Notre Dame's President, Fr. John Jenkins, betrayed Notre Dame's mission when he chose to honor Barack Obama by giving him an honorary law degree. Law exists to protect human rights but Obama has admitted that he does not know when a child receives human rights. How can he defend human rights when he does not know who has them? The harvesting of stem cells from babies to extend life in someone else is evidence that life has begun at conception. Obama should neither be at Notre Dame or in the White House.

Listening to Obama's speech at Notre Dame it is clear that he is attempting to sell his ideals much as a traveling medicine show salesman tries to sell his concoctions without regard to their worth or properties. The message that Obama delivered in his speech at Notre Dame was that Pro-life is the extremist position, not a moral position. Yet he says that we should compromise and work to reduce abortions. I ask: Where is the compromise between life and death? Where is the middle ground between good and evil? Where is the compromise between killing and birth? Why should we work to reduce the number of abortions if there is nothing wrong with them? I think Obama is selling Snake Oil.

According to Obama it is perfectly acceptable to put to death a child who somehow survives the abortion procedure. As an Illinois state senator Obama voted three times for infanticide. The Illinois law says if a baby intended to be aborted is born alive, you have to let it die. Obama's position in the Illinois legislature debate is that a baby that survives an abortion is fair game to be killed (Transcript of debate in the Illinois legislature). Beginning on page 31 of the Illinois transcript, Obama argues that he was not concerned about the child. Instead, he was concerned over what liabilities the doctor might have in this situation. Obama is more concerned over a charlatan doctor who would somehow continue to think that the baby is nonviable although there is movement or some indication that the babies are not just coming out limp and dead.

Obama wants passage of a law making it illegal for any doctor to refuse to perform an abortion no matter what the doctor's religious belief or moral objections may be. Will Obama next want passage of a law making it legal for government enforced euthanasia for the weak, the old, the incapacitated and the undesirable? Catholics around the world need to dedicate their lives to a shared mission to end legalized abortion-on-demand. Especially when you consider that many Catholics do not have a problem with Obama being at Notre Dame or in the White House selling his Snake Oil.