If they disinvite him then the disinvitation becomes the story—the Inquisitorial Catholic bishops leaned on the virtuous, tolerant, academic-freedom-loving marvelous university and Truth died.
The real story, that Obama is a Man of Death, thus gets lost. In the effort to make the point that Obama has sold his soul to the Culture of Death and hence ought not speak at Notre Dame, a disinvitation would end up clouding the real issue and refocusing things on how EEEEEEEEEVVVVVILLLL Catholics are. Not the “good kind of Catholics” at Notre Dame who really are intelligent (and pro-abortion) and had invited him, but those EEEEEEEEVVVVVVILLLLOLLL pro-life Catholic Taliban hacks who hate women.
It’s a no-win situation. If he speaks and gets the degree, the Doug “Catholics-can-vote-for-Obama-he’s-really-a-kind-loving-family-man” Kmiec types get vindicated and Obama rises in stature.
Disinvite him and to most of the country it’s just further proof of how dangerously intolerant Catholics are and how their bishops quash any freedom of inquiry and love of Truth so that they can continue abusing children and forcing raped women to suffer and continue to do the sorts of utterly nefarious things that we, tsk tsk can’t even mention in polite society. Off with their heads.
The latter is better than living in fear of Zero.