Steele: No degree for Obama

RNC chairman Michael Steele said today that Notre Dame should not confer an honorary degree on President Obama when he speaks at the school’s commencement today.

A degree would indicate support for the President’s pro-choice policies, said Steele, a Catholic himself.

“I think it’s inappropriate,” Steele said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “The president should speak, but the degree should not be conferred.”

Virginia Gov. Tim Kain (D), chairman of the DNC, said the Democratic party’s policies would help reduce abortions.

“Our party stands for, let’s reduce unintended pregnancies, let’s reduce abortions. But we don’t have to criminalize the choices that women make or that their doctors make to do so,” said Kaine, also a Catholic whose family members have graduated from Notre Dame.