Obama's Speech at Notre Dame

The New York Times has the text of Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame while the National Catholic Register has the text of Obama's honorary degree. The part of the address dealing with life issues is on the 2nd and 3rd pages.

That's when we begin to say, "Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let's reduce unintended pregnancies. (Applause.) Let's make adoption more available. (Applause.) Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. (Applause.) Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women." Those are things we can do. (Applause.)

Not surprisingly, there’s no mention of President Obama’s preference for tax-funded abortions, his votes to keep partial-birth abortions legal, his votes against Illinois’ legislatures attempts to provide basic rights to infants who survive abortions, his complete removal of Bush’s conscience clause regulations, and his order to restore international family planning funding to organizations who provide and promote abortions overseas.

Nor was there any discussion of why abortion is a “heart-wrenching decision” which is “not made casually” and has “moral and spiritual dimensions.” Providing more details about these assertions might actually help the listener form a more substantive idea of what President Obama is talking about. He certainly wouldn’t want that.

Obama’s brilliance is that he understands how lazy the average American voter is. He knows he can say things which contradict the positions he’s taken as an elected official along with the promises he’s made to pro-choice groups and most people won’t realize these deceptions. He knows his nice-sounding rhetoric will get much more air time and print space than his actions.