Blog Number 1

The article that I read is Barack Obama speaks at Notre Dame, calls for 'fair-minded words' by Carol E. Lee - which can be found at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22611.html. Briefly this article is about how both sides of the abortion argument are never going to see eye to eye, Obama stated that there must be a more respectful tone on the issue, marked by “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words.”

While reading this article I came across a few things that I didn't fully understand. One thing that i didn't understand is when the article talked about people disappointment that Obama has ignored, "lifting the ban on federal funding for overseas clinics that offer abortion counseling and reversing the Bush administration’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell" What i don't understand about this is how is Obama able to do this or responsible for doing this when it is outside his jurisdiction. I know that he has a say when dealing with oversea affairs, but I feel like this is a little out of his duties almost. Also I know that there is a very close relationship between stem cell research and abortion, but I think that they must keep the things as separate as possible otherwise the argument gets messy. Perhaps my opinion and confusion shows my ignorance, but I'm pretty familiar with the argument of abortion/stem cell research and i don't know what the people expect for Obama to do... you cant make everyone happy!!!

That also brings me to wonder why the critics that were mentioned in the article tend to nag at the way that Obama went around his commencement at the catholic school. They said that he just restated peoples opinions making them think that he agreed with them. If he has stated his side and believes that people should be more respectful of the issue, what do people truly want from the president? I guess my confusion lies in why people are so judgemental, and wont let things be, especially when there is no solution for something as controversial as abortion!