Instead of succumbing to celebrity and inviting a “cool” President to speak at graduation, perhaps Notre Dame should focus on its core principles. Without its Catholic soul, the University would be relegated to the growing ash-heap of second-rate academic institutions cluttered with self-important academics pedaling their leftist propaganda and politically correct musings.
Someone actually typed that.
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Related to the more general dust-up, I do find it hilarious that these GOP shills object to a new president speaking at Notre Dame. Bloomberg was a vigorous supporter of the war in Iraq and campaigned for Bush in 2004, and he spoke at my "leftist" school. That doesn't mean all of his positions received full university endorsement. It means he spoke and was given an honorary degree. That's it.
Obama is actually a pretty damn popular president. The idea that you have to be in 100% lockstep with Jesus' "teachings" in order to speak at Notre Dame is very sweet and all as an ideological goal, but seems a bit, well, ideological when you realize only 10% of the country thinks abortion should be totally illegal. If they adhered to the K-Lo Doctrine, Notre Dame would only be hearing the opinions of a very small minority of Americans. One might even describe that scenario as one in which the "Catholic soul" of Notre Dame was ensuring that its students were only exposed to "rightwing propaganda"...
