Bob CollinsHe came. He spoke. He got heckled. Months of controversy over Notre Dame’s decision to invite Barack Obama as its commencement speaker ended today with a small group of hecklers interrupting the president.
He then asked a good question.
Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?
For the most, we don’t. But that’s beside the point of the protest, according to John Kass of the Chicago Tribune, for the problem wasn’t that Obama was asked to speak, it was that he was given an honorary degree, he says.
