Not a peep.
I’d like to see how the right would react if Obama were to repeat Kennedy’s words:
I expect none would actually rise to the challenge, other than as an excuse to bitch and eat donuts.
Our tighty-righty brethren and cistern are confronted with an impossible situation. Despite the fundamental truth that America is a conservative county, the recent election has advanced the cause of Islamo-socialism even unto the White House. This is clearly impossible, and demands an extraordinary explanation. Voter fraud by the perfidious ACORN. Satanists. Socialists. Satanist socialists. The prophesied rise of the AntiReagan.
They are still riffling throught the possible explanatons, there is no clear winner yet. But one thing is certain: they have been robbed. They know, to a fine certainty, that real Americans stand with them, and that real Americans vastly outnumber us pseudo-Americans.
So they are stunned, and confused, and easily frightened. All of the foundations of truth and certainty have been upended, there is no place to stand upon firm ground. I expect that once the President for Life Amendment is passed, they’ll calm down.
Well, maybe not.
There’s a small problem here…my kids don’t start school until September 9th.
Change the channel from SpongeBob for a minute there, wife! The kids got some learnin’ to do!
This truly is a Golden Age of Morons.
So, the President of the United States wants to address school children about the values of education, and to encourage them to work hard during their upcoming school year…and the right-wing wants to not have children be so addressed?
Seriously, who put the peyote in my coffee this morning?
Bush promoted youth volunteerism through an honest-to-goodness “USA Freedom Corps”. Support our troops, rah-rah-rah, run through what was then the White House web site. Still not “indoctrination”, but a hell of a lot closer than a single “stay in school” speech on the television. And no, of course no one went ballistic.
It’s not hard to understand. Obama is a black Democrat in the White House. For that reason it is vital to certain Americans that he fail. For those Americans, this eclipses all else.
No, no, no, no, no. It’s because he’s a black, Kenyan, Socialist, Grandmother-killing (both his own and yours) Liberal with a hotter wife than the peckerwoods can ever imagine, even in their wildest Schaefer-fueled dreams, and a stable, loving family man that sets them off.
No, I understand that, but I still can’t really wrap my head around what’s happening with this. If a liberal elected official had encouraged families to prevent their children from watching a televised Bush speech, the conservatives would have lost their fucking MINDS. They would have insisted that parents respect the office of the presidency if not the president himself.
But it’s okay to encourage children not to listen to Obama, because that shows respect for and loyalty to…?
Hypocrisy, bigotry and headupassedness.
You’re just not factoring in the unstated premise. That being, in their minds Bush deserved to be president but Obama doesn’t. Because he’s…you know…different. Not a real American. Once you swallow that premise, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that disrespecting Obama doesn’t equate to disrespecting the office of the presidency. 'Cause he’s an usurper, dontcha know.
It’s okay for republicans to have double standards; just not anybody else.
Sigh. I’ll offer this up since you seem to be sincere, but then I’m out of here. While much of the right’s concern is overblown to say the least, the people in here are being disingenous.
Nobody is upset at telling kids to stay in school. The concerns are that the lesson plans included telling kids to do things like “write about what they can do to help the president.” More generally, the lesson plans seem to be encouraging kids to view the president as an insipring figure. (And even more generally, it touches on the concern many conservatives have over the fact that the public-school establisment pretty overwhelmingly leans left).
Personally, I don’t have a huge problem with the President addressing kids directly, trying to inspire them to be better citizens. But I’m pretty sure a lot of the people posting in this thread would, if it was 2002.
Well, I was and am sincere about whether or not an elected public official ever encouraged parents to boycott a Bush speech or event. Because, you know, the people posting in this thread aren’t ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS ENCOURAGING PARENTS TO BOYCOTT A SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT. I don’t understand why you can’t see why that’s concerning to me - an elected official encouraging parents and children to actively disrespect the office of the president because of its occupant, when I guaran-damn-tee if the roles were reversed, there would be ranting and raving by Rush and Beck the likes of which we have not yet seen.
And “encourating kids to view the president as an inspiring figure?” Regardless of your opinion of the president, his story IS inspiring - a biracial child from a “broken” home became the leader of the free world. That IS inspiring, is it not?
The elected official encouraging the boycott isn’t focused on the lesson plans, he’s encouraging a boycott of the actual speech itself, so I’m not sure I even buy that argument, frankly.
“Write about what they can do to help the president” is concerning? Why? Really. I remember in elementary school writing mock letters to the president about what we could do to help at that time (Carter’s administration), as part of a lesson on civics and government. Why is this so damn threatening?
And the concern is…? Is there anything they are really concerned about, beyond “He’s a Democrat!” ?
Has anybody already turned in Furt to the White House Enemy List, or do I get first dibs? I already got the toaster oven for ratting out Scylla, but next week its a bottle of Jameson’s…
Uh huh. The speech is about the President’s goal of reducing school drop-out rates. That question refers to how the students can help him reach that specific goal. The question was not some general attempt to get kids to go door-to-door with health reform pamphlets. The lack of respect going on here is disgusting.
Yes, we should make it clear that it is no longer possible for just anybody to grow up to be President anymore.
It looks to me like the “help the president” referred to helping the president reach the goals of lower dropout rates and better academic performance. In other words, “I can help the President by staying in school and studying hard!” But, the context is a little vague in the linked story, so I dunno.
In any case, as the linked article says, schools are free to show or not show the address, and to use or not use the DoE materials. The teacher could, presumably, make up his or her own questions and assignments based off the address.
Except, of course, for the fact that …
Really? The public school establishment that’s run by locally-elected school boards? The establishment that does things like reject the teaching of evolution? The establishment that overwhelmingly favors wealthy suburban schools over inner-city schools? That public school establishment is “liberal”?
Ah, this would be the discussion question that asks “Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything?” I assume? Is this what you’re asking us to believe is the same as “encouraging kids to view the president as an inspiring figure”? Bit of a change in connotation there, don’t you think? A bit, what was that word you used, disingenuous of you, I would say.
Also, I don’t recall anyone on the right being concerned about “encouraging kids to view the president as an inspiring figure” when Clear Channel was putting up “Our Leader” billboards during Bush’s presidency. A cult was built up around that man, but heaven forbid a kind word be spoken of President Obama.