Obama's Notre Dame Speech Strikes 'Forceful Blow' Against Culture Wars, Washington Post Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Abortion;  Public Health
Article Date: 20 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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President Obama during his speech at Notre Dame, "fought back" antiabortion-rights protesters "not with harsh words but with the most devastating weapons in his political arsenal: a call for 'open hearts,' 'open minds,' 'fair-minded words' and a search for 'common ground,'" Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes. Dionne continues that as "Obama's opponents seek to reignite the culture wars," the president has "refused to join" and instead "opted for humility." Dionne writes that Obama "did all this without skirting the abortion question and without flinching from the 'controversy surrounding my visit here.'" In what might have been Obama's "most radical and the most conservative speech of his presidency," he "[a]cknowledg[ed] the Roman Catholic Church's role in supporting his early community organizing work," while drawing "on the resources of Catholic social thought" that "combines opposition to abortion with a sharp critique of economic injustice and thus doesn't squeeze into the round holes of contemporary ideology," according to Dionne.

In his speech, Obama "tried to undo mistakes made early in his administration, making clearer, for example, that his revisions of an earlier Bush executive order on the rights of health professionals would continue to 'honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion,'" Dionne continues. In addition, Obama "paid more respect to opponents of stem cell research -- he spoke of their 'admirable conviction about the sacredness of life' -- than he had in his original announcement altering Bush's policies," Dionne writes. He adds that on the issue of abortion rights, "Obama endorsed a broad agenda: 'Let's reduce unintended pregnancies. Let's make adoption more available. Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term.'"

However, it "was hard to square that message with the rage directed toward Obama" and Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, by their opponents, Dionne says. "By facing their arguments head-on and by demonstrating his attentiveness to Catholic concerns, Obama strengthened moderate and liberal forces inside the church itself," according to Dionne. He concludes, "He also struck a forceful blow against those who would keep the nation mired in culture-war politics without end. Obama's opponents on the Catholic right placed a large bet on his Notre Dame visit. And they lost" (Dionne, Washington Post, 5/18).

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