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Obama urges kids to pay attention in school

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“It’s a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an “Animal House” food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school, to work hard, to engage parents to stay involved, and to ensure that the millions of teachers that are making great sacrifices continue to be the best in the world,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. “It’s a sad state of affairs.”

I agree Robert. < :-)

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same group of morons who said that christmas was under attack. It just never stops with the palin crowd. They need to constantly remind themselves of what victims they think they are and of course the shock jock radio haters feed that paranoia.

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Is this just a few talking heads that supposedly are the voice of the GOP or is this really how the masses of republicans feel? < :-)

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I'm sorry but I just don't understand how anyone could be against this.

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What an absolute disgrace. First the American people were dumb enough to put a commie into the White House and they welcome this same follower of Muhammad into America's classrooms to talk about subversive issues such as "paying attention." Rush Limbaugh help us all! What ever happened to just helping America's children with their spelling like former Vice President Dan Quail or reading them a story like "The Pet Goat."

If this zealousness continues in 4 years time the unthinkable might occur, can you imagine a country in which there was no child left behind?

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You should only encourage the positive.

I see this as a form of do as I say, not as I do. What are Obama's grades?

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How many times has a non-white kid in south central or Harlem or Detroit looked up at a podium to see some old white guy who did not do jack with his life exhorting youngsters to try harder. Impact is invariably zero.

Now you get a Harvard Law grad with a nice marriage and nice children... the head of what appears to be an international movement of renewal and hope...and he happens to be non-white. WOW!!! And he is not just talking to the brothers, he is talking to the children. There is someone who looks like me telling me that I can do better if I just pay attention. Impact is invariably not zero.

What could possibly be the problem with this?

The conservative extreme will be shouted down less and less for their spew. My prediction is that this kind of petty negativity will be remembered during mid term elections. It steels the libs and it degrades any legitimacy the cons have left. They are counting on there being millions of suffering Americans by that time. They will be wrong. And they will find that they will lose more and more voters because they will be the negative party. They have apparently abandoned everything else but negativity.

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Badsey: "I see this as a form of do as I say, not as I do. What are Obama's grades?"

Higher than yours, evidently.

This is an example of an authority figure suggesting kids pay attention to their studies, it's not some dictatorial command, as people like you would like others to think. My god... people are against a president giving good advice to kids? Americans are in worse trouble than they think.

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with what the president said, and he is 100% correct -- the children are going to decide their future. Only freaks who have been completely brainwashed by uneducated disc-jockeys could be against this.

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Sounds like gentle coersion. A little brainwashing to remind the kids that if they get out in the community and do work it`s less for the politicians to do in the end. He should have told them to stay focused in school and to not worry about violence, corruption, racism, poverty, unemployment, being malnourished, starving, their parents losing shelter and savings etc. etc. etc. because the big boys in Washington are the ones responsible to sort these ongoing problems out.

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Nothing wrong at all with this speech of Obama's. The revision was adequate...

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I don't even like Obama and I don't see what all the fuss is about. He's not telling them to suit up and head to the front lines overseas, he's telling them to do well in school. What is the problem here?

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He's not telling them to suit up and head to the front lines overseas

No that is the outline of next year's speech, you are getting ahead of yourself dear!!!

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Obama is trying to build a cult of personality around himself like Kim Jong Il. Listen to Dear Leader Obama, do what he says.

We should also be wary of those other guys who get up in front of our kids and try to brainwash them with thought control - "teachers"

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What if it turns out the youth think Mr Obama is just another boring adult telling em what to do and not Superman afterall?Nobody thought of that,did they?No,only me.

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Americans- the only people in the world who complain about someone encouraging their kids to study in school.

Would you rather they were killing each other or prostituting themselves?

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That' right. It's the job of parents to encourage kids to stay in school. Obama should address them not the kids directly.

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How many times has a non-white kid in south central or Harlem or Detroit" So nice of the poster here to forget all of us other NON-black minorities. That's one of the problems with you people.

I hope you are feeling the same when one of us take the helm. At least we would have one who can speak what 1/4 of the US population (and almost half of Cali) speaks.

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That's one of the problems with you people.

Comment of the month!

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Seems the issue is dying down. Many early critics like Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer and Newt Gingrich are now backtracking and letting their kids watch the Presidential speech.

Even some GOP radio hosts admit it should've been a non-issue in the first place, that the speech's encouraging personal responsibility --to fail or succeed and make lots of money on your own merit-- is a GOP tenet, that the premature bruhaha was silly and instead undermined when true disagreements exist (i.e. if you cry "wolf" every time, the public will stop listening to you when a real wolf actually shows up).

Newt Gingrich also mentioned that back in George H.W. Bush Sr's school speech, Bush also asked the students how they can help the President. This is no different than your sports heroes and PSAs talking about staying in school. (The more you know... GI JOE!)

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I don't have a problem with a president addressing kids about education. It was the original lesson plan that was to be handed out with it and the idea of the DOE trying to force schools to show a speech by anyone.

The question now is how much of the speech was changed from its original version before people began protesting? No one will never know since Mr. Transparent didn't release it along with those that lesson plan.

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Only thing is I worry a little about is the day this year or next when an American child firsts get to the section of their history or social studies books that explain how racist America is and how much more progressive Sweden,Canada or Bolivia and Venezuela are.How does a good teacher explain that yes,we have a black president who has an Arabic middle name and who lived in Indonesia for 4 years as a child and had a pastor whose shouts of "Goddamn America!" from the lectern were taken out of context and used as smears against him but STILL went on to get 53 percent of the popular vote.

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I don't think the US Dept of Education can even force any school to show even a Presidential speech (private schools it's obvious, but even US public schools are mostly the jurisdiction of their own local districts). The DOE have always emphasized it's optional. Nobody was complaining about that - the issues were always about the possible contents and which schools would decide not to show it. As been mentioned, Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr had done these speeches before, so everybody already knows the procedure and what the DOE can or cannot do.

As for releasing the original version, there's no point. If they release an "original" version and how close it is to the final version, nobody would still believe them regardless. We'll just have to take it for what the final turned out to be. If the "original" had been the final and was as bad as some people thought it be, then Obama would've faced the consequences. But as of what it is, it's much ado about nothing.

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There's absolutely nothing wrong with Obama's speech (Yes even the original version before changes were made, RR).

How anyone could find anything even remotely wrong or sinister in telling kids to work hard in school, and respect the opportunities a good education offers is unfathomable. “Cult of personality,” my behind.

Wasn’t it Conservatives who constantly lamented public schools as being hippie-run socialist indoctrination camps, aspiring to mediocrity and molly-coddling the students with feel-good kumbaya sentiment?

Wasn't it the Republican Party that rallied behind "No Child Left Behind," with the War Cry of "Accountability!" on the lips of any who would support the program, demanding teachers and students be held to high standards, a goal somehow best achieved via proficiency exam-based salary and funding determinations?

Wasn’t it Conservatives who constantly hammered schools and parents in inner-cities for not being more involved in the education process, lambasting Affirmative Action with tired exhortations about those damned “bootstraps” they like to go on about?

Wasn’t it Conservatives who wanted the Ten Commandments at the entrance of every school, in an attempt to bolster student morality, and remind all Americans of our supposed roots? Oh, wait. Was that the message? I forget if it was that or if it was a reminder of our embarrassingly frequent propensity to spit on that “damned piece of paper” we founded our nation on.

And now, when Barrack Obama sends a message to our kids to be all they can be in a way that doesn’t just involve suiting up and heading to the front, Conservative throw a hissy fit?

Are they angry because they didn’t think of first when their guy had TWO whole terms to address education emphatically? Or are they pissed because so many American agree with the message, despite the best efforts of Conservatives to hamper, blockade, and eviscerate meaningful education reform over the past 30 years?

OR -- the more likely scenario -- is this just another tired case of Conservative hypocrisy and overreacting with political bile to anything and everything Obama says because they still haven't come to grips with the reality that their guy lost to, yes, the better man?

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Fine. Let the kids of arrogant, rich, white Conservatives who favor letting the public school system go down the sewer, along with the public it serves, skip the speech. They've got their "planned communities," after all.

Go ahead. Stay home, boys and girls. No need to apply yourselves. A quick phone call from mom or dad, or whatever relative feeds money into the Alumni Association should be more than enough to make up for your lack of ambition.

You kids obviously don’t need the pep talk though, since predominantly white schools still enjoy a 25 to 30-point advantage over their minority-heavy counterparts in math and reading scores across the board - despite the supposed genius of NCLB. But hey, affirmative action isn't necessary anymore, right?

Let the kids in poorer neighborhoods, where quality teachers and tax dollars are steadily being siphoned away to rich white suburbs, revel in the salient message of this speech: “Try harder. Act responsibly towards your education. Hold yourself to higher standards. Be a part of a better America. No one’s going to do the heavy lifting for you – unless you’ve got those hook-ups I was talking about earlier.”

Okay, you got me; Obama didn't say that part. But a lot of Conservatives sure believe it . . .

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seijichuudo9sha,

How does a good teacher explain that yes,we have a black president . . .

Oh, so glib and cute. That you can't figure out the answer to this question yourself speaks volumes about why you probably shouldn't seek a career in education.

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Hey LFR again,I think you misunderstand me.Thanks to Howard Zinn and other modern historians the three most common images to be found in US high school and college level textbooks are 1- FDR 2-the bombing of Hiroshima and 3-the KKK.

But now kids see those and think,wait, maybe America isn't so bad after all.Maybe it has really come a looong way, in a very short time.African Americans account for 12 percent of the US population, but Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote.

And hey,Obama would have more cred with me if he sent his OWN kids to public schools.But he doesn't.They attend ritzy private schools And they did when he was still small time back in Chicago.What's up with that?

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Whoever opposes the President talking to children wishing they do well, is a real idiot. America is really lucky. Some other nations really do not have or cannot give a school book to each kid. Let alone an eraser or pen. Third World Countries have it much worse than America.

American kids should be fighting to achieve.

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Until the late 1960s the federal government played virtually no role in K-12 education and America's education system was the envy of the world. Since that time the federal govenment involvement has grown year by year until today local schools have to answer to the feds on almost everything. And year by year the education system has gotten worse and worse and worse until today it is a disgrace. More federal involvement, worse education.

No penny has ever come from the federal government without strings attached. If Obama were really about "Change We Can Believe In" and truthfully say he was working to improve our schools, he'd started withdrawing federal government involvement. But he -- just as the 8 presidents before him -- makes my country's education system worse and worse with more and more federal involvement.

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Funny, I thought kids were in school to learn....including learning responsibility. Problem is, we don't have the best teachers anymore, and teachers would rather put kids on drugs rather than fulfill their responsibilities. Seems that we have a president that is out of touch with reality...

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There was never an issue with the speech itself. The problem was with the lesson plans; to have kids write letters on how they will help Obama. Apparently, that was a valid complaint becase even Obama's F-troop acknowledged it the lesson plan was changed.

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LFR,

Ohh...Please,

What a rant. He gave a speech to our kids and ones who were captive at that (get the concern?). His message was nothing more than a 5 minute PSA, he made a speech to them. Good on him. It should have been a thirty second commercial, but what the hey....Change we can believe in!!!!!!

Good him for the message........ Though telling my kid, staying and school and doing the best you can as a parent to my kid, IS MY JOB, not his...... Thanks but no thanks, President Obama.

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what next, giant posters and statues of dear leader as far as the eye can see?

government is not the answer, it is the problem.

last 8 years is proof in and of itself and things are actually getting worse under Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

Mid term elections a little over a year from now.

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seijichuu: "And hey,Obama would have more cred with me if he sent his OWN kids to public schools.But he doesn't.They attend ritzy private schools And they did when he was still small time back in Chicago.What's up with that?"

I always love it when people go on and on about this. Even if he WANTED to send his kids to public school (and what rich person would? Why not whine about this to EVERY parent who sends his/her kids to private vs. public?), he COULDN'T for security reasons. Simple enough.

sailwind: "His message was nothing more than a 5 minute PSA, he made a speech to them. Good on him."

So what were all you guys crying about over the past month? Why spew such hatred and outright disinformation if it was no big deal and few were 'captivated'?

"Though telling my kid, staying and school and doing the best you can as a parent to my kid, IS MY JOB, not his."

So do your job, because clearly a whole lot of American parents aren't doing a good job if the country is fairing as badly as it is. Either way, having a role model, and in particular the PRESIDENT, regardless of whether it's the current president or even your hero GWB, telling kids to do their best is a GOOD thing and need not be limited to parents who may or may not say it. It's not any attempt to override their authority, much as you feel threatened by the man, it's a simple message of support and encouragement -- which you clearly missed.

"Thanks but no thanks, President Obama."

Fortunately, it was not your choice, and the good word got out -- same as with the election results (you'll get over that bit some day, too).

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"he COULDN'T for security reasons. Simple enough."says smithinjapan,who can't read apparently and would himself have benefitted (maybe) from the motivational speech Obama delivered.

You failed to notice that I wrote Obama had his kids in private schools in Chicago,BEFORE he was a well-known politician.And it's because he himself attended one of the best private schools in America growing up in Honolulu.Same old double standard,at least on this issue.I give him much credit elsewhere.

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Until the late 1960s the federal government played virtually no role in K-12 education and America's education system was the envy of the world. Since that time the federal govenment involvement has grown year by year until today local schools have to answer to the feds on almost everything. And year by year the education system has gotten worse and worse and worse until today it is a disgrace. More federal involvement, worse education.

Public education is run by state governments with funding coming from the federal government. It has always been that way. BTW the top University in the 1960s was Berkeley, not just in CS, in everything. A public government run federally funded school. What destroyed the CA education system was the greed of the republicans in passing Prop. 13 and gutting finance for the schools so they could pay less property taxes.

You can always guarantee that republicans will get the facts wrong on every issue.

On the broader point, the Palin crowd and especially the money behind her, want to keep people stupid. Stupid people can be fooled to protest their kids getting a decent education, their kids be killed in a lie-based phony war, and for the poor to give tax breaks to the rich. That is how it all works and the wingers here are just playing the sap role again on this issue. Same story over and over again.

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presidents should speak to the kids, not try to indoctrinate them. obama got caught attempting to do the latter and forced to change his message by a growing public who distrusts the man and the people he surrounds himself with.

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Kids need to be inspired to learn. School alone does not educate enough. They need go on field trips to learn things in the real world.

Parents/Schools should change they way teach and incorporate more real life study trips into what they teach.

Let's say the study of Asia,best way to really learn, is to go to Asia and learn.

2 days stay/travel in an Asian city,teaches more than all the books of Asia.

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Federal meddling has made education in America more expensive and worse in quality (just imagine what it would do for health care).

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correction- Parents/schools should change ,the way they teach and incorporate more real life study trips into what they teach.

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Wish they had done these vids when I was still in school. Heck I would have even gotten a kick out of Clinton. As long as the encumbent isn't trying to influence the kiddies to lean right or left I can't see any problem with this.

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Obama didn't get caught doing anything indoctrination because nobody else knew what ever the original version was, save for the part about asking how students can help the President (which Newt Gingrich said was also part of Bush Sr's speech all those years ago). Everybody else was just speculating, whether true or not.

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The speech was revised and Obama's Big Brother lesson was omitted. The result was a good experience for kids, the way it should have been to start.

We, The People, won.

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Federal meddling has made education in America more expensive and worse in quality (just imagine what it would do for health care).

Once again wrong on fact. It so predictable. Medicare has 3 percent overhead, the private healthcare insurers, 30 percent. The VA also has low overhead and has completely digitized health records whereas private hospitals are only about 3 percent digital.

Just last year in the finance markets once again so called capitalism and free market fakery has failed. Healthcare is the same. Profiting from human disease is wrong and wasteful. But the wingers just keep on putting out the tooth fairy lies. Amazing but very consistent. Healthcare is their new WMD in Iraq like issue to spin.

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one of my kids just got home from school today and didn't see the obama's "wash your hands" speech.

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when bush sr gave his speech to the kiddies way back when he didn't need to be told to keep the weird stuff out. he didn't try to petition them for 'help.' still the Dumbs cried foul over the idea and even held congressional hearings on the matter.

today's Dumbs seem to want to forget all that. amazing how slanted and prejudiced some people can be.

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timorborder-- Heaven forbid...

I can understand the argument that a lot of the problems with kids today stem from parents who just don't care. I agree that someone needs to be talking to them too. At the same time however, I don't understand why people are looking for some hidden agenda of his by way of his speech.

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inkjet: go to onesix.org. I just read where the dems actually held hearings about preventing Bush 1 from speaking...... aday, you lied.

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zurc: "The VA also has low overhead" really, I worked for the VA for three years and the last being administrative. You are lying!

"has completely digitized health records whereas private hospitals are only about 3 percent digital." again, lying and deceiving. When people join the military, they give up their privacy rights. One of the main reasons private hospital have yet to do so, and many are at this moment, is mostly due to privacy concerns and they initiation of that was your beloved ACLU. Additionally, quite a many of the so called "model" health systems are only as of now digitizing... Japan being one of them. go outside of Tokyo, and you'll find a lot of prefectures not even thinking about digitizing.

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RRII: You're trolling, again. You have absolutely no proof that Obama's speech was amended in any way.

We, The People, won.

We sure did, when we elected Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States of America! xD

skip:

When people join the military, they give up their privacy rights.

You've obviously mistaken the US military for someone else's. In the US military, we have the Privacy Act. I work with it all the time in my job.

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No USAF, you work with the privacy act, but the VA is still within the military. Thus, we got clearances to see your records. check with your sop again and then hold it next to what can and can't be seen by medical field personnel. now, I don't know if anything has changed since I got out in and quit the VA in 95', but I doubt anything has

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go to onesix.org. I just read where the dems actually held hearings about preventing Bush 1 from speaking...... aday, you lied.

ok i did. it backed up my poingt exactly. the Dumbs had a fit when bush sr adressed the kiddies. and he didn't even try shilling for kiddie support. my point the Dumbs should not ridicule the Rebugs reaction to this unless they first condemn the Dumbs reaction to bush sr.

of course they won't because they are hypocrites.

obama needed to be taken to school on this one. don't mess with the kids. keep politics out of school. he backed down because he had to. he was busted. but it won't be forgotten.

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What the arugment shows, is how nutty Americans have become. I for one would have loved to meet a president and would love for my kid to do so as well, but make no mistake, I'd be damned if I was told my kid "had" to be there and I had no choice in the matter, which is what would have happened and what happened at several schools in two of the areas I used to live in. Its kind of like I won't send my kid to a Christian school or what ever because she would have to pray, which is something I'm not down with.

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What the arugment shows, is how nutty Americans have become.

more nutty then when exactly? americans (all people) have always been pretty nutty about politics (sports and religion too).

this bothered so many people because of obama's emphasis on himself. 'how can you help the president.' it's not 'what can you do for your country,' it's 'what can you do for me.'

it may be an exaggeration to call it a 'cult of personality.' but not much of an exaggeration. it was a really stupid idea that made obama look pretty bad.

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Sailwind,

I’m going to borrow your, “Oh, please,” and raise you a “Give me break.”

“He gave a speech to our kids and ones who were captive at that (get the concern?).”

All kids, by virtue of being legally obliged to attend school are “captive” to teachers, administration, and fellow classmates on a daily basis. Having to sit through Algebra II certainly felt like captivity to me. Your concern here is clearly hysterical nonsense.

“His message was nothing more than a 5 minute PSA . . .”

Okay, then why the collective foaming at the mouth on the part of Conservatives? And no, it wasn’t about the lesson plan later issued by the Dept. of Ed. Judging from the blogosphere (where you might want to note, even the most ardent critics of the speech have been eating crow since stepping back from their initial knee-jerk ass-hattery), Conservatives’ heads were doing the Linda Blair over the content of the speech itself. What was one of the most recent reminds I heard about how wrong this speech was? Oh, yeah. The kids were "captive.” You’re backpedaling . . .

And unconvincingly, I might add.

“Though telling my kid, staying and school and doing the best you can as a parent to my kid, IS MY JOB, not his......”

This is probably the most baffling and laughable thing about your position. Given enough time, I'm sure you'd launch into a scatter-shot rant on State's Rights, but let's just stick with this for now, shall we?

For one thing, as others have pointed out, some parents obviously aren’t picking up the slack. Of course, every parent out there becomes incensed at any suggestion that they might not be doing enough to help their child succeed in their education, but when there are Playstations, Xboxes, Wiis, and DSs adorning most living rooms in America, white or minority (with the video game industry booming through a recession up until only very recently), when there are parents fighting tooth and nail against shortening summer vacations and extending the school year, when parents recoil with horror at the slightest suggestion of generating tax revenue for necessities like textbooks and classrooms, it’s a little hard to believe that the average parent is entirely committed to the final product.

For another, educational standards were established in order to provide a more uniformly prepared national workforce in a high mobile and fluid economy. This is not something that could be achieved if school districts were left to the devices of individual parents and their individual predilictions. Even at the most local administrative level, you relenquish a great deal of your influence as a parent over your child's motivation in school, allowing principals and teachers to do a large degree of the pushing.

And on yet another point, celebrities and sports stars regularly make national public service announcements to encourage kids to do well in school. They attend school events to promote education. They do commencement speeches. And these are people who more often than not end up plastered across the front page as unfaithful cheaters, steroid abusers, or strung-out coke or heroin addicts. Yet these folks get the green light? Astronauts, race car drivers, Pulitzer Prize novelists and scientists, all arguably of a much higher calibre to be sure, get a thumps-up.

But if it’s Barrack Obama -- graduate of Columbia U., graduate in the top-10 percent of Harvard Law, successful writer, established lawyer, and, oh yeah, the PRESIDENT of the United States -- then you’re suddenly faced with some sort of crisis of conscience in rejection of the notion that a President would presume to encourage our kids in school?

Cripes, Michael Phelps, Olympic gold medalist and former poster boy for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, even got to appear before the Maryland State Senate three months after his little bong incident: No one in the Conservative camp batted an eye, including the Maryland State Republican Senators who joined their Democrat colleagues in giving Phelps a standing ovation.

I’m sorry for this disappointing and potentially shocking revelation, but the education of America’s children is not some sacred private affair between parent and child. It's a cooperative effort on the part of the whole for the benefit of the whole, and not just the few. Or was all that "Patriotism" hubbub of the past eight years just a load of hooey? These kids are heading out into a work environment that we essentially created for them, where they will have to rely on the tools we give them to become income earners, taxpayers, and hopefully the kind of innovators we need to maintain not only our competitive edge in the international marketplace, but also our comparatively luxurious lifestyle.

And we’re failing pathetically to prepare them for just that, both in the encouragment department and the execution of educational goals and policy. So I would imagine getting a little help, even in the form of a few relevant words of encouragement, might be something welcomed.

This suggestion that Obama is somehow stepping on your toes as a parent is grasping at straws, to say the least. What it all comes down to at the end of the day is that the only issue you really have with the speech is who’s presenting it -- not the content. And when you cast about your political prejudices so blatantly as you obviously are here, you have to start to wonder who’s causing more harm to our children’s educational future, Obama or folks who share your myopic politics-addled worldview?

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inkjet,

You're not quite on target here. Democrats condemned Bush Sr.'s 1991 speech because he used Dept. of Ed. funding to do it and they primarily felt his is was an illegal use of public fund to promote political policy. Which it did, to a very limited extent. Still, Bush's speech wasn't much different substantively from Obama's. So, yes, Democrats then were being political opportunists.

But you don’t see the contradiction in your logic? Or at the very least, your horse-before-the cart reasoning?

Are you saying Liberals should be, what? more forgiving of Conservative idiocy now over the Obama speech because Democrats were being idiots back in ’91? And then you blame Liberals for being hypocrites for defending Obama’s speech?

That’s like saying, “Yeah, he shot the guy in the back for no reason because his daddy did the same to his 20 years ago. What's the problem?”

Doesn’t quite make sense.

How about this instead: What if Conservatives now, in realizing Democrats were unreasonable in ’91, simply pointed that out, and took the higher road today that Democrats failed to take then, by saying, “We’re not going to turn what is a benign education pep talk into a political stepping stone, like you did then?” You know, “learning from past mistakes,” and all that. What a novel concept. Then they would have come out on the side of angels instead of looking like a loose collection of Young Republican hacks at a college fundraiser.

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Heh, well........if this thread doesn't go to show what whinging, bitter cranks some conservatives are then I don't know what does.

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Barack Obama is our first affirmative action president.It's only natural that he repays the system which helped get him to the top.

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And then you blame Liberals for being hypocrites for defending Obama’s speech?

no i don't blame them at all. of course they should defend there guy.

i'm pointing at the the liberal's mocking conservatives for objecting to obama's speech. saying things like 'they have reached new lows' blah, blah, blah. when in fact it's the same old, same old.

i do go a bit beyond that by suggesting that the Repugs have a much better reason to complain now then the Dumbs did then. we will see if the polls agree with me.

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LFRA,

I'll raise you an, "Oh,Please,".

All kids, by virtue of being legally obliged to attend school are “captive” to teachers, administration, and fellow classmates on a daily basis. Having to sit through Algebra II certainly felt like captivity to me. Your concern here is clearly hysterical nonsense.

You cannot compare having to sit through an Algebra class that you have to pass in order to graduate with having to sit through a speech by a politician as even being close to the same thing.

As a matter fact I just had a moment of clarity and won't even go into the rest of your posts points......This will sum it up nicely as to why so many of us are so concerned about Obama and his administration and his ever expanding role of Government in our daily lives.

I hope the day never comes that our children are required to sit through a speech by a Politician in order to graduate.

Your first point really blurred that line between the two already and you don't seem to even realize it, to busy trying to discount my myopic politics and world view instead I would guess. My myopic view can see were this road might lead to if left unchecked and unchallenged.

You already can thank folks like me already. If it wasn't for us this speech would have never been released in advance to ease concerns, and that 'Lesson Plan' wouldn't have never been fixed in the first place.

It was checked and challenged,......Now that is a lesson that should be taught to every child in America and never forgotten.

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i offer big joe's text as exhibit one.

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I wonder if the President was white if they would be in such an uproar?

That is the number one question. Everytime this man says or does anything, people ask that question. Democrats and Republicans alike make the same distinctions. No matter what Obama does, because of his skin color, everything is going to be a big deal. And that is the sad fact. Everything is about race in America.

I need to listen to this speech now.

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Sailwind,

And I'm sure you were right there, "defending our freedoms" from the tyranny of presidential pep talks when Reagan made his back in the '80s. Thanks for that. But apparently, your lesson went unnoticed not once, but twice.

Just keep on deluding yourself that this isn't purely political on your part. Wink wink! Nudge nudge! I'll go ahead and be an unabler for you here.

And you just keep on trying to convince the rest of us that your, ahem, "outrage" was somehow instrumental in forcing the Obama to change any part of his speech. For all the good it'll do you, since the content didn't change dramatically at all.

Conservative who hopped onto this little bandwagon in the beginning have spent the better part of last week wiping egg off their faces. However, it would appear that some of them, like you, are still clinging to the sides, noticing neither the lack of horses to pull it nor the absence of an audience to giggle at your antics.

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The republicans manufacture another non-issue blasting a speech before they even knew its contents. What will they do next, pretend Christmas is under attack?

Oh, they already did that.

And tonight some republican accused Obama of being a liar during his speech to Congress. Which of course was wrong on fact as usual. How low will the republicans go? Even McCain called the yeller a loser.

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Stop calling your president a socialist and get with his program of nationalised health care,now!

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For all the good it'll do you, since the content didn't change dramatically at all.

Serious Question?

How do you know that the content didn't change dramatically at all? Your privy to some information that you haven't shared yet?

I think there was serious recalibration done on the original myself after this became pretty contentious to ensure it was completely apolitical. At least I would hope so, his team couldn't be tone-deaf to the America people if they didn't.

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Typo

his team couldn't be THAT tone-deaf to the America people, if they didn't.

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"How do you know . . . Your privy to some information . . . ?"

Are you?

"I think . . . "

You "think?" In other words, you're basically saying here you have no idea what the original speech contained, much less whether the content was objectionable, and yet STILL willingly bellied up to the table of Conservative Outrage™ to get your licks in against a president with whom you differ politically.

Further, you apparently concede you don’t have any problem whatsoever with Bush Sr. giving speeches to "captive" school kids that plug his administration’s education policy or Reagan giving speeches to "captive" school kids plugging his administration’s tax cut plan.

Yet, somehow you object to Obama’s speech, sight-unseen, based on what? rumor and hearsay?

"{sputter! sputter!} Yes, but . . . Yes, but . . . THOSE were Republican Presidents with whom I politically agreed!"

Brilliant. You’re practically writing a refutation of your nonsense for me.

At the end of the day, the speech happened, as planned, was viewed by millions of school children across the country, as intended, and delivered an entirely non-political message that children needed to hear, as expected.

Conservative Outrage™ accomplished what here exactly? They forced Obama to change his speech? Nope. You don't know what the original contained, so there’s no way of knowing - and speculating is asinine.

They forced Obama to abandon airing the speech to “captive” children? Nope. Still aired as planned. And to largely positive reviews, I might add, even amongst fellow Conservatives.

So, again, where’s this big victory you’re desperately searching for in the ashes of an overreaction so complete and embarrassing that even Laura Bush disagrees with you?

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Further, you apparently concede you don’t have any problem whatsoever with Bush Sr. giving speeches to "captive" school kids that plug his administration’s education policy or Reagan giving speeches to "captive" school kids plugging his administration’s tax cut plan.

Nope never conceded that at all but since you asked. I think it was bad policy then and I think it is bad policy now. Apprrently the intervening 16 years of Clinton and Bush's administrations came to the very same conclusion and learned from the uproar when Bush Senior did it the second time.

And since you brought Reagan into this how about an almost EXACT situation that happened during his Presidency. President Reagan wanted to honor his friend Chancellor Helmut Kohl with a visit to Germany and a speech and wreath laying ceremony to honor German War dead at a cemetery called Bitburg. A good and noble gesture at putting the past between our two nations behind us. The speech was announced well in advance the arrangements made and the press releases sent out. It seems there was also a little "oopsie" involved in that process. The cemetery contained some of the remains of not your average German Soldiers, there were some Waffen S.S buried there.

There was an outcry and a huge uproar. President Reagan, had to 'Recalibrate' and cancel his speech and just laid a wreath instead. And guess what??? I agreed with that 'recalibration' on Reagan's part 100 percent, so much for your "I'm just being Partisan" on this.

Obama's team made this mess for themselves in the first place on how they handled this speech and the pre-planning for it, just as Reagan's team did at Bitburg. They got grief and Obama's team got grief. I am glad that his speech was apolitical, but as I said at the very start of this he should have just made a PSA instead and learned from 16 years of both a Democratic and Republican adminstrations before him. Speeches to our Nation's kids aren't really such a good idea after all.

Now LFRA your still going to go with how partisan I am on this?

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I'm not talking about a Reagan speech to a German audience. I’m talking about speeches delivered by two sitting presidents to “captive” American school kids, historical fact to which you raised nary an objection.

Well, until now, almost 70 posts later, despite it having been brought up numerous timed. And after having been practically cattle-prodded into addressing.

And now, magically, you oppose those speeches, although for the vaguest of reasons (“bad policy”?). Convenient that.

I’m talking about you stubbornly insisting on vilifying Obama’s speech by claiming it was somehow changed to make it apolitical in contrast to some imagined more politicized version of which you – nor anyone else that I know of – possess no knowledge whatsoever.

I’m talking about you insisting that Conservatives somehow scored some great victory for the body politic by forcing Obama to do anything, when Conservatives very clearly did no such thing, and in fact spent the better part of the week quietly shuffling off to the back of the crowd with red faces. Sure, the Dept. of Ed. changed their lesson plan wording, but Obama’s speech? You have nothing to compare it to, so you’re blowing hot air here and little else.

Now LFRA your still going to go with how partisan I am on this?

Well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . .

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“What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country,” Obama says. “What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.”

Well i have to agree with this, you kids need a better education though. look how many idiots have grown up and become biggger idiots and then run for a government job. They need a BETTER education yess, but even though the kids are our future, its the stupid teachers and education SYSTEMS that should be put into check. and the PARENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^

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Sure, the Dept. of Ed. changed their lesson plan wording, but Obama’s speech?

No offense...I think instead of the Dept. of Ed should be changed to "Peoples's Education for the Common Good" or the P.E.C.G myself.

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sailwind,

Ha! Now that's just hippie talk.

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Stop calling your president a socialist and get with his program of nationalised health care,now!

45% of US healthcare is now run by the government, that is the part that is working like medicare and the VA. The huge number of uninsured folks is a pure market failure of private industry. Once again the wingers are siding with greed over morality, money over people.

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Once again the wingers are siding with greed over morality, money over people.

Yeah, they are NOT paying attention to the issues--they are simply distracting the issues. They don't like to compete with the agents who have efficiency, because they know they're not gonna win in the game.

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“It’s a sad state of affairs that many in this country politically would rather start an “Animal House” food fight rather than inspire kids to stay in school, to work hard, to engage parents to stay involved, and to ensure that the millions of teachers that are making great sacrifices continue to be the best in the world,”

Now I'm having a hunch that this also reflects the problem with public school education in Japan to some extent.

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Looks like fundementalist conservatives relying on the imaginations of rumors in order to make hay over everything the president does.

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Nordon,

aint that the truth.

The Republican Party has become a small minority of out-of-mainstream people (think Representative Joseph Wilson’s outburst to the president this week) but, by virtue of its history, of the media attention it receives, and, frankly, by default, it still occupies a central place in our political life. In any other Western democracy it might have become a far-right splinter party. In America, we don’t really have splinter parties although republicans now are only 23% of the US voting population. Once they go below 20% and have senators from only the backward states in the south more or less then perhaps they will get their fringe status in the media.

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The long and short of it is that conservatives developed a sense of entitlement over the last year that is beyond stupid, and has reached a level of dangerous.

They lost Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008 and they are going to throw a collective temper tantrum until they get both of them back and the Obama era is stricken from the History books.

They won't even care (nor have they cared) if they will benefit from anything Pres. Obama does. They are completely comfortable biting off their own noses to spite their faces, blissfully ignorant to the fact that they take the rest of us down with them. Because they don't understand what the word "accountability" means, they simply point the finger of blame elsewhere.

Taka

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Whoops. That's supposed to be, "over the last 10 years" in that first sentence there.

Taka

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When GW Bush wanted to speak to school kids, the Democrats and media went berserk, clamouring about political propaganda and demanding hearings, remember?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/03/flashback-1991-gephardt-called-bushs-speech-students-paid-political-a

What has changed since then? Oops, I forgot, all the ground rules have changed, and the mass media suddenly act as the propaganda arm of the White House.

Amazing hypocrisy.

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The far right in an effort to make themselves look worse in front of the American people are protesting the Presidents remarks. These wackos hate the fact that kids should be asked to pay attention in school let alone become good Americans.

Sad how the far right has become a bastion of hatred isn't it?

I wonder if the President was white if they would be in such an uproar?

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