Obama’s National Public School Address
I was as alarmed as any by the news that Obama will be speaking to our school children. In fact, I sent out quite an alarmist email to people on my personal list when I saw the ridiculous video available at this link http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/02/i-pledge-to-be-of-service-to-barack-obama/ and thought it was actually part of what would be broadcast in all the schools (it is bad enough that some idiot in Utah chose to show it.)
However, I have since learned that the video in the above story is not part of Obama’s plan for Sept 8th.
I’m not saying I’m completely happy about his address to students. I’m not. But at this time, after calming down, I’m willing to see the good as well as the bad. With low grades and high dropout rates, it is important for kids in public schools to get the message from any and everywhere that school and good study habits are important.
More info about the actual plans, including links to details about the suggested activities for specific age groups can be found here.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/
From what I understand, this has changed somewhat. An earlier addition had more questions for children about how they can help the president. I think much of this has been reworked so that it doesn’t make it sound like kids are being asked to be servants to the president. More on that servitude point later.
Some have also been saying this is unprecedented. Unfortunately, some Googling reveals that H.W. Bush and Reagan both gave such national addresses. I’m not sure about Clinton or W. If you spend enough time searching, you’ll probably find it.
I found a summary of news surrounding the first Bush address here:
http://volokh.com/posts/1252117357.shtml#contact
Liberals, of course are bashing Conservatives for “over reacting”. Well, they may want to look back at the Democratic reaction over Bush’s address:
Still, on the surface, I find it very understandable that many Liberals, Moderates, or even Conservatives who may not be up on all the news, would simply not see why Conservatives should mind the President giving a speech to students about the importance of school work. But, those individuals, including the fair minded Liberals (I know you’re out there) will also want to consider a couple other things before writing Conservatives off as having gone over the deep end.
First, there was no such charismatic “worship” of Bush when he made his address as we have with Obama. I believe it rightly makes American’s worried when people are pledging allegiance to an individual as is happening with Obama. Not only is that not an “American” thing to do but it should never be an American thing to do. This afternoon, as it happens, brought a great example. Myself and over 100 other (I’m not sure of the exact number but someone told me when it passed 100 and was still growing) were outside Old Coney this afternoon to protest the pending Healthcare Reform bill and general government growth and over spending while President Obama showed up to speak to the AFL-CIO. While there, our favorite counter-protester dating back to the March 15th event, oft referred to as the “Obama Lady”, showed up. At some point, while she was there, someone with a bullhorn would say “We are”, and the crowd would finish the sentence as “America”. But, the “Obama lady” (sorry I don’t know her real name.) would say, “Obama”. So, there we are. We’re saying “We are America”, and she’s essentially saying “We are Obama”. In my view, it is just not a good situation when people put so much faith and loyalty in a single individual. This is not something we want encouraged in our children.
Secondly, in my opinion, the level of the current reaction would never have happened if the “I Pledge” video had not also surfaced at about the same time leading many people to conclude this was part of the address planned for all students. Most of the emails I have seen have been over the outrage at the idea of this video being shown. So, if you’re going to make the point, as so many blogs have, that Conservatives are not being intellectually honest since they didn’t raise a stink over Bush making such a speech, then you should also be intellectually honest and admit that you’d have thrown a fit if an “I Pledge” video featuring Bush had been produced and you thought it was going to be shown to your kids.
I, personally, respect the right and will of parents to keep their kids home if they don’t feel comfortable with having them addressed directly by Obama. And, I promise to feel the same way the next time a Republican is president if he or she does the same thing. Though, I hope for a less divisive time at some point in the future.
Okay… now… regardless of who did this before, or how we have reacted, what does the law say? A friend of mine sent me the following legal reference.
Federal law
(20 U.S.C. § 3403 http://www.lc.org/media/9980/attachments/20_usc_3403_090409.pdf) specifically prohibits the President, education secretary or any officer from implementing “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school or school system.
While not a lawyer, it seems to me all Presidents making such addresses are walking a thin line here. I suppose the key is that watching the program is not mandated (i.e. directed or controlled). And, the school activities “suggested” by the department of education to be completed after the address, similarly follow that same fine line. That said, I wonder if there is a case to be made that it is “direction” if not “control”. If there is no legal difference, why are both “direction” and “control” mentioned in the law? “Direction” can be defined as “guidance: something that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action” according to worldnetweb.princeton.edu. Something to think about…
More about the “I pledge” video:
Since I have mentioned that the video is “ridiculous,” I figured I should preempt some comments and back that up with more commentary of my own. I have already spoken about the fact that the vid by Moore and Kutcher (and assorted other celebs I’ll never pay to see) features pledges to serve and be a servant to Obama. That, itself, is outrageous from an American perspective. It is further ridiculous to imply that, now that Obama is president, people are NOW free to pledge to be nice, to be a good parent, help children, to not flip people off in traffic, etc. Would these people all be being mean jerks if anyone other than Obama won? What if Hillary was President? Would they just give up and be hateful, wasteful, and generally bad? And, no, my dear detractors, I’m not missing the point. It’s great to encourage people to be good and do good things. But, if this was just about encouraging people to turn over a new leaf and be better people, they wouldn’t have needed to feature Obama in the video, or make pledges to him, to do so.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
George W. Bush’s required Loyalty Oath, required to be signed before being admitted to his appearances & addresses:
http://www.slate.com/id/2108852/
Justice Department employees & appointees required to take personal loyalty oath to George W. Bush:
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/justice_ig_report.php
More on Bush’s cult of personality & loyalty demands:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/01/judge-shoots-do.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-bush-protesters_x.htm
http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/4542/
There has never been a bigger cult of personality within a political party than the ones who worshipped at the Altar of Bush, a place where Brian has worshiped himself.
Brian’s rank hypocrisy knows no bounds.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
PS-Nice job of quoting from some of the most biased, reprehensible right wing hate sites in your post Brian. You’re a true red wingnut through & through.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Sorry i think the whole ‘OH NOT THE PRESIDENT WILL BE TALKING TO OUR CHILDREN” hysteria was very overboard.
I can’t belive that you had to “google” to find out that other presidents had done such things in the past.
And quite truthfully for those who have totally gone over the deep end. If for your own stupidity on this subject you keep your child home from school. Ypur child should be given a BIG RED “F” for the day.
September 8th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Brian: Try not using Michelle Malkin as a credible source of information. Most of us have known this for years.
As for your “history lesson” Re: Dick Gephardt, I don’t remember any liberals claiming that Bush was trying to indoctrinate children into his Socialist and Communist ideology, let alone even advocating a mass withdrawal of their students from class for that event.
When I was in school we watched the Space Shuttles take off on TV. Does that mean that NASA was unfairly advertising a priority of space-flight research into our heads?
I also watched the “normal news” in school when the Berlin Wall came down, rhetoric and all. Likewise, when the Soviet Union fell we watched as well (again, on the TV news). I’ve watched all of the presidents give televised addresses in my schools.
If criticism of the president addressing students in schools is all you have, then you truly have nothing.
September 8th, 2009 at 7:15 am
George W. Bush’s required Loyalty Oath, required to be signed before being admitted to his appearances & addresses:
(type http then)www.slate.com/id/2108852/
Justice Department employees & appointees required to take personal loyalty oath to George W. Bush:
(type http then)matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/justice_ig_report.php
More on Bush’s cult of personality & loyalty demands:
(type http then)blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/01/judge-shoots-do.html
(type http then)www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-bush-protesters_x.htm
(type http then)www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/4542/
There has never been a bigger cult of personality within a political party than the ones who worshipped at the Altar of Bush, a place where Brian has worshiped himself.
Brian’s rank hypocrisy knows no bounds.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Chuck and Coleman
1) The Michelle Malkin site, regardless of what you think of her credibility, was just shown to provide the “I pledge” vid that people have been updset about.
2) The other sites linked are all just sites, as mentioned in my post, that came up when I did Google searches about past presidents addresses to school children. But, if you want to use the typical tactic of attacking sources instead of ideas, that’s up to you.
3) There’s no way you can seriously compare the Bush “cult of personality” to the Obama “cult of personality”
4) You seem to be completely missing most of the points about how both sides have thrown fits over such things.. but that’s okay… at least you guys are consistent.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Actually… just had to come back to this for another minute. I mean seriously… I admitted to originally being too alarmist about this and then coming back to try to see the other side.. Then gave an honest view into why Conservatives are reacting as we are and all you guys can do is get confrontational and call me names?
I’m more than happy to let other readers of this blog decide who is or isn’t trying to be fair minded and who is or isn’t testing the bounds of hypocrisy.
Oh.. one final point specifically for Chuck. I never ever ever worshipped Bush or even liked him very much (btw: it was the first Bush who was referenced in my post). As I have explained before, I supported W because, and only because, he was the least worst of two candidates (twice). As you would notice, if you were paying a little more attention, a major impetus for the Tea Parties is that we are sick of never really having a good choice to vote for instead of just having to vote against someone.
Meanwhile, I’ll thank you not to make presumptions about, nor lie about, whom or what I worship. You don’t know me that well.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Will,
If you read my post, you’ll find that I agree with you that it got a bit carried away and I try to explain part of why that is.
Second, I had to Google what past presidents did in this regard because I didn’t always have time to pay attention to politics. Things weren’t easy for me (part by family circumstance and part of my own making) so I was quite busy for several years working my way through college. Even when that was done, I admit I didn’t pay as much attention to politics as I should have. I, like many, was always either in denial or was optimistic that people in government wouldn’t let things get too bad. Then I thought I could just count on those who said they were conservatives (usually so called Republicans). Ha… Lesson learned.
Do I get no credit for not just being alarmist and having it even occur to me that it may have been done before and wasn’t just some new “Obama plot”?
September 8th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Okay, back from … well… life… the better parts.
Anyway I wanted to get back to Chuck on the bit in his post above about the Bush pledges. Yeah.. I agree. That was kinda creepy. I mean, I can understand either party screening people going into an event that is intended to be a “private” partisan rally… but a general oath of personal loyalty doesn’t sit well with me. We need to care about what we think is best for the country.. not what is best just according to one man. What if that man goes wrong as Bush did and Obama is doing now? Not good.
That being the case, I still don’t think you can honestly tell me that you think the personal loyalty factor for Bush ever approached anything near the phenom that is Obama.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
So, I’m guessing that with all the condemnation of the Conservatives who have raised a stink, those of you on that side will have no problem saying the following was wrong of the Dems at the time?
“Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush’s appearance.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html
Just found this link on Drudge.. one of those evil Conservative sites where facts aren’t facts even if they are in the public record.
Keep in mind… I never, in my post, said that it was illegal of Obama to do what he is doing. I explained the concerns of Conservatives, at least in my view, and I raised the legal question that would apply to all presidents (not just Obama) who have taken or will take such actions.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Defensive much Brian?
And your right for a change: There is no way you can seriously compare the Bush “cult of personality” to the Obama “cult of personality”. One doesn’t exist and one is well documented history. See my links.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Let’s not forget that gun-brandishing maniacs were allowed to show up at town hall events hosted by democrats.
In the Bush years, wearing a T-shirt that even vaguely seemed critical of the administration would get you hauled away from an event. The original implementation of the USA-PATRIOT Act under the Bush administration included provisions encouraging citizens to spy on their neighbors, utility workers, pedestrians, small businessmen, and others and report any vaguely specified “suspicious behavior” to a 1-800 number.
More recently, Rep. Jean Schmidt attempted to have the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office prevent a group of Health Care supporters from delivering to her office a stack of signatures in support of the president’s health care agenda.
In addition to that, she revived the “birth certificate conspiracy” again, this weekend, at your event.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Brain appears to be a certified right wing conspiracy theorist. Well it looks like he’s not alone as Mean Jean Schmidt was caught on camera at the TP rally admitting that she is a birther:
(http:// plus)tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/rep-jean-schmidt-tells-birther-i-agree-with-you.php?ref=fpb
The best part of this video is that near the end we see none other than right wing extremist sheriff Richard Jones lounging amongst the TP’ers and their republican sycophants. Jones is a TP’er. How is it possible to believe a word that Jones utters regarding the attendance at the TP rally?
Here’s some background about Jone’s background:
(http:// plus) http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/richard-k-jones