I never realized but it has been a tradition since John F. Kennedy that newly elected US Presidents accept the invitation of the University of Notre Dame to speak at commencement. The Catholic hierarchy is dead set against President Obama speaking this year. They don't feel he embodies the attributes and values that a commencement speaker at a Catholic college should have.
I think President Obama should decline the invitation of Notre Dame. There are plenty of places that would like him to speak. Notre Dame was never prestigious as an academic institution. They were a big football school but not even that, anymore. It seems to me that it would be a sign of sensitivity to the differing sensibilities of others for him to decline and not something he could be faulted for. I can't imagine he really cares about speaking there.
He could speak at the U of Hawaii commencement. He and the girls could get in a little beach time. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh or Laura Schlessinger would be glad to speak at Notre Dame. I don't think either one of them is Catholic, so it would be kind of ecumenical. Talk radio hosts are more their speed at ND and they have the preferred moral persuasions. They could also get almost any Catholic prelate they wanted or perhaps a nice Abbess or Mother Superior, to prove they aren't sexist.
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