Obama Notre Dame Commencement

My first weekend as the Weekend White House producer for the network was a busy one, with a surprise ambassadorial nomination in the East Room on Saturday, and the highly anticipated (and controversial) commencement speech that President Obama would give at Notre Dame that Sunday.

Obama nominated then-Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. to be his ambassador to China.  A fluent speaker in Mandarin and the father of an adopted Chinese girl, the governor certainly had his qualifications.  But, the most interesting facet of this man from a political standpoint was that he was co-chair for the McCain campaign.  Obama signaled his willingness to work across the aisle, and the governor announced his own readiness to do the same.

Obama would have to reach across the aisle Sunday, speaking at the graduation ceremony at Notre Dame, trying to keep the matter about the students, all the while trying to appease those concerned parties listening on from the abortion debate.

White House correspondent John Yang would cover all the bases in this Weekend Nightly News piece on Saturday.  On Sunday, Yang would travel with the President and file for Nightly from South Bend, Indiana along with correspondent Ron Allen.