Some Parents Choose Not to Allow Their Kids to Hear Obama's National Address

[CJB]

I can give you $2 trillion reasons. This is a family decision, not yours. We have our reasons. There is no law saying one must watch Obama his televised kiddie address. I don't tell you how to run your family affairs and decisions. On Sept 8, no tv for the kids. If you don't like it, well, frankly, too bad since the there are much better things for the kids to do than to watch a shyster on tv.

Which is perfectly fine. If you don't want to watch it, don't. But people who do want to watch the national address also have their reasons for why they do want to watch it. Everyone should have a choice in the matter. That's the point. It's not about forcing people to watch it or not to watch it, it's about giving people, by which I mean everyone, the choice.

 

[Reba]

Cover your eyes, kiddies! There is a black man in the White House! And he be tellin' big ole lies!

Why are bringing race into the debate?

I thought this was a conservative vs. liberal debate, not a black vs. white issue.

 

[Reba]

wondering if kokonut will post an article about Obama wanting to rename it to Black House

Who's playing the race card now?

 

[jillio]

Why are bringing race into the debate?

I thought this was a conservative vs. liberal debate, not a black vs. white issue.

It doesn't have to be brought in. It has clearly been a part of the issue all along. Just as JFK's Catholicism was a part of the issue to his objectors. I can still rememeber the cries of "OMG, we can't let a Catholic in the White House! The Pope will be running the country." Anytime there is the degree of protest that we have seen against Obama, and protest that can not be supported factually, and protest that applies only to the Obama Presidency and has not been applied to past administrations despite similarities in policy, the issue is far more than disagreement with policy. What we are seeing now is the outpouring of irrational fear and emotion that has relatively little to do with political issues, and quite a bit to do with non-thinking reactions to other things.

 

[CJB]

It doesn't have to be brought in. It has clearly been a part of the issue all along. Just as JFK's Catholicism was a part of the issue to his objectors. I can still rememeber the cries of "OMG, we can't let a Catholic in the White House! The Pope will be running the country." Anytime there is the degree of protest that we have seen against Obama, and protest that can not be supported factually, and protest that applies only to the Obama Presidency and has not been applied to past administrations despite similarities in policy, the issue is far more than disagreement with policy. What we are seeing now is the outpouring of irrational fear and emotion that has relatively little to do with political issues, and quite a bit to do with non-thinking reactions to other things.

Exactly. Most of the people that take issue with Obama's race don't even realize they take issue with it. They couch their reasons in political debate but again that covert racism is there.

 

[deafskeptic]

BTW, it annoys me when some liberals are critical of Obama's ability to do the job. If they disagree with Obama, I'd rather see them criticizing his polices rather than the man himself unless there is good reason to do. This piece from Counter Punch really annoyed me. I have found myself disagreeing with some of what Counter Punch writes but I read it from time to time.

 

[jillio]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is set to release on Monday the text of a controversial back-to-school speech to students from President Obama that has angered some conservative parents and pundits.

The uproar over President Obama's back-to-school speech has led the White House to release the transcript.
The text of the 18-minute speech will be posted on the White House Web site so people can read it before its scheduled Internet broadcast to schoolchildren Tuesday.

Some conservatives have expressed a fear that Obama is going to use the opportunity to press a partisan political agenda.

"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."

On Sunday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that parents who are threatening to keep their children home Tuesday to avoid Obama's speech were being "silly."

Appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Duncan emphasized that it is up to school officials whether to include the speech in the day's activities and that the message of the speech is simply to encourage children to finish school.

"That's just silly," he said of anyone planning to have their kids stay home because of the speech. "They can go to school. They can not watch."

The speech is about "the president challenging young people," Duncan asserted.

Some school administrators have decided to show the president's speech, but others will not. Watch CNN's Ed Henry talk about school speech uproar »

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible contender for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination, said Sunday that Obama's speech would disrupt an already-hectic first day of school for many students.

"I think there's concerns about the disruption," he said on CNN's "State of the Union," calling the scheduling of the speech a "little ham-fisted" by the White House.

"There [are] also concerns about is this going to be done in an appropriate manner. I trust and hope that the White House will have a content that is not political and they're not using the public school infrastructure for that purpose."

Duncan, however, noted Obama's speech is not unprecedented. President George H.W. Bush delivered a nationally televised speech to students from a Washington school in fall 1991, encouraging them to say no to drugs and work hard. Read text of Bush's speech to students (pdf)
In November 1988, President Reagan delivered more politically charged remarks that were made available to students nationwide. Among other things, Reagan called taxes "such a penalty on people that there's no incentive for them to prosper ... because they have to give so much to the government." Read text of Reagan's speech to students (pdf)

Some of the controversy over Obama's speech involved a proposed lesson plan created by the Education Department to accompany the address. An initial version of the plan recommended that students draft letters to themselves discussing "what they can do to help the president."

The letters "would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals," the plan stated.

After pressure from conservatives, the White House distributed a revised version encouraging students to write letters about how they can "achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."

Duncan said Sunday that the passage was poorly worded.

At least one conservative backed the idea for a presidential speech to students.


Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told "Fox News Sunday" that Obama's speech is a good idea if the message is a positive one about completing school.

"If that's what it is, then it is good to have the president of the United States say to young people across America, 'Stay in school, study, and do your homework,' " Gingrich said.

Text of Obama speech to be released before school broadcast - CNN.com

There you go. Did we see the same outrage over 2 caucasion Presidents' school speeches? Both were made available nationally. This is peculiar to Obama's Presidency. And judging fromthe irrationality of some of the voiced objections, it is obvious that has very little to do with party politics.

 

[jillio]

Exactly. Most of the people that take issue with Obama's race don't even realize they take issue with it. They couch their reasons in political debate but again that covert racism is there.

Exactly. One has to question if the same faction has had such a strong reaction in the past to the fact that a different party alone was in the White House, or is there a variable this time that is increasing the intensity.

 

[CJB]

"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."

:roll: What is there to be scared of?

 

[Babyblue]

This is his Speech.. It has been released. NO big deal! I can not believe all this fuss over it!! Good grief!!

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama

Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia

September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.

I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that – if you quit on school – you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home – that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down – don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Obama urges responsibility in speech he'll make to students

 

[netrox]

"I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."

GOP is a party of FEAR. It capitalizes on phony controversies. Cowards.

 

[Rio]

What all I see Obama is a fascist.

Good description, I like it.

 

[jillio]

Good description, I like it.

Could you elaborate on the specifics that would categorize him as a facist?

 

[netrox]

Could you elaborate on the specifics that would categorize him as a facist?

All you get are ridiculous explanations and misinformation.

 

[jillio]

All you get are ridiculous explanations and misinformation.

Yeah, I was just curious. People keep shouting all these buzzwords, but can't even apply them. They saw someone else use it, and it sounded intelligent to them, so they use it now. Have no frigging idea what the word even means, or how to apply the concept.

 

[darkdog]

Cover your eyes, kiddies! There is a black man in the White House! And he be tellin' big ole lies!

Wait a second. I thought bringing up race is in and of itself racist.

"Even those who swear, 'I'm not racist.' can't see that their constant mention of race is, in and of itself, racist"- jillio

http://www.alldeaf.com/war-political-news/62888-interesting-article.html#post1274224

Note that I don't agree with your logic there, but if you still agree with it, then why are you mentioning race? Do you not have to follow your own decrees? If you don't actually agree with it, that means you're just making up ad hoc logic that's convenient for your current position in an argument rather than operating from universal principles. Either way, why should anyone listen to you about what's racist and what's not?

 

[CJB]

Yeah, I was just curious. People keep shouting all these buzzwords, but can't even apply them. They saw someone else use it, and it sounded intelligent to them, so they use it now. Have no frigging idea what the word even means, or how to apply the concept.

I'd like to know what makes Obama a fascist too.

 

[CJB]

Wait a second. I thought bringing up race is in and of itself racist.

"Even those who swear, 'I'm not racist.' can't see that their constant mention of race is, in and of itself, racist"- jillio

http://www.alldeaf.com/war-political-news/62888-interesting-article.html#post1274224

Note that I don't agree with your logic there, but if you still agree with it, then why are you mentioning race? Do you not have to follow your own decrees? If you don't actually agree with it, that means you're just making up ad hoc logic that's convenient for your current position in an argument rather than operating from universal principles. Either way, why should anyone listen to you about what's racist and what's not?

In that context it is racist. To vote or not vote for someone cause of their race is racist. Talking about his race in general isn't racist. Way to take things out of context.

 

[darkdog]

If you want context, here's what she was responding to:

Obama has been in office for almost 2 months and already so many jokes, comments, and etc about race or about him as being the black president has been made. When is it gonna stop?

I'd say that covers talking about his race in general.

 

[CJB]

I'd say that covers talking about his race in general.

I read the thread.

Why is it necessary to point out that many black voters voted for Obama? That, in and of itself, is indicative of covert racial attitudes.

The fact is, he was elected by a landslide majority made up of many different demographics. The colors of the individual skins of the majority that elected him do not matter. The fact is, he was elected by a landslide majority of voters.

I bet several of the voters wore green shirts when they voted for Obama, and several probably had suits on. That is just as irrelevent as the color of their skin.

Nope, it's fact. A majority of voters is a majority of voters. Final outcome...Obama was elected.

He was elected because a majority of voters elected him.

Why do you feel the need to point out the skin color of the voters?

Again it's not just about race in general. It's about why people constantly turned to the race of the voters as the reason for why they voted for him instead of the politics.