The nation’s daddy speaks to children
After a round of protests from conservatives and from parents and school officials who didn’t want the President of the United States mobilizing impressionable young school children to his political causes, the rewrite crew toned it down.
In the end, it wasn’t the cult leader starting the process of organizing the school children into Obama- atics who could support the Leader’s neighborhood political network. It wasn’t, either, the beginning of the classroom recycling initiative. That’s where first graders taught that recycling bottles, newspapers and plastic was the way to save the planet grew to adulthood as “green” fanatics. The schools are the ideal place for government to indoctrinate children and, for that reason, they’re no place for a President’s agenda, except perhaps for wartime where the nation’s survival is at risk.
Obama’s speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., based on the prepared text, is really the kind of parental lesson most all children once got at home from their fathers. Education really is a job that requires two parents. What Obama does at Wakefield is to deliver a fatherly message to children that reinforces the engaged single parent’s or substitutes for the the non-involved parent. If we could assume that most children had mothers and fathers in the home — and with an out-of-wedlock birth rate that reaches 70 percent for black children, almost 50 percent for Hispanic and 25 percent for white, we can’t routinely make that assumption — there’d be no need for a President to play the role of National Daddy reminding children that it’s a tough world out there and they’d better be prepared. But, alas, we do occasionally need an authority figure speaking that truth.
This should be a last, though, for President Obama, barring some national emergency. He does have an agenda that much of the country opposes and he’ll not be able to avoid the temptation to organize the kiddies to serve the Leader. Others can deliver the fatherly talks.
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© 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
130 comments Add your comment
TW
September 8th, 2009
8:14 am
There is no greater nail in the GOP coffin of hate than an education.
jt
September 8th, 2009
8:18 am
Let’s get tough on them fathers, Jim.
You probably supported the “Bradley Amendment.
The Amendment has been a controversial law and has resulted in several notorious examples of unintended consequences including:
* A veteran of the first Gulf War who was captured in Kuwait in 1990 and spent nearly five months as an Iraqi hostage being arrested the night after his release for not paying child support while he was a hostage.
* A Texas man wrongly accused in 1980 of murder. After 10 years in prison, the man sued the state for wrongful imprisonment. The state responded with a bill for nearly $50,000 in child support that had not been paid while in prison.
* A Virginia man required to pay retroactive child support even though DNA tests proved that he could not have been the father.
In September 1999, Marilyn Ray Smith, the Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Child Support Enforcement Division gave the following testimony before the US House of Representatives.
As you know, under the Bradley Amendment enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1986, a child support obligation becomes a judgment by operation of law as of the date that that it is due and unpaid. In addition, under Section 368 of PRWORA (42 U.S.C. 666 (a) (4)), an administrative lien also arises by operation of law against any unpaid child support. It is therefore not necessary to return to court after each payment is missed to get past-due support reduced to a judgment in order to obtain a lien or enforce a judgment. This means that a child support agency can move quickly to seize income and assets of a delinquent noncustodial parent without first passing through a judicial or quasi-judicial hearing process.”
In 2003, Keith McLeod, author of The Multiple Scandals of Child Support, testified before the Committee on Ways and Means that
“The 1986 Bradley Amendment to Title IV-D forbids any reduction of arrearage or retroactive reduction for any reason, ever. This reinforces the approach that inability to pay is no excuse. Needless to say, there are endless stories of men who are now crushed by a debt they will never be able to pay because they were:
* In a coma
* A captive of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War
* In jail
* Medically incapacitated
* Lost their job but were confident of another so did nothing until it was too late
* Did not know they could not ask for retroactive adjustments and waited too long
* Cannot afford a lawyer to seek adjustment when adjustment was warranted
* Wouldn’t use the legal system even if they could, feeling it alien from their world, so don’t ask for a reduction when the legal establishment expects them to.
Some say this measure is a violation of due process and cruel and unusual as it removes the use of human discretion from dealing with individual cases, not to mention removing human compassion. But non-custodial fathers do not have the money to fight a constitutional case.”
As of 2004[update], the Bradley Amendment was being challenged as unconstitutional and was the subject of a repeal effort.
* February 2006 the court case has been dismissed and Congress has made no visible effort to reform the Bradley amendment.
[edit] References
Huckabee The Next POTUS 2012
September 8th, 2009
8:23 am
At least my children won’t be listening to the obozo today. I was very proud when my 12 year old informed me that if she was unfortunate enough to have parents who practiced child abuse by sending her and her sister to public schools, she would be willing to chance suspension by walking out on the idiot in chief. Even at 12 she understands the freedoms that we took for granted not so long ago are fading quickly under obambam and his merry band of czars.
Eli Jones
September 8th, 2009
8:43 am
How unhappy are you with Dear Leader and his Marxist’s czars? Many of us want to send Dear Leader back to the political sewers of the corrupt Chicago Political mafia from whence he came.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/impeach-obama
Single Mom
September 8th, 2009
8:51 am
That’s right, Mr. Wooten. It’s MY FAULT your Daddy’s a black man! Good right-thinking people need to shun me and my offspring, dump unrecycled bottles and cans into landfills every day, and pull their children out of school. YOU TELL ‘EM!
Davo
September 8th, 2009
8:57 am
“That’s where first graders taught that recycling bottles, newspapers and plastic was the way to save the planet grew to adulthood as “green” fanatics.”
Isn’t that practice called ‘conservatism’?
Get a grip, JW.
Single Mom
September 8th, 2009
9:00 am
“recycling bottles, newspapers and plastic…”
THOSE B–TARDS! That’s a sure way to identify people who are anti-God, anti-family, anti-soldier, anti-American, and pro-taxes.
TRUTH
September 8th, 2009
9:00 am
Did you bother to read the speach before writing this?
Churchill's MOM
September 8th, 2009
9:02 am
What a waste.. Write about Sara Palin, who cares about Obama.
***********Handel 2010**********Palin Sanford 2012*****************
EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP
September 8th, 2009
9:09 am
NO EDUCATION JIMBO MEANS MORE STUPID WHITE REDNECK BACKWOOD HICKS,ONCE THE REPUBLICANS GAIN POWER AGAIN,SINCE THEY ARE THE PARTY OF SATAN,AMERICA WILL COME CRASHING DOWN,BECAUSE OF THE EVIL THAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS READY TO DO,LETS KEEP ALL THE GEORGIA REDNECKS SUPER STUPID SO THAT WE CAN KEEP THESE STUPID HICKS BROKE,THANK YOU SONNY,PHIL,RUSH,BUSH,CHENEY AND SUXBY! FOR KEEPING THE HICKS IN THEIR POOR PLACE!
NoWayOut
September 8th, 2009
9:31 am
Jim Wooten, you really are a loser.
Ironman Carmichael
September 8th, 2009
9:34 am
Most people of my generation will remember when a police officer or some other authority figure came to speak to the class. If the authority figure was important enough, the whole school would be herded into the auditorium for assembly. Not only did the teachers warn us beforehand to be on our best behavior, the visitor would admonish us to be diligent, avoid waste, help the less fortunate, don’t pollute, obey the laws, respect our elders, and work to make this a better world. Afterwards, we usually had to write a report on the speech. Now it turns out we were the victims of a radical socialist agenda. Whom do we sue?
SMH
September 8th, 2009
9:50 am
Thanks Jim, for once again giving me my daily dose of craziness. You never let me down.
Alex
September 8th, 2009
9:56 am
“The Nations Daddy?” Are you kidding me? Obama Bin Laden should come to Atlanta and have a nice long talk with his fellow thugs instead and try to do something about the crime since Atlanta’s black leadership does nothing about it. Go Mary Norwood!
Lisa sue
September 8th, 2009
10:02 am
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.
MrLiberty
September 8th, 2009
10:06 am
The real issue is why is government involved in education at all. There is no constitutional authorization for it. That should be the focus of every anti-Obama commentary, but the repubicans like their subsidy just like the rest of the country, and they are more than happy to have a republican use the government brainwashing factory to their ends if it suits them.
It was nice to see some of the intelligent posts here that spoke of freedom and individuality. The real question is why are you still sending your children to these indoctrination centers at all? Why do you continue to support candidates who endorce the presence of government run schools at all? Even if your children are immune to the indoctrination, and even if you are doing the right thing and homeschooling them, every other child is absorbing the statist, pro-government lies and is then growing up and voting for the destruction of your child’s future.
You can’t just sit on the fence on this issue. These are your tax dollars that are being used against you and your future.
This speech should be a rallying call to every american who cares about freedom to work towards the end of all government run schools in america. After the Federal Reserve, they are the most dangerous institution in america today.
Whatever
September 8th, 2009
10:14 am
Mr. Liberty – did you question why the government was in education when Bush rushed through No Child Left Behind??
Just asking.
MrLiberty
September 8th, 2009
10:16 am
Lisa, there’s a link on the front page of the AJC. What’s your point?
Notice where he talks about kids 250 years ago sitting where they are today? Kids back then did not attend government run brainwashing centers. There were none. Government run schooling is a product of the late 1800’s, and was primarily put in place to destroy the cultural fabric and traditions of the massive waves of catholics that were coming over from Italy and Ireland. Washington dropped out of school when he was 12 and Franklin dropped out when he was 10 and finished his education on his own. Most kids were taught at home in the day.
Self-reliance, god-given rights, and individuality were what parents made sure their kids learned early. That is what laid the foundation for the kid of folks who stood up to King George and fought to gain their independence. It wasn’t an education system that spent it time teaching about recycling, self-esteem, zero tollerance, and the glory of the state. It wasn’t a system that drugged every kid that didn’t fit into their compliance mold or who showed a lack of interest in their dumbed down curriculum.
If you can’t see the bias toward how great government is and how government has the responsibility to solve everyone’s problems in this speech then you obviously sucked up too much of the indoctrination yourselves. The only positive I saw was his recounting his mom taking the responsibility to make sure he got the education he needed by supplementing his education with homeschooling. If our king would step up to the plate and promote more of that, he would will far more favor than the rest of his statist speech will.
Lisa sue
September 8th, 2009
10:21 am
For those too lazy/biased to click on the link. You’re welcome.
Bob
September 8th, 2009
10:25 am
You are not speaking for me Mr. Wooten. I would not walk across the street to hear anything this socialist bozo who wants nothing more than to be president of the world has to say. The very ideals that our country has spent most of the last seventy years fighting against are the guts of what this man is proposing for our country. Have you forgotten Nazi Germany, national socialism, or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? Do you want us to become the United Socialist States of America? Who is your daddy? He most certainly is not mine and I do not much regard him as my president.
MrLiberty
September 8th, 2009
10:25 am
My history of commentary against Bush is well-documented in these pages. I have been a firm Libertarian since the late 80’s. The greatest thing about being a principled libertarian is being able to look at the two worthless parties that have taken control of this country with some real objectivity.
You obviously read my commentary as most do thinking I would obviously support Bush since there are only two sides to the coin. How shortsighted and unfortunate for you. The two party system in this country survives primarily by making everyone think that the “other side” is the only alternative.
Just look at how the health care debate has been framed. You either support complete socialism or you want things to stay the same. There are hundreds of other proposals on the table that you will never hear about that propose radical changes from the current horrible situation. But it is far easier for the democrats to frame things that way rather than address the real issues.
In Bushes term it was “either you are with us or with the terrorists.” How absurd. We didnt’ need to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Afghanis or Iraqis just because of 9-11. These folks had nothing to do with the event, but rather than address his critics, Bush made the two sided coin argument.
In every election, the debate is framed the same. My candidate sucks, but your’s sucks more. Giant douche or turd sandwich as the wonderful South Park episode so clearly framed it.
Get out and discover the world of other possibilities. It is possible to dislike both the republicans and the democrats because they both care more about government power then the american citizens, the constitution, liberty, freedom, and the like.
http://www.lewrockwell.com
http://www.mises.org
lyric melody's mom
September 8th, 2009
10:29 am
just a question to all you out there but, where was the uproar when regan and bush sr spoke to the school children? To Huckabee The Next POTUS 2012
its great that your 12 year old is able to disagree and voice her opinon but to allow her to bash and name call is concerning.
MissAnthrope
September 8th, 2009
10:30 am
I don’t know about you, but the thought of the what the result of every child being homeschooled by today’s parents is terrifying!
MrLiberty
September 8th, 2009
10:30 am
Lisa. Ok, thanks for the content. Hey, I read it. But what is your point or thought on the speech? Do you think that nobody who is commenting could have read the speech? There can obviously be vast differences of opinion on the content. So what is yours?
MrLiberty
September 8th, 2009
10:33 am
What is more terrifying is the fact that the vast majority of parents actually trust the government to give their kids a better education, founded on better principles than they think they can. The spirit that Obama talks about that was behind our revolution against England in 1776 was certainly not today’s spirit and our country is what it is precisely for that reason.
MAL
September 8th, 2009
10:34 am
I love how all the Republicans and right wing crazies blasted a speech THEY HADN’T READ!!! Wooten, you say “the rewrite crew.” The speech is exactly what the White House has said it would be the entire time; an inspirational address to students, imploring them to work harder. YOU and your ilk were the ones screaming about socialist indoctrination, not the White House. But keep up the delusional dreaming there, Jim.
As for the ones who are pulling their kids out of school, or telling them not to listen, you, once again, show the true colors of the current Republican-conservative sector of this country. You lost the White House, your candidate lost the election, so you act like a bunch of spoiled, petulant 5 year olds. We, the rational citizens of this great nation, have come to expect no less from you.
clyde
September 8th, 2009
10:34 am
I think it’s nice that Obama has finally found an audience of his peers.
KLJ
September 8th, 2009
10:54 am
Has anyone stop to consider the example we setting for our children with our inability to have a civil dialogue? Not once has anyone objected to past presidents (Reagan and Bush I) speaking to our children. The President and his wife are wonderful examples of the power of education regardless of their politics. There are examples on the right just as powerful such as Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Chuck Grassley to name a few.
It is a very dark day for America when we unable to put aside partisan politics to support what should be an area of agreement, the importance of education for our children. Even Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich have been able to put aside their political differences to work together on the issue of education. I don’t like either of them but respect their efforts on this issue.
For those who accuse the President of “attempting to brainwash the kids with socialism”, I ask you how aware are you of the teachers who promulgate their own personal politics into their lessons to our kids? It happens every day from both sides of the political spectrum. Where is the outrage?
I guess it is more productive for our kids to learn from VH1 or MTV than to hear a positive message from our President.
nita
September 8th, 2009
10:54 am
I am so sick of the racism that America hates to talk about but shows it in everything they do where O’bama is concerned. I did have a choice as a teenager to listen to a presidential speech, Bush was the president and I had to watch or get a zero in class. Funny, we “white” American’s always proclaiming that racism doesn’t exist and time after time our actions prove us wrong. He is the president and should be afforded the same priviledges as our past presidents no matter how inept or criminal they were. Wake up and smell the coffee. We still have a hard time embracing our black President. I’m ashamed and our country will never move forward it we keep taking it backwards
Jackie D.
September 8th, 2009
10:55 am
WOW….who knew electing a president that doesn’t look like the other 43 could spew so much hate….continuously. Way to go Georgia, keep teaching your kids that diversity is evil.
That’s what it comes down to…even with you Jim Wooten, cause if John McCain was attempting to give this speech, you would allow your kids to listen. The south sucks in a big way.
SOUTHERN ATL
September 8th, 2009
11:00 am
Jim,
Is that the appropriate salutation that a columnist should be using to address the leader of this great country? The heading would have sounded more professional if the title would have read “The Nation’s President Speaks to Children”!
New Hampshire
September 8th, 2009
11:01 am
Wow same old crap from the lefties on here… The GOP LOVES education and that’s why we’re sickened by the fact that it’s been taken over and used to brainwash our kids to grow up to all be little Van Jones.
I ought to know, I am a teacher of 35 years.
We should not give ONE MORE CENT to a politicized educational system that to me as a teacher was like being in a cult and worse than Cuba.
It’s EDUCATION we want, NOT INDOCTRINATION with slimeball politics and induction into Obama’s armed civilian national security force. Government education is illegal!
And yes we did not like NCLB and we still fight it.
Hmm, opposing a speech we haven’t read? I suppose that’s like promoting a health care plan the congress and president himself hasn’t read!
It’s about control not about health or care!
dave
September 8th, 2009
11:03 am
Cool, Lisa sue . . .
deegee
September 8th, 2009
11:05 am
Imagine, a POTUS that pulled himself up from his own bootstraps and wants to inspire young people to do the same thing. A POTUS that implores young people to take personal responsibility for themselves and their education.
How many of the parents that are keeping their kids out of public school today are driving around in a $50k SUV equipped with DVD players that entertain their precious cargo, yet wouldn’t spend a dime on a private school education for them?
Leon
September 8th, 2009
11:09 am
@ 8:23 a.m. Huckabee The Next POTUS 2012 said “I was very proud when my 12 year old informed me that if she was unfortunate enough to have parents who practiced child abuse by sending her and her sister to public schools, she would be willing to chance suspension by walking out on the idiot in chief.”
I’m sure she just thought of that on her own. Or maybe she was reciting verbatim the vile & putrid spewings from her intolerant, cretinous parents. My guess is the latter.
Elle
September 8th, 2009
11:10 am
Its about Hate and Racism. They hated President Clinton because he was a Democrat and they particularly hate President Obama because he is a Democrat and a minority. I did not care for President Bush but I RESPECTED him as the President. My children knew he was the President and I taught them to have respect for that office. In Georgia some of the same folks that are teaching their kids to hate the President were the same ones that spat on my brothers and me and called us the N word when we went to Stone Mountain in the 70’s so I really am not surprised at the level of hate that I see. This is why Georgia children are the most uneducated in the nation because of nitwits like this.
You want government to stay out of your lives? Ok well then:
1. No more military.
Lets disband the military because we don’t want government trying to trample over our rights to be unprotected.
2. Disband the police force and fire departments.
When we say government we mean the local one as well. How dare you socialist pigs try to protect us against our will.
3. Lets get rid of all government laws in the workplace.
How dare you make my employer pay me at least the minimum pay. Let me work 80 hours a week at $1.10 per hour if I want to. How dare you evil government people.
4. Lets send all policiticians home including the President, Govenors, Senators etc.
Why do we need politicians when we hate the government. Arent they the government also? Let us just govern ourselves and we will build our own roads with our uncles and cousins and stuff when we need to go to the store or something.
See how idiotic that is?
SB
September 8th, 2009
11:16 am
we could assume that most children had mothers and fathers in the home — and with an out-of-wedlock birth rate that reaches 70 percent for black children, almost 50 percent for Hispanic and 25 percent for white, we can’t routinely make that assumption — there’d be no need for a President to play the role of National Daddy reminding children that it’s a tough world out there and they’d better be prepared. But, alas, we do occasionally need an authority figure speaking that truth.
-Jim Wooten, why arent you retired, you are a stupid idiot.
Name (required)
September 8th, 2009
11:17 am
I am no fan of Obama, but some of you are outright IDIOTS! Holy hell.
How soon until we can get the Democrat and Republican parties declared terrorist organizations?
Jena's Mom
September 8th, 2009
11:17 am
Referencing the uproar over Obama’s address to schoolchildren, which will be aired nationwide Tuesday, Laura Bush said it’s “really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States.”
Bush didn’t completely dismiss the concerns of some conservatives but noted that controversial Education Department plans recommending that students draft letters discussing what they can do to help Obama had been changed.
“I think there is a place for the president … to talk to schoolchildren and encourage” them, she said. Parents should follow his example and “encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have.”
Bush indicated that she didn’t think it was fair for Obama to be labeled a “socialist” by critics and expressed her disappointment with the intensely polarized nature of contemporary American politics.
howard
September 8th, 2009
11:23 am
What an insulting and biased piece. You’re the very reason I stopped my home delivery. I appreciate intelligent liberal and conservative viewpoints and am affected by both. But, I am nauseated by your writing. I had no problem with Bush speaking to school children. He was our President and while I disagreed with many of his policy positions I never questioned that he cared about America or its youth. The same goes for President Obama. By your perverse logic, it would have been wrong for George Washington to speak to school children way back when. Perhaps it is wrong for young children to have read some of Lincoln’s addresses for they surely espoused a cause. For an important and popular American, whether he be the President or an Atlanta Brave, or Tiger Woods to address the importance of getting a good education on, yes, impressionable young people has value. You don’t.
Sanity Is Temporary--Insanity is Permanent
September 8th, 2009
11:23 am
Mr. Jim Wooten and Crew—I don’t know whether you know or not, your views are only yours–no matter how small. Look at the big picture–you and your followers make up a very small percentage of the world’s population; your views could be very slighted and small natured if you haven’t had international exposure to anything other than the Foothills of Insanity. Continue living with Mr. Horn and Mrs. Thorn–influencing others with bizzare teachings—apparently you really enjoy this kind of stuff—but remember hotter days are just that much closer.
sharecropper
September 8th, 2009
11:29 am
Mr. Wooten: what in the world is it about “conservatives” — and you can’t spell conservative without con — that makes you all so unrelentingly smarmy? There is so much hatred, venom and vitriol from you folks it is almost frightening to think there might be people in your house just like you. And regarding “socialism” and a national health plan, lots of folks — particularly in the Bible belt, can probably point to chapter and verse of the New Testament where Jesus feeds the multitudes, heals lepers and epileptics … and doesn’t charge them a cent. Jesus Christ: Christianity’s first socialist. But you and your’s probably don’t include those chapters in your bedside Bible. It makes religion too hard for you. Some fatherly advice: remember the wingnuts, you among them, lost the last election, when “much of the country” elected Obama by 10 million votes. I know it is driving you nuts. You and Rush. But do you got to be like him?
BL
September 8th, 2009
11:30 am
I didn’t vote for Obama, nor do I have a school aged child, as mine is a senior in college. I have always encouraged her to listen to all sides of an issue, and use her own morales and beliefs to weigh the validity of any message she receives. Obama is the elected president of this country, so that would me my advice to her, or any school aged child today. Listen respectfully to what the man has to say, and in the end, if you hear something useful, put it to work.
Chris Broe
September 8th, 2009
11:32 am
Jim Wooten and the Death of the Right: The Cemetary Group-Think of the Constitutionally Decomposed.
Is the Right even welcome in this country anymore?
Troglodyke
September 8th, 2009
11:32 am
I read the speech and I see absolutely nothing in it political, or unworthy of being said.
Conservatives have turned this non-issue into a starting block for their resurrection, and it’s not hard to see why. Their numbers are in the toilet, and they will stop at nothing to vilify and block Obama at every turn.
That doesn’t mean the man shouldn’t be challenged. He is not being very conservative with our money (but, neither was Bush), which is NOT something I’m happy about. However, I sort of expect it with a Democrat.
But he’s not a Nazi, or a Socialist. I still believe he can, and will, do the right thing, despite his opposition. I also like him because he is intelligent, values education, understands that this is not a Christian nation, and has, unlike Bush, the ability to admit when he’s made mistakes.
This speech is not one of them. But, nice try, Republicans. He’s in office mainly due to your silence during the last 8 years (and the poor choice you made for a vice-presidential candidate last year). So, complain away, but your ineptitude is partly to blame for the Congress and President that are in power now.
Sanord-Palin 2012? Holy cow. What a ticket of ineptitude! Seriously, this is coming from the “family values” party? It’s OK to lie and cheat, as long as it’s with a hot chick, huh? Oh, and as long as it’s heterosexual, of course. Family values at work! Sanford is a moron with a God complex…oh, wait…that’s why you want him! You want God in the White House.
Homeschooling is fine if you have the skills, except it is indoctrination as much as public schooling is, and you know it. You are not against indoctrination, as long as it’s YOUR brand of it.
Only in America, where a vast majority of people profess belief in a supernatural deity that resides in the sky, would we try to block a message about hard work and perseverance. The same party that screams about “individual responsibility” actually thinks that a speech about that very subject is bad.
Go figure.
clyde
September 8th, 2009
11:33 am
My children were educated and they learned what responsibility was without the interference of a President.I don’t vote for a president so that my children can be spoken to.I want the President to guide the counrty in it’s everyday dealings.I’ll take care of my own children.That’s my job.His is to keep the country on an even keel so I can do my job.He has failed to to this,as did the one preceding him.
Bubba
September 8th, 2009
11:35 am
Curious, but when did it become bad for a president to address our schools? Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton. Regardless of their political leanings, it was an honor for the Most Powerful Man in the World to speak to children in a school setting.
I blame you, Jim. You and other journalists, liberal or conservative, for creating such a vitriolic cacophony of poisonous fumes that turns real life into an endless talk show, one that doesn’t allow us to change stations. You have taken freedom of speech and turned it into freedom of hate. Hate of different, hate of new, hate of…. Hate. How can we expect the world to respect the office of the President when its own citizens can’t, or won’t.
I’m a Republican. Not a conservative, but a Republican. There’s a difference, Jim. Want to know when the Republican party became the party of Hate? When the Conservatives turned political discussion into the modern day Salem witch trials. “You must pray in school, you cannot have sex, you cannot drink or smoke. You cannot have an abortion, but you can – you MUST – spend every penny you have, and then some, keeping someone alive for years that is a vegetable.” Remember Terri Schiavo? “You’re either with us, or against us.”
Why should I tolerate you, or Limbaugh, or Hannity, or any other neo-Fascist – excuse me, Conservative – when you yourself are so intolerant of others? No more. I’m taking my country back, taking my party back, taking it back from your strangling grip of intolerance, puratinism, and hate. I encourage Democrats to take their party back from the Liberals. I’m not going to look for another station. I’m going to turn the damned thing off. Turn it off, go outside, and talk to my neighbors, talk to people I’ve never met, and just talk. Talk to them, not at them.
My children will listen to what our President has to say. Then, we will talk about it at dinner. Because I don’t give a damn what their teachers say. I don’t give a damn if the school board tries to preempt free speech with their own censorship. My children will form their own conclusions. Not Rush Limbaugh’s conclusions, not Nancy Pelosi’s conclusions. My children will think for themselves. Oh, you will play a part in this, Jim.
We will use your section of the newspaper to wrap up the garbage.
kd bart
September 8th, 2009
11:36 am
The level of your hackery never ceases to amaze me, Jim. If the RNC came out with talking points supporting the idea that the earth was flat and that’s what should be taught in school, you would be out with a column the next day in support of The Flat Earth Society.
Maria
September 8th, 2009
11:40 am
Let’s be real, people are not objecting because it’s the president, they are objecting because it’s the Black President and some people can’t get over that. With Georgia being one of the leaders in the nation with its drop out rate, what would be wrong with encourgement to stay in school. The “conservatives” asked for a copy of the speech to be released..it has..and they still aren’t satisfied. Your president is BLACK……get over it! Listen up so called conservatives – your ignorance is why kids have to be told to GET AN EDUCATION.
JF McNamara
September 8th, 2009
11:46 am
“He does have an agenda that much of the country opposes and he’ll not be able to avoid the temptation to organize the kiddies to serve the Leader.”
How is his agenda one that much of the country opposes? He won the election based on the platform he’s trying to install. Even healtchare which is “controversial” has an approval rating in the mid to high forties. You (and a bunch of other southern Republicans) just don’t approve of his agenda which is not even a majority.
Don’t let the loud voices of opposition and talk radio distort your reality. America still supports this President very much.
Who cares about the speech? We’ll have forgotten it ever took place Monday.