Yes, it is. As I said, I don’t have a problem with it.
To me, in general, it’s not. If the speech ends up talking about healthcare or global warming, it might be. If it had been Bush talking to kids about Terrorism, it would have bothered many on the left.
Since the planned text of the speech was not released, the easily-excited types were easily excited. It probably would have been a good idea to announce this earlier, and to release the text of the speech. It is unprecedented, and the reaction among the reactionaries was forseeable.
You think the answer to this, rather than to call the reactionaries on their utter lunacy, is for Obama to release text of speeches so that the reactionaries can pre-approve his words?
Oh, bullshit. Ronald Reagan gave a national address to schoolchildren in the United States in 1988. He praised the “moral vision” of the Founding Fathers and American economic policies, and he took questions on gun control during a Q&A afterwards. Here.
But we can’t have Obama “indoctrinating” school kids. That’s “unprecedented”.
I’m sorry you feel that way, because I’m not searching for an argument. I’m searching for a statement about why this reaction is not being called out for the utter lunacy that it is.
As you have already seen, previous presidents have given speeches to schoolchildren, so this is not exactly unprecedented. Releasing text so that the lunatics will be less likely to be lunatics is pandering to their lunacy, and is not the answer. The answer, I believe (YMMV, obviously), is to say to the lunatics “The President of the United States is giving an address to children, and you will respect the office of the presidency if not the holder.” You know, the same kind of thing that would have been said had the tables been turned.
Why, seriously, are there no public statements by national Republican leaders to address this disrespect?
On October 1, 1991, George H. W. Bush pitches his education plan in a speech broadcast to school classrooms nationwide: http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002099/
With a little luck, some of these lunatics will die of apoplexy each time Obama gives a speech.
That will cause America to become a better place for the rest of us to live.
The White House has had to rewrite some of the script because of the flap. Obama was originallygoing to ask kids to “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.”
If the President has this much free time I would urge him to write a letter to himself describing how he’s going to fix the financial crisis.
It takes an incredible amount of hubris for a President to think the educational system is better served by listening to his words of wisdom rather than focusing on the curriculum he’s interrupting.
It must take an astounding amount of cognitive dissonance to say this about Obama without even acknowledging the two differerent Republican presidents that did the same thing that have already been mentioned in this very thread.
How much, though? An hour, an hour and a half, maybe, on both his and the kids’ parts (and honestly, I think an hour and a half listening to the President presents all sorts of learning opportunities, so it’s not like the time is wasted)? Some time by some speechwriter (whose job, you’ll admit, is only partly related to actually running the country)?
If an hour and a half is that important to solving the nation’s problems, he can make up for it by going to bed at 1:30 am instead of midnight (or whatever).
The answer is that you should have done then what we’re doing now.
Of course you back the guy when it’s your guy. And of course the other side backs their guy when it’s their guy. And since we know that, there should be outright disrespect for the office of the presidency: he should be tirelessly scrutinized and routinely derided precisely because Republicans will claim otherwise when it’s their guy in office, just like Democrats now claim otherwise for their guy.
It’s all too easy for a man in that position to get deference while cloaked in authority; you’re demonstrating it right there, with a knee-jerk YOU WILL RESPECT THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY. Bush shouldn’t have gotten that; Obama shouldn’t get that; the right is trying to stop Obama from getting that; where were you when the tables were turned?
“The curricullum he’s interrupting”??? The President of the United States is addressing the children of the country he has been elected to be the leader of, and as a leader might do, encourage them to stay in school and work hard , which can only make this a better country. By his particular complexion, and achievement, this address might hit home with more kids than usual, who can see that, yes, it is possible for everyone in the US to be included in that upward mobility. Go ahead.
This is really the point of shaking my head, off the wall craziness with the reactionary faction against Obama. I can’t imagine what weird boogeymen would occupy space in the skullbones of anyone who would be against a Presidential address to encourage kids to succeed in school.