My oldest son won’t start school for another three years or so. Even if he were in school, however, I don’t think that I would have much problem with the president’s upcoming speech. There are several reasons: (1) school kids aren’t going to pay that much attention to what will be a boring speech; (2) the kids probably get more, and more effective, political messages from their teachers everyday; and, (3) most importantly, the enormous roasting Obama would take after the fact if he gives a politically charged speech. In fact, I wish that there hadn’t been the uproar in advance the way there has been, just so that number three might come to pass — as clueless as the president and his advisers have proven themselves to be, I think even they will have taken the warning by now and scrubbed the speech of anything that might cause controversy.
Even though I am not opposed to the speech as such, I think that the way it has been rolled out is yet another example of this administration’s ineptitude. The ‘teaching guidelines‘ certainly didn’t help by instructing students to write letters to themselves “about what they can do to help the President” (not the country, the president), and the scheduling fail of planning the speech before many large school districts begin classes reeks of cluelessness.
The biggest problem I see, though, is not the overreach by the administration, but the way in which the speech is to be broadcast. My local school district is not showing the speech to students — not because of parental outrage (at least in theory), but because of logistics. Lunches, lesson plans, and other scheduled events are a good reason to give schools a recorded copy of the speech, rather than insist on a live simulcast. An even better reason — and my guess as to the true foundation of parental concern — is the Orwellian overtones of gathering all of the children together, across the nation, to listen to dear leader speak.
If Obama were simply giving a speech aimed at all students, which the Department of Education would then make available to schools to use as they saw fit, there would be some grumbling (there always is) but I don’t think there would be the uproar. Schools could then work it into lesson plans as appropriate, or choose to ignore it altogether, with no fuss either way. Instead, not only does the administration push for all students to watch it at the same time, they actually came up with suggested lesson plans based on the speech — all of which bypassed local control of our schools (school districts and boards) by being addressed directly to school principals.
Given the president’s declining popularity, coupled with fears of statism and federal intrusion as exemplified by the Tea Party and health care protests, it is hard to imagine a more tone-deaf approach to the president’s speech than to force a federal agenda (harmless or not) on institutions over which local control is fiercely guarded. Especially when children are involved.
I think the most charitable explanation is that the administration is simply clueless. Obama and his advisers seem to believe all of their wonderful press, and cannot fathom that some people are genuinely suspicious of their motives. Add in their belief in centralized control of all things, and it is easy to imagine how they would see nothing wrong while their opponents see a scene straight out of 1984.
UPDATE (9/8/09):
The speech is soon. Anyone think that congress will hold hearings and investigate, the way they did the last time a president did this (George H.W. Bush in 1991)?
Quality Sites…
[...]check out the sites just below- they are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
Website worth visiting…
below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit…
Digg…
While checking out DIGG yesterday I found this…
Recommeneded websites…
Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over…
Find a Financial Advisor…
[...] Terrific news; so I would like to back-link to it!!! [...]…
You should check this out…
I saw this really great post today….
Check this out…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
Great website…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
Looking around…
I like to browse around the web, often I will go to Digg and follow thru…
Great info…
Nice Information you got there. LEt us share it….
Recommeneded websites…
Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over…
Great website…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
Recommeneded website…
below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit…
Great website…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
iPhone 5 new’s and information…
[....]Thanks for taking the time to come and make sure we’re linking to your site! This message is only visible by you, the owner of[....]…
Great website…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
Xbox 720 new’s and information…
[....]Thanks for taking the time to come and make sure we’re linking to your site! This message is only visible by you, the owner of[....]…
Yahoo results…
While browsing Yahoo I found this page in the results and I didn’t think it fit…
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
Fantastic info…
Great Information you got here. Let us share it….
What site to read this year…
[...]very intersting website, on an blog about[...]…
Website worth visiting…
below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit…
A Star wars Fan Site Mentions You…
[...]What blogs fоr political commentary could you recommend me to read?[...]…
Check this out…
Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors…
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
wartrol reviews…
[...]Buy Wartrol what to do for genital warts[...]…
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Websites you should visit…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]……
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Recommeneded website…
below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit…
Kamasz…
[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
Found=> Recommends Your Page…
[...]very fеw websites which сan bе detailed below, in оur standpoint are undoubtedly really worth checking out[...]…
Awesome website…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]……
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
Dreary Day…
It was a dreary day here yesterday, so I just took to piddeling around online and realized…
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Sources…
[...]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[...]……
Great news…
Great news. Let’s share this together…
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……