Got this posting from Jim Miller. He expresses the point I have been
trying to make the Holly if I can get past his failure to interpret what
is actually being said.
*Barack Obama Will Make A Campaign Speech To School Kids Next Week: *
Michael and Diane Medved are not pleased
<http://townhall.com/columnists/MichaelMedved/2009/09/02/abusing_school_kids_with_pro-obama_propaganda?page=full>.
My wife Diane seldom gets upset about politics. But President
Barack Obama's recent demonstration of megalomania in insisting on
beginning the school year by simultaneously addressing all public
school kids in the United States elicited a concise response: "it's
sick."
In addition to her Ph.D. in psychology, Diane holds an M.A. in
Education, and both primary and secondary teaching credentials in
California. She has raised and educated our three kids, each of
whom received some combination of home schooling, parochial
education, and public schools. What bothers her (and many
courageous teachers across the country) is the crude attempt by the
Department of Education and the White House to blur all distinctions
between education and cult-of-personality propaganda.
How do I know it's a campaign speech, since I haven't read it? By
reading the lesson plan
<http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama%E2%80%99s-Address-to-Students-Across-America-September-8-2009>.
The worst part of the plan is one of the things the students may be
asked to do after the speech:
Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the
president. These would be collected and redistributed at an
appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable
to their goals.
It is legitimate to ask students what they can do to help the country.
It is not legitimate --- in a republic --- to ask students what they
can do to help a particular leader.
(One thing Obama's team seems to have missed: This speech to school
kids will provide a great straight line for many comedians, and some of
those comedians will accept Obama's offer. If you think of a good one,
or hear a good one, let me know about it.)
- 2:49 PM, 2 September 2009
*The White House* is "clarifying"
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/02/wh-withdraws-call-students-help-obama/>
the language in the lesson plan, presumably in order to remove the more
political parts. Most likely, Obama's speech will just be an
interruption of school time, not a full-blown campaign speech.
For amusement, you may want to read about reactions from Democratic
leaders in 1991, when President George H. W. Bush made a speech from a
school
<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/03/flashback-1991-gephardt-called-bushs-speech-students-paid-political-a>.
A few conservatives have said that they would keep their kids out of
school during Obama's speech. That's silly in my opinion; if there is
anything offensive in the speech, it is better to explain that to kids
after they hear it.
- 11:04 AM, 3 September 2009 [link]
<http://www.seanet.com/%7Ejimxc/Politics/September2009_1.html#jrm7790>
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