Regular Guy Rant: Obama’s Schoolhouse Doesn’t Rock
I took the time to read President Barack Obama’s speech to the schoolchildren of America and I came away from it with mixed emotions. I also came away from it believing that the speech he will be reading is probably far different from what was originally intended. It was through the hard work of common sense politicians, talk radio, the blog world, and the regular everyday concerned parent that undoubtedly forced the White House to change the text of the President’s speech. Facts are facts folks, Mr. Obama was under some serious fire for this little episode and so he waved the white flag and will give a speech that can best be described as uncomfortable.
Now I don’t have anything against the President of the United States speaking to the youth of our nation. In fact I think it’s probably a good idea from time to time for our elected officials to engage with the future of our nation. The fact that President Obama is a Marxist should concern all freedom loving parents, but if he wants to encourage children to be involved with mathematics, science, and literature than I have no problem with it. Again, he is the President of the United States and if he feels like it is important to speak to the youth of the nation then he should be afforded that luxury.
The thing that I and most of us who actually care about this nation were concerned with was the fact that Obama and his dear friends at the Department of Education have a lesson plan all set up for the children following the speech. At this writing, I have no clue if the lesson plan is still being pushed or if the White House has backed away from it. I have no idea if they will continue with the plan and just water it down a bit now that the nation is watching so intently. If Obama gives a speech to the students and hits them with his environmental alarmism or pounds it home that Islam is the “world’s most peaceful” religion and then the teachers give a graded project afterwards (with the views of the President being the correct answers of course) then in my opinion this is a form of indoctrination and quite frankly, intimidation.
Oh but we should trust the President, he wouldn’t do that to our schoolchildren. He wouldn’t? This President is starting to make Bill Clinton look like George Washington in the truth department. I remember Obama saying he was all for nuclear power during the election. How many nuclear plants are being built or even lobbied for by this White House? I remember Obama saying he would bring the parties together. That one is a classic. I remember Obama mentioning that there would be five days of public comment before a bill would be signed. A flat out lie. I remember Obama saying that health care reform would be negotiated on live television. Oh maybe I should be nice, he must have meant that it would be argued on the prime time newscasts. The list goes on and on and the scary thing is that this guy has only been in office less than a year. Trusting this White House with our schoolchildren wouldn’t be a wise thing.
So under pressure, Mr. Obama toned it down and crafted a speech that is acceptable at times, but more often than not uncomfortable. There are the usual bits of hypocrisy sprinkled in of course, but really at the end of the day it is a giant waste of time. While the country continues to hemorrhage money, unemployment skyrockets, and a health care debate rages that could rip us apart, Mr. Obama vacations and gives speeches to kids who just recently learned to ride a bike or write in cursive. Yeah, that’s our President. Doesn’t he make you proud?
The parts of the Obama speech that I actually like are also the parts of the speech that are hypocritical and so far from what he believes it’s not even funny. Obama mentions responsibility a lot and I can appreciate that. I think that parents and teachers need to be responsible for the youth they (the parents) raise and the young minds (the parents and teachers) they are helping to form. Parents should do as the President mentions and limit the amount of television and video game time available to their children so that they can concentrate more on schoolwork. I would go further and say that the parent needs to be engaged with their child and their child’s school and act as a “check and balance” of sorts. Some of the garbage being pushed in the public school system is alarming at the very least and it’s up to the parent to correct some of the things being taught.
Teachers should be responsible enough to go that extra mile to ensure the children in their care are learning. The key word here is learning and not brainwashing. If that child shows signs of being a conservative, a Christian, or even undecided for the time being, the teacher needs to stick to the facts and not push down their throat a pro evolution, pro global warming, pro homosexual agenda. If you are any of the three I just mentioned, then fine, but don’t brainwash our youth. Present facts and let them decide. I had some fine teachers who were undoubtedly liberal who refused to reveal what they were and promoted assignments that made you look at things from both sides. I mean I might have to do a piece on abortion from the pro life side and then turn around and do another from the pro abortion (murder) side. This helped me to come to my own conclusions. I applaud teachers but the teachers I remember and respect are the instructors that taught and didn’t brainwash.
I would also agree with the President when he mentions individual responsibility. There are going to be underachieving students with a horrible family life who hear that and maybe and just maybe will take the ball and run with it. At the end of the day it is their responsibility to open their textbooks and study instead of just opening them and daydreaming. As they grow older they will be faced with decisions that will make or break their lives and careers and so I think this is a valid point. The funny thing is that individual responsibility flies in the face of everything the President and his party preaches to the public. Government and not individual is the Obama lesson plan. The individual might do something crazy and make it rich or something. You can’t have that in a nice socialist utopia now can you? Well let me correct myself, you can be rich if your last name is Obama, Pelosi, or Frank, just not if you are average Joe citizen.
The President also mentions government responsibility and here is where I part with him. The government needs to concentrate on security and infrastructure instead of meddling. Why is it so hard to allow school choice? You know, the way Obama and his wife were able to choose a successful school for their kids. Why does Obama have to mention “turning around schools?” Throwing more money at something that has and continues to fail doesn’t do the trick. Let the parents remove their kids and place them in better schools and then step back and let things happen. If a school is losing students and has shown a history of failure, then perhaps it needs to be eliminated, as it is a waste of the taxpayer’s money. OK, I won’t go off on this one today, but I promise to get back to it in the future. Oh and the government having the responsibility to set high standards? Mr. Obama, are you trying to be serious or is this a comedy act? High standards from the federal government? Mr. Government Charles “I have phlegm in my throat and don’t pay my taxes” Rangel is an example of high standards? You’re funny Mr. President.
OK, I credited the President for a few things in the previous paragraphs, but where I need to criticize is in the tone of the speech. Oh I could bring up how he did get a plug in for protecting the environment and developing new energy, but that’s probably tame for most of these kids. Most of them probably have teachers who spent all of last year talking about how George W. Bush shortened their lifespan by twenty years and how Barack Obama walks on water and communicates with alien intelligence. So no, I won’t criticize Mr. Obama for mentioning the environment or new energy. That would be silly. I mean that would be like me mentioning the fact that we have more coal and oil than we know what to do with and that Al Gore is insane. It serves no purpose.
I actually found the President’s speech to be uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable like you have a spaghetti stain on the new shirt your mom bought you or like when you tracked some mud into the house, no not that kind of uncomfortable. I’m talking about uncomfortable like when your dad wants to talk about the “birds and the bee’s” or when you tell a joke and the room goes dead. No one is really hurt by the experience (and it might be necessary) but if you’re being honest with yourself you wish you could crawl into a hole and hide.
The President tried to put himself at the level of the children by talking about getting up early and not “fitting in”. I read these parts twice and I tried to put myself in the shoes of a kid watching this and it just left me uncomfortable. For one, these kids aren’t stupid Mr. President; they know that you are not like them. Some of them either already know or eventually will that you possess the most powerful office in the land and that you are so different from them that it’s not even funny. Many of them have probably sat in a room while their parents watched FOX news and are fully aware that your thinking is nothing like that of their parents. For the kids who have overheard CNN and MSNBC (I for one am sorry for these children) they must be confused as they’ve been hearing that you are a God and how you’ll take care of all of them. Responsibility? What in the world are you talking about Mr. Obama? Why should they be responsible when Papa Obama will take care of their every need?
Does mentioning rap music and Michael Jordan make you one of the people? Are we to believe that you put on your Air Jordan’s and break out your ghetto blaster for some good ol’ Public Enemy while you’re waxin’ poetic to Michelle? Give me a break. A kid can see right through you Mr. Obama because let’s face it, you’re about as “street” as most of their grandparents.
Now, I kind of touched on it a few paragraphs ago, but I want to get into the hypocrisy presented by our President. He mentions that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. I noticed when he listed the people to ask for help from he failed to mention the federal government. Well that kind of contradicts everything that this man has said from the time he burst on the national scene. I noticed that he mentioned the building of new companies and the creation of new jobs. So now Mr. Obama is in favor of private enterprise? I thought corporations and large business were the enemy. I thought that you and your friends Pelosi, Reid, and Waxman (for those of you who don’t know who Congressman Waxman is just plop in one of the Lord of the Rings movies and refer to the Orcs) were trying to create a climate that kills business. You mentioned winning a World War but I could have sworn that you credited Russia and Europe for winning the Second World War and not the United States. I love how you mention God at the end of the speech. Mr. Obama, your party is the most anti-God party in the history of American government. Your friends are the people who don’t want God mentioned in the pledge or any reference to God at all in school. Are you a hypocrite or do you just like confusing people? An adult can see through you and your far left agenda, but a kid will only be confused.
You decided to give this speech in an effort to defer attention away from your failing policies and to do a little good old fashioned brain washing but it backfired. I’ll give credit where it is due and on some points you are dead on (even though you don’t believe most of those same points). On many others you just confuse and expose your hypocrisy. At the end of the day, even the most “non-political” child or teacher will admit that you made everyone needlessly uncomfortable.
I want to close this by again saying that Comrade Obama and prior leaders speaking to a school isn’t the worse thing in the world. It would make more sense if schools actually taught civics so that the child could actually see their textbook come to life (A real Senator talking about the branches or a bill for example). It would also be appropriate if they stuck to the most important subjects which in my opinion are mathematics and science (English and history right behind them) and encouraged more involvement in these fields. You don’t have to mention an NBA player, rapper, or fantasy book writer every time you speak to a child. They know more about these people than you do anyway.
No if I was going to suggest something to parents, teachers, and quite frankly to the President, I would suggest the old Schoolhouse Rock videos. They put more in a little three minute song and cartoon than Obama could put into a five hour speech. The Schoolhouse Rock videos do something else that Obama doesn’t do and that is that they tell the truth. Finally, the kids wouldn’t feel uncomfortable listening/viewing them and they would probably enjoy them. Sure many of the teachers would be confused that we were actually people who didn’t appreciate taxation without representation and yeah, some of the parents would be upset that the videos show an American flag and have the gall to mention Manifest Destiny but so what? I think on the whole most parents would approve.
So as my gift to the man who has it all, Barack Obama, here are the links to some of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock videos. Check them out Mr. President and learn something about our country and then you can encourage the youth of our nation. I mean that’s all you wanted to do in the first place right?
Note to readers: Enjoy the links, the 70’s music is classic.
“No More Kings”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofYmhlclqr4&feature=related
“The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VQA5NDNkUM&feature=related
“How a Bill Becomes a Law”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ&feature=related
“Elbow Room”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twFs9Vk6F0A&feature=related
“Mother Necessity”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8wuGRlRZqk&feature=related
“The Preamble”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OyU4O80i4&feature=related
