Being one of many to watch the Obama speech at Notre Dame, I didn’t know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by the substance of the speeches given by both Obama and his introductory speaker Father Jenkins.

As most of you likely know the highlights, I’ll be brief as possible.  Father Jenkins basic speech was about the fact that the President was very gracious to accept the offer to speak at a university where everyone involved was aware there would be controversy.  Stating very eloquently he spoke of the controversy surrounding the event, reaffirmed the fact that the university & the Church itself differ greatly on the abortion issue from Obama, but noticed one key thing.  That while all the media consistently focused on why Notre Dame had offered the President the speaking engagement, no one really gave serious attention that Obama accepted, knowing the hostile environment.

& of course as Obama is known for, the speech was eloquent, well written, and well said.  He spoke of the need for people with potentially irreconcilable differences to at least enter into dialogues to find common ground to move forward.  He was shouted down a few times from audience members who were booed and quickly removed, but he continued forward.  He admitted the obvious differences in opinions, admitted the controversy.

But he also noted that while those differences are strong, both sides should recognize that no one went into their decisions on where to stand lightly.  & that both he and the church agreed that a reduction in the number of women seeking abortions should be a priority for all of us.

He stated firmly, that the Church itself had views consistent with a very sincere and heart felt view about the sanctity of life, but that the family with a child suffering from childhood diabetes also took a very long and hard look at stem cell research.

He spoke of working with several Chicago churches for improvement projects in the south side of Chicago, noting at the time he wasn’t very reverent.  But during that work, and specifically the passion to do good deeds and the compassion of which the Archbishop displayed, he was moved to begin his own search for the truth.

He urged his audience, that today we are looking at a world that is set with challenges, but those challenges also bring us amazing possibilities.  That this generation will need to help us heal world wide differences and work to restore the ethics we seem to be missing from many aspects of life.

Lastly he spoke about the fact that we need to do this all while maintaining a sense humility. That self righteous indignation might be heart felt, but that we truly don’t know the exact path, so being humble is a requirement.  He spoke about serving others as the highest calling, but since the largest questions we seek are unknowable; we should ensure our doubts temper any indignation.

All of these ideas are well worth thinking about, things for which we should all strive, and very laudable goals.  To help others in our communities and our lives to make things a little better than when we got there.

The only issue I would have with the whole speech is the discussion in reference to humility.

First – I truly believe that any good leader needs humility.  That the ego & confidence it requires to lead people, especially attempting to lead an entire country, should always be tempered with the knowledge that we are all by definition fallible.  And this fallibility should keep us humble and open to others.

The issue is that he doesn’t seem to follow this advice very well.  He did self admit his fallibility of course, but his recent actions ranging from the economy, the bailouts, the firing of CEOs & boards, the new regulations on the environment, the budget, and everything else he seems to demonstrate his firm belief of his correct path, and seems to display little humility in pushing his way towards his vision.

We all have virtues we should be following more closely than we do and this speech might have been highlighting a personal struggle.  However his current actions don’t appear to display a man struggling with humility and failing, but a man that believes in himself to a degree that prevents him from being humble.

As Benjamin Franklin once said when asked about his list of 12 virtues he was trying to perfect in his life time, (paraphrase) “If I ever perfect humility, I feel that being proud of it will negate the virtue.”

I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but regardless of what you believe about Mr. Obama, or whether he is speaking to something he might strive for, but might never attain, I think it’s well worth watching.

Obama’s Speech