically Christian. "Those of us in the Christian tradition" are not surprised at the evils in the world, for we believe in "original sin." Knowing our own sinfulness, and the limitations and distortions of our knowledge, we humbly try to avoid being so sure of our positions as to reduce our opponents to "caricatures." Humbly, we pray, in reliance on "God's providence." He said, "I was brought to Christ" partly by the example of some Catholics who worked with him in Chicago community organizing and his admiration for the archbishop.
7.....Most of the President's social-concern convictions are in consonance with those of Catholic social action, and he was lavish in his praise of Chicago Catholic social work as he experienced it. Lavish also was his praise of Notre Dame University's long contribution to Catholic and American life. Former President "Father Ted" Hesburgh was present, and Obama celebrated his crucial contribution to what became the 1964 Civil Rights enactment.
8.....Barack Obama's legacy will include his steady determination to be a "common ground" President. An obvious common ground on abortion is to "reduce unwanted pregnancy," and his use of this phrase brought a long ovation.
9.....But "common ground" assumes opposing positions. He will soon announce his recommendation of a Supreme court justice, who will be pro-choice but eager for common ground.
10.....President Obama is a man of prayer and a man who needs our prayers, for his protection in this dangerous world and guidance in this time of multiple troubles.
By
Willis E. Elliott
|
May 18, 2009; 9:31 PM ET
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Posted by: marymack77 | May 31, 2009 8:05 PM
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Yes it was a truly masterful speech which makes it all the more chilling because the fair minded words imply that all that prevents the problem of abortion being solved is a reconciling of cultural difference Magically the word conjuror has made right and wrong evaporate to be replaced by valid viewpoints and civil discourse In the meantime every action the Man of Fairminded words has undertaken has been to support pro abortion initiatives and withdraw funding from pro life measures! I believe there are some issues which you cannot achieve middle ground on because one is right the other is wrong You may understand the sincerity and zeal of those who stand in opposition to what you know to be right but you cannot and should not concede your ground Slavery was one of those issues I am sure there were some abolitionists who had sympathy for those Southern plantation owners who treated their slaves with kindness but it did not and should not have changed their resolve to make slave holding illegal because we know that it is wrong for one member of the human family to be treated as a mere possession of another. Abortion is the same. It is not an issue that can be resolved by consensus and there is no room for choice. Every abortion is a death sentence-the baby gets no cjoice in its fate.Forget the circumstances and remember that you, I and every person reading or posting on this site were once a small collection of cells in a womb-we were allowed to live. Nor can we wash our hands like Pontius Pilate of this issue by saying I personally don't agree with abortion but I won't interfere with another's right to have one-if you do not oppose abortion and you vote in pro choice politicians you are supporting abortion by your indifference.You cannot serve two masters You should not remain lukewarm-there are many ways you can support pro life activities.Slavery was once legal Abortion is now legal if enough good people pray, write to their political leaders, vote for pro life representatives the tide can be turned .Contact Helpers of God's Precious Infants/the Family First Alliance/Priests for Life or Rebecca's Vineyard if you want to be part of peaceful positive efforts to right this wrong.
Posted by: marymack77 | May 26, 2009 8:57 PM
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Please remove my comment containing Presidential quotations I have since learned thes quotations are bogus quotations. I had assumed they were real because they were enclosed in quotation marks in a newspaper article what I did not realise till later was that the article was a satirical one with all quotations pure fiction. I apologise for this error.