My local school system has gotten dozens of calls about Obama's speech to our nation's school children. I can't imagine what is on their minds. The objection is that he is going to send a political message to our kids? I don't buy it for a lot of reasons.
From the
Indianapolis Examiner, Samuel Bruce says, "The problem with the direct to the school speech is it not filtered through parents and guardians."
What on Earth is he talking about. Everything message given at school is essentially unfiltered through me, and Disney has unfiltered access to tens of millions of American kids every day, and who thinks they have the children's interests at heart?
Second, in what universe do the people objecting to this live in? He's going to talk about the importance of education and public service and how the power of a single dream is blah, blah, blah. He's going to bore school children of America for 20 minutes. Since when is this a new event in school?
Ryan Witt, also from the Examiner brings some actual information to the "controversy" by reminding us that "Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush did in fact speak to school children in national addresses...". Check out the embedded video in his article to see the elder Bush boring school children in the 1980s.
I do agree with George Will, who was referencing an entirely different topic when he said Barack Obama is eventually going to have to realize that some things are not the president's business. I think this is a waste of *his* time and an over-reaching of why he was elected, but in a minor way that I don't think it particularly damaging to the Republic. Like it or not, the President of the United States is a role model, the most visible and important role model we have. It's crazy to think this is the worst message our kids will receive at school this year... or this week.
