Obama's School Speech: Complaining Parents Too Stupid to Raise Kids

If you're concerned about Obama's September 8, 2009, speech to the nation's school children, if you're troubled about your children being brainwashed, John Harwood says you're not smart enough to raise them. And you're a racist.

That's the real threat to the kids. It's their parents, not Obama's propaganda, reinforced by their teachers.

Mark Finkelstein, NewsBusters, points out a Today Show segment that delves into the alleged stupidity of parents.

He writes:

A new high-tech Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Racism. And parents too dumb to raise their children.

That was how NBC sought to explain away opposition to Pres. Obama's planned speech to schoolchildren.

Andrea Mitchell narrated a segment on this morning's Today on the subject.

ANDREA MITCHELL: Other presidents have faced opposition. But experts say it's now more organized, from cable television to blogs, to Twitter. It's gone viral.

RON BROWNSTEIN: There are mechanisms for conservatives to reach other conservatives and to keep them in a state of agitation. And that is much more developed than it was even when Bill Clinton was president.

MITCHELL: A partisan echo chamber making it much harder for any president to make his voice heard.

As if that's not weird and biased enough, John Hardwood adds his condescending two cents.

JOHN HARWOOD: In this case you've got a lot of people who are truly agitated about [the president's school speech] and I think partly that's the polarization continuing over time. And partly it's simply because Barack Obama is a different kind of president: first African-American, international elements of his background.

But I gotta tell you, Amy [Robach], as somebody who's covered Washington for a long time, this is one of the most ridiculous controversies I've ever seen. So far as I can tell, the biggest danger to kids in this whole thing is that a lot of the parents complaining aren't smart enough to raise them very effectively. Because if you think that a president coming into your school, kids school, and saying work hard and stay in school is a danger to kids, you've got some problems.

Harwood and his lib colleagues don't get the concerns of the parents.

It's an absolute insult to say this has anything to do with Obama's race as opposed to genuine parental concern over the President and his minions in American classrooms indoctrinating their children.

When the teaching materials provided by the U.S. Department of Education to accompany Obama's speech were made public, suggested classroom activities for teachers to do before, during, and after the speech, that's when this thing became an issue.

Before the speech, teachers are encouraged to ask students, "Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?"

There is no way teachers would have told students it's important to listen to what the president says when Bush held the office, unless it was to plan protests against him.

This part is particularly troubling for some parents:

Extension of the Speech: Teachers can extend learning by having students

---Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teachers to make students accountable to their goals.

The White House backed off on this "activity" since the uproar, an indication that it did send an inappropriate message.

"I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama."

"I pledge to be a servant to our president and all mankind...."

According to the teaching materials, it doesn't appear that Obama's speech was intended to be just a pep talk for the kids -- study, work hard, listen to your parents, take responsibility for your own success.

There are legitimate concerns about indoctrination on issues.

Some schools are backing off Obama's scheduled September 8 media event.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

President Barack Obama's plan to give a live address to the nation's schoolchildren is not new for a sitting president, but with opposition resonating in a polarized nation, school after school in metro Milwaukee was forced to take action Friday.

Several aligned themselves with the Elmbrook School District, which notified parents that the president's address Tuesday would not be shown live to students. Most of those also said the speech would be recorded and might be shown later.

Others found themselves in the camp of Milwaukee Public Schools, which is leaving it up to individual schools and teachers whether they want to incorporate the president's message into their classrooms.

School leaders on both sides, however, marveled at the attention given to an event that has been characterized as a back-to-school speech in which Obama plans to tell students to study hard and stay in school. By 10 p.m. Friday, an online Journal Sentinel readers forum on the topic had received more than 700 comments.

"I guess I'm kind of surprised by it," said Craig Jefson, superintendent of the Arrowhead Union High School District, which told staff and parents Friday that the speech will not be shown live in school. "You know, the president's speaking to the country, or speaking to students, and I didn't even think twice about it other than they're asking the schools to engage with the students."

The president's plan to address schoolchildren has ignited criticism, mostly from conservatives, some of whom have accused Obama of trying to indoctrinate students with the 15- to 20-minute speech.

Of particular concern were lesson plans drafted by the U.S. Department of Education to go with the address.

I think the people who are puzzled/clueless over the parents' reaction, like Andrea Mitchell and John Harwood, are failing to look at Obama's speech in the context of what he has done since becoming president.

Parents have witnessed how Obama and his administration have conducted themselves. They know of the many broken promises. They've heard the rhetoric. They know of Obama's assault on the private sector, his plan to control the country's health care system, his enlistment of an army of czars to circumvent constitutional checks and balances, his avoidance of accountability and his lies about transparency.

That context matters. Is it surprising they don't trust him?

Parents aren't "agitated" because Obama's father was black. They're concerned about Obama's intense partisanship and his extremely liberal agenda. When the government puts out lesson plans that look like they were lifted from the Soviet Union, of course there's a backlash.

Many school officials, pundits, and White House personnel, like Robert Gibbs, believe the reaction is overblown.

There's some truth to that. But given what's happened to the country since Obama and the Democrats gained control, I don't think parents should be charged with overreacting. It's understandable.

Parents certainly shouldn't be charged with not being smart enough to raise their children effectively.

They shouldn't be called racists.
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