OBAMA SPEECH DOES NOTHING FOR ABORTED NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TEAM

May 17 2009

South Bend, IN – It is likely that when President Barack Obama accepted the opportunity to present the commencement address at University of Notre Dame he didn’t expect such a violent response. Met with protests and abdications by graduates, the officially Catholic school’s invitation of the pro-choice President sparked
an uproar the likes of which have rarely been seen in the history of the school. Despite the protests, the President soldiered on with his speech, staying away from promoting abortion or the last two disastrous seasons played by the school’s football team.

Founded in 1842 as an exclusively Catholic school, the religious makeup of the school has changed as competition for tuitions and BCS rankings increased throughout the 20th century. Though the school remains dominantly Catholic and dominantly pro-life the President of the school, Father John Jenkins decided to invite the newest leader of the free world to speak to

the graduating class. Though outside the prestige of having the President of the country speak, it’s not immediately clear why the invite was made though speculation revolves around the recent abortion that has become the football program and a desire to spark some life into the team.

“The Fighting Irish are probably the most revered and respected of college football programs in the country. Aside from just winning and winning, they have long been in the public’s consciousness because of people like Knute Rockne Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger. They
expect to win and that’s exactly what they haven’t been doing the last few years,” said Scrape TV Political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “The politics of the abortion issue aside, the real problem affecting the school has little or nothing to when life begins, except maybe as it pertains to enrolment. The real issue for the school is whether or not they can improve on a 6-6 record because after two losing seasons, they need some good news.”

The religious makeup of the football has been desegregated in recent years, just as the school campus has been but still maintains its Catholic identity in public.

“There are many ways to inspire a football team and no program knows that better than the Fighting Irish. This has to be counted as one of the most unique and it remains to be seen if it will be effective, but at least they are following in the best tradition and making a genuine
effort,” continued Kinsey. “Of course simply calling a football program an abortion and then protesting abortion won’t have a tangible effect on the upcoming season, but the value of inspiration, the kind of X factor, has always been an important thing in sports and at this point they might as well try.”

It’s also seen as highly unlikely that protests at the school, no matter how passionate, will reverse nearly forty years of legal precedence or the widespread acceptance of abortion.         

“As inspiring as the Fighting Irish can be the likelihood of a few protestors changing the mind of the entire country is extremely limited. Say what you want about the President and his policies, he did make it clear that he supported abortion rights before he was elected into office which indicates that the majority of Americans either feel the same or don’t have a significant issue with the procedure. This is one they aren’t likely to win for the Gipper,” continued Kinsey. “Barack Obama had almost 70 million people vote for him in the election and there were about 300 protestors so the gap in support is fairly significant. Hopefully those who are protesting realize the degree of difference between those two numbers and haven’t been wasting their parent’s money.”

It should also be noted that President Obama has been on the record supporting a playoff system to replace the BCS, a move controversial amongst teams with losing records.        

Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent

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