Barack Obamas plan to address school children between K and grade 12 has raised a furor among millions of parents in the nation. But so far the only reason given for the stir it has caused is that Americans don't want politics in the classroom. Are there other reasons and what are they?
Reactions run the gamut but more typically hang on the one of two poles. Those against it generally agree it is not very timely in the light of recent controversies over health care. Those who think its as normal as apple pie say it is about staying in school and the promise of what a better education affords. Both of these answers are but the tip of the iceberg.
The typical reaction across the board is like the one found in Mercury News September 04, 2009. "As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma State Sen. Steve Russell, also a Republican.This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."
The White House has its own answer to the furor and is typified in the answer given by the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. "I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school; I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success."
The Presidents Press Secretary is bound to defend the plan so there is no way to use his reaction to get to the truth. But only a couple of drops of the old oil of common sense are all thats needed to deduce whats bothering the rest of America.
So far the reaction is said to have caused a rushed re-write of the address to exclude some of the initial wording and the essay question may be dropped at least for children in the upper grades.
The polished version which is supposed to be published online by Monday September 7, 2009 will probably do little to quiet the fears of most Americans, but why? Simply put, it is more than fear they are motivated by, but in part is a feeling that they have been recently insulted by both President and White House.
Following recent Townhall gatherings across the nation Americans who protested against Obamas health care proposals were labeled as domestic terrorists, professional protestors, unruly trouble makers and rioters. What stroke of genius is needed to see that after calling citizens by these names they may not want their children drawn aside against their will and addressed by the same contingent that thinks so badly of them? Even the school children about to be addressed might react with a, duh.
The President and his staff seem to be woefully unaware that conservatives can't be glibly labeled as flag wavers and trouble makers without feeling insulted. They have not taken into account that the children of conservatives may not want to be addressed by the same people who have so recently insulted their parents.
Respect for parents is one of those things beyond mere flag waving that is a deep and abiding part of conservatism. After insulting the parents in conservative families now the President wants to line up the children and encourage them? On that level it is clear that the White House is totally unaware that theyve already lost millions of listening ears among those children.
Other fears and objections come from the repetitive references to the President in the speech. According to early reports there are 18 such references. The plan, the agenda the gist of the address is clearly only more of the rhetoric of the Obama campaign even though it is said to be an effort to get kids to stay in school. The agenda superimposed over the alleged purpose of the message is clearly personal and far above mere politics in the eyes of many Americans.
It may not be hard to sell a pop culture kind of President to youth so enamored with todays pop culture society but lets not insult their parents even more than they have already been in recent days. Terms like personality cult, politicization and using the back door approach are not coming from anger alone. These terms are born out of the fruit of the first seven months of the Obama administrations willingness to ignore the will of the people in almost every policy proposal and appointment made since he took office.
Trying to bypass parents to grab some attention or power is insulting enough but it is the essay part of the address that irks parents the most. Where will these essays be stored and how will they be used? Will they be read in the 2012 campaign for Obamas re-election or will they end up in the Obama Presidential library someday? But the real question is; which ones?
They won't all be flattering because school children can not be expected to say only what has been rehearsed. Laura Ingraham of Fox News said she had her daughter well prepped to answer or respond to the address if she needed to but you can believe she is not alone. Not all the children of conservative families will be kept home. What might the essays of these children look like and what of the questions they may raise?
If questions are lobbed back at the Presidents questions what might they ask? Some of those questions could be as follows.
Mr. President, why are you so willing to let unborn children be aborted? If my Mommy gets pregnant will my little brother or sister be aborted too? Would you ask her not to do that?
Mr. President, why have you left so many bills behind for me to pay when I grow up? My parents say that both I and the other kids will owe nine trillion dollars and so far I can only count up to one hundred.
Mr. President, when will you show your birth certificate to people like my mom did so I could go to this nice school? You know the one with my doctors name on it and my footprint. If I get a copy of it can I post it on the internet and be President someday like you did or do I have to show it to the people so they can check it first? I would be glad to come to your house and help you look for your birth certificate if you want me to. Don't forget to look under your bed for it or some place else where you hide things.
Mr. President, why have you or some of your friends called my parents terrorists? Aren't they the people who blew up those two beautiful buildings in New York? My dad says they are very bad people, do you think my parents are bad like them?
Mr. President, when you went to those other countries over there you said America is not a Christian country. My parents said we are. They said that many of the people who came here first and wrote all our laws and our constitution were Christians who love Jesus. Do you love Jesus too? You seem like a very nice man but who should I believe you or my parents?
Mr. President, you asked me what I would do to help you. I saw a picture of you a long time ago before you got to be President and everyone was saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag except you. If you don't know the words I could help you to learn them if you want.
Mr. President, someone said that you think we cling real tight to our Bibles. My dad is very strong and I guess he holds his bible really tight but he says its more important to get the words out of it and put them in his heart so he can love other people. Do you have those words in your heart?
No these are not real questions from real students but if the President does collect millions of essays from American school children it is not hard to imagine that some of them will read like this. What will come of those answers and the questions they may raise? For now it is enough to say that children are without malice but they have the most finely tuned intuition and vision of all of us. Their answers may be generally innocent but watch out for the honesty that only a child can produce, nothing could be more damaging to the ego. The Bible says it another way.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Luke 10:21
http://www.americanprophet.org is the place for news, articles, movie and book reviews and other insights for life. Rev Bresciani is a columnist for online and print publications and has over three million readers and counting.
» left by Marijo Phelps from mountain meadow CO (61 days 7 hours ago.)
Great Points made in this article! Why do we get the feeling day after day that this is all about a man and not about our country? thought the campaigning would mercifully stop once the election was over. Marijo
It does seem like all the speeches and much of the rhetoric are about Barack and not the nation.
I listened to his speech in Ohio today and I heard crowds cheering even as he stretched the truth or covered the real results of his first 8 months in office.
We have seen divisions all around the country, now Americans have been called "silly" on top of all the other names out of the White House of late.
He bragged about the high speed rail, thats the one that goes from Gambling Casinos to Disneyworld. He said he had improved the economy. With a 9 Trill debt looming and the highest unemployment rate in over 25 years he still got applause.
I can't blame him completely because there must be plenty of people who want to hear what he says anyway, it doesn't have to be true as long as it sounds good.
Give me a break. Conservatives are afraid of Obama talking with school children because conservatives are afraid of everything right now.
Obama has a great personal story of overcoming the odds and achieving great things. He offers a message of hope to the outcast and those whom society has stepped on and/or forgotten.
Conservatives on the other hand offer a message of fear. (Need proof? Read your previous articles.)
You and I may disagree on the question of whether Obama's message offers true hope or conservatives only offer fear, but it's clear that when children are given the option to follow hope or follow fear, they will most often choose the path of hope. This scares conservatives silly (quite literally.)
» left by Ted L. Gragg from South Carolina (60 days 23 hours ago.)
It would be interesting to see a birth certificate proving that the man is a native born American citizen. There are many items in the Democratic Party agenda that I as a Christian cannot support, abortion being one of these. Your article is well written, well spoken, and truthful. If the label of conservatism applies to Patriotism, freedom, God, family, and country, then I must be included within that august grouping. Thanks for the inspiration article. Keep telling the truth for many are listening.
Ted, Yes you must be a conservative and for that I am glad.
Anon said "Give me a break. Conservatives are afraid of Obama talking with school children because conservatives are afraid of everything right now." you say.
It is not fear that drives conservatives but a desire for the truth without bias.
Why should a man who admits skipping many classes in his school years, experimenting with cocaine and partying be allowed to address school children on how to handle themselves in school.
Why should a man who has up to this moment blocked anyone from seeing any (and all) of his school records be addressing our children about school and getting grades etc?
Let me say as respectfully as I possibly can to you, Obama's administration is absurd, his school records are hidded and we are still uncertain just where he was really born. I can't speak for others but I'm fairly sure I would not want such a man to speak to my children on any level.
There are too many unknowns, too much uncertainty here.
On what we can know about him the record there is also dismal as in 9 trillion dollars worth of future debt, a health care fiasco that wreaks of socialism and a generally poor job all around for his first 8 months in office.
Who needs fear when we have the record of his Presidency unfolding before our eyes.
Well siid, Reverend. I am in complete agreement. The last thing that America needs is to delve into socialism. We are a democracy, and at least if not a true democracy, then a true republic.
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