Obama urges kids to pay attention in school

Tuesday 08th September, 06:24 AM JST

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sailwind at 01:11 PM JST - 10th September

Typo

his team couldn't be THAT tone-deaf to the America people, if they didn't.
LFRAgain at 04:04 PM JST - 10th September

"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?
sailwind at 04:26 PM JST - 10th September

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?
LFRAgain at 05:39 PM JST - 10th September

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 . . .
jessssicaaa at 08:52 PM JST - 10th September

“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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^
sailwind at 10:22 PM JST - 10th September

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.
lostrune2 at 02:07 AM JST - 11th September

sailwind,

Ha! Now that's just hippie talk.
zurcronium at 04:57 AM JST - 11th September

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.
amerijap at 09:36 AM JST - 11th September

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.
amerijap at 09:43 AM JST - 11th September

“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.
Nordon at 04:00 AM JST - 13th September

Looks like fundementalist conservatives relying on the imaginations of rumors in order to make hay over everything the president does.
zurcronium at 05:51 AM JST - 13th September

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.
Taka313 at 06:31 AM JST - 14th September

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
Taka313 at 09:15 AM JST - 14th September

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

Taka
WilliB at 10:02 PM JST - 14th September

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.