Obama's Lesson
Some friends are positively outraged that my school district has decided to prescreen the president's talk to the nation's schoolchildren (and allow parents to opt their kids out) because it might be political rather than educational in nature. They say this action shows "disrespect for the office of the presidency."
They are so upset that they are threatening to take their children out of school that day in protest. Other, more conservative parents are threatening to remove their kids if they do show the speech.
Perhaps if the administration had handled this better (not calling on kids to write essays on how they could "help" him, for instance), there would be no suspicion that this is an attempt to indoctrinate impressionable minds. As it is, Mr. Obama has lost a lot of trust with a lot of people over his first months in office, so he has only himself to blame if nervous administrators treat his address as if it were pornography.
I don't recall any complaints when that same school district allowed Al Gore's alarmist (and blatantly political) global warming flick to be aired in the schools, with no warning at all to parents. (I was fine with my kids seeing An Inconvenient Truth and just discussed it with them later. My daughter thought it was a hoot.)
Nor did I hear any words about the deplorable "disrespect for the office of the presidency" that occurred when George W. Bush occupied the Oval Office. Does anyone on the Democrat side of the aisle recall how he was constantly vilified, in very personal terms? Critics were held up as patriots. To complain about this mild treatment seems a bit thin-skinned, in comparison.
It's kind of ironic now that parents on the right and the left are in an uproar over Obama's speech. My biggest problem with it is simply the waste of educational time and resources it will entail. I'd rather see the kids spend that time on the Three Rs.
posted by Stan Guthrie at 9:57 AM
StanGuthrie.com
2 Comments:
Hi Stan,
As one who was outraged (as you know), I agree that the vilification of Bush was horrendous. I have no defense for the past, and I certainly tried not to participate in such personal attacks.
I'm not sure how Obama has broken trust with anyone except for perhaps the pro-choice crowd, who could be mad that he hasn't signed the Freedom of Choice act like he once said he would, or the gay lobby, since the justice department has defended California's anti-gay marriage initiative. But those aren't the groups upset with him. It's conservatives who seem to resent the idea that the president would be seen in a positive light by their children. The message from the school district was not simply about time during the school day, it was suspicion over a message that had not been "previewed" to determine if it was curricularly appropriate.
I would think it absurd if someone would have reacted as I have were the district to have prevented President Bush from speaking to the school children of America. Obama is making a symbolic statement with his speech and our district is making a symbolic one by rejecting it. It is a sad symbol of division and distrust and I, for one, hope it will one day be healed.
Brian,
Funny how we talk much more by Internet than we do in person--a pity!
I'm glad you didn't participate in the personal attacks against Bush. I think people feel tricked by Obama because he campaigned as a moderate but is spending like a liberal on steroids, and people are scared and are beginning to see him for the politician he is rather than the transcending figure we were promised during the campaign.
I understand--I think--the district's decision not to allow classroom time to be politicized. I believe the president was attempting to do this subtly, but I figure at this point he'll play it right down the middle. We always have a response from the other party when the president speaks, but there would be no response in this case, so perhaps that is the problem.
It is too bad we cannot have the president speak to students without controversy, but we live in a highly politicized culture now, as you know.
Stan
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