Monday, March 30, 2009

Obama at Notre Dame - Kenneth Woodward's take

Interesting and useful column in today's Washington Post about the controversy surrounding President Obama's commencement speech and honorary degree bestowal at Notre Dame in May. I especially like the last paragraph's allusion to John F. Kennedy's 1960 candidacy; Woodward gives it a nice turn in connecting it to the ND controversy. Kennedy addressed the "religious question" in his speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. Obama's situation, however, will be more like former first lady Barbara Bush's commencement address at Wellesley in 1990, when students opposed Bush as too traditional and not representative of Wellesley women. Bush's speech, which was ultimately very well received, can be found here.