Parents across the country are rebelling against plans by President Barack Obama to speak directly to their children through the classrooms of the nation's public schoolsAnd back on planet Earth, here's how the Department of Education is describing the speech:
without their presence, participation and approval.
The plans announced by Obama also have been cited as raising the specter of the Civilian National Security Force, to which he's referred several times since his election campaign began, but never fully explained.
"He's recruiting his civilian army. His 'Hitler' youth brigade," wrote one participant in a forum at Free Republic.
"I am not going to compare President Obama to Hitler. We'll leave that to others and you can form your own opinions about them and their analogies. ... However, we can learn a lot from the spread of propaganda in Europe that led to Hitler's power. A key ingredient in that spread of propaganda was through the youth," wrote a blogger at the AmericanElephant.com blog, where the subject of the day was a national "Keep-Your-Child-at-Home-Day."
Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America. (Please note that this is a change from the originally scheduled time.) During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.Yep political indoctrination of course. Sure. Right. Whatever you say, pal. Politico has more fuel for the wingnut crazie:
"He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens," [Department of Education Secretary Arne] Duncan said in a press release.An outrage! That's socialism, I say! Socialism and it stinks to high heaven!
One last thing: notice the rhetorical device (called paraleipsis, by the way) used by the freerepublic writer - by claiming this isn't a comparison to Hitler, what's being said is that it really is.
I'm not going to mention how stupid that writer sounds.
Salon's "War room" also wrote about this. One particularly good quote: "And Gary Bauer, a leader of the religious right, told supporters, "the Obama Administration is using its power in unprecedented ways, this time injecting itself into the nation’s classrooms. Tuesday may be a good day to sit in on your child’s classes.""
ReplyDeleteI think that would be a good idea for any parent, Republican or Democrat. Although I do think the Republican parents might benefit more, and public school kids might benefit more if Republican parents suddenly started pushing for more school funding (after seeing the state of their schools).
Any mention of the nationwide outcry over President HW Bush's classroom address in 1989?
ReplyDeleteNo?
That's because there wasn't any... despite the president talking about crack whores having crack babies...
Is anyone else really frustrated that the retarded right gets to cleverly manipulate language to serve it's own needs? If there was a god, he'd have made Frank Luntz a liberal.
ReplyDeleteEllipses... Per NewsBusters:
ReplyDeleteAs Barack Obama prepares a nationwide broadcast to America's students next Tuesday, it has been revealed that Democrats complained in 1991 when then President George H. W. Bush broadcast a speech from a Northwest Washington junior high school.
In fact, the House Majority leader at the time, Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), said "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students."
Such was reported by the Washington Post on October 3, 1991 (h/t KY3 Political Notebook via Chuck Todd):
House Democrats criticized President Bush yesterday for using Education Department funds to produce and broadcast a speech that he made Tuesday at a Northwest Washington junior high school.
The Democratic critics accused Bush of turning government money for education to his own political use, namely, an ongoing effort to inoculate himself against their charges of inattention to domestic issues. The speech at Alice Deal Junior High School, broadcast live on radio and television, urged students to study hard, avoid drugs and turn in troublemakers.
"The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.' " Two House committees demanded that the department explain the use of its funds for the speech, an explanation that Deputy Secretary David T. Kearns provided late in the day in a letter to Rep. William D. Ford (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was out of town. [...]
Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), chairwoman of the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, said it was outrageous for the White House to "start using precious dollars for campaigns" when "we are struggling for every silly dime we can get" for education programs.
Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.) said that if Bush feels obliged to use government funds to hire outside consultants "to make him look good," then he should fire some of the public relations experts on the White House payroll. "Then the president might be more sympathetic to unemployment benefits," Frost said, referring to Bush's threat to veto legislation to extend benefits.
Makes one wonder if today's media, with the economy in what they've repeatedly called the worst recession since the Great Depression, will question Obama's use of education funds for his upcoming speech.
After all, when you look at Education Secretary Arne Duncan's letter concerning this event, one has to assume it's costing the Department a great deal of money.
As far as I know, this is going to be on C-SPAN, which hopefully should be on the TV systems for the school boards. How will that cost more money than a live broadcast of the House or Senate?
ReplyDeleteCM, it is certainly reasonable to reference previous Democratic complaints about the first President Bush doing something similar to what Obama is planning to do Tuesday. I looked a little and I couldn't find anything about what the first President Bush said, apart from what you and Ellipses say.
ReplyDeleteBut no where in your comment to I see Democrats or liberal commentators comparing Bush to Hitler, or saying that he wanted to recruit a Hitler youth brigade. Granted, the people in Dayvoe's post maybe only members of fringe groups, but Jim Greer, chair of the Florida Republican Party said Obama is spreading a Socialist ideology and Michelle Malkin linked the speech to Bill Ayers (this from the Slate article I referenced above). Major conservative players are continuing to accuse the President of socialism and trying to link him to terrorism. All because he wants to help school kids in general and presumably minority school kids in particular to improve their lives with education.
Ed.. It is my understanding that President Bush's speech was much different from the "What can you do to help President Obama" message that (initially.. until a firestorm of criticism) of Obama. What President Bush did is in NO WAY similar to what Obama is doing.
ReplyDeleteAre you aware of the initial message to the PreK-6 students? I'll enlighten you...
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/prek-6.pdf
Again, a far, far cry from President Bush.. who stressed personal repsonsibility and accountablity.. as opposed to "listen to your government officials", "what does Barack Hussein Obama want me to do?".. ad nauseum.
I'd post the transcript of President Bush's speech, but it exceeds the 4,096 character limit.
ReplyDeleteYou can find it here (among other places, I presume) at FreeRepublic.com, Post #12...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2331461/posts
I, for one, am going to call my local School District (Chartiers Valley) tommorrow to express my thoughts on this matter even though I have no children in the District now (daughter is in College)... just because I have no children in the schools doesn't mean I should idly sit back... never been much of an "activist" but the last 8-9 months have changed that.. big time.. I hope other Conservatives have been awakened.
ReplyDeleteWell, CM, I read the PreK-6 pdf. What I read were requests from the Department of Education not to waste the money they are spending by letting the kids ignore the words of the President. They were suggesting ways of organizing the discussion before and after, and ways of having a student or all the students take notes and actively listen. Nothing about the content of what the President will say. I am, frankly, insulted that you drew the conclusions you did from that pdf. That is a deliberate misrepresentation of what is in there, and to use that to compare the speech Bush gave and the speech Obama will give is to deliberately try to mislead the readers of this blog.
ReplyDeleteI also read the speech that the first President Bush gave. It is, absolutely, a fine speech. I actually have always a fair amount of respect and affection for the first President Bush, I went so far as to vote for him in 1992. I thought he was/is a good man. I will say that while I later warmed to Clinton and I thought he was a pretty good President, but I would always agree with anyone who said that as a person he has a slimy side.
Now, I have read media reports on the internet that say that what Obama says he wants to say on Tuesday should be very, very close to what President Bush said in 1991. Now, CM, you can say you know better, you can say you know what kind of disgusting slime bag Barack Obama is, and what he will say. After Tuesday, you can say that when he said “stay in school” he really meant “I am a god, follow me and kill the conservatives when I give the order”.
Or you can listen with an open mind and be a fair person. ‘sup to you.
There may have been a voice or two in opposition to HW's speech... but where liberals organizing a nationwide "keep your kid home from school" day? What does it say about your side of the political fence that you don't even want to HEAR what the opposition says?
ReplyDeleteI would never raise my son to be cut off from the voices and views of conservatives... that's willful ignorance.
where = were
ReplyDeleteSorry for my letterz malfunctionz
Someone over at the Great Orange Satan found a YouTube clip of G.H.W. Bush's speech which you can see here. The reason Bush's talk was criticized was because he was using to promote his educational policies.
ReplyDeleteNote also that Poppy Bush gave the speech in October 1991--right before the election cycle was about to start. Bush's approval ratings were in the tank (though nothing compared to what his son's were like 17 years later).
Actually, to be fair to our conservative friends, Obama may not be facing an election but he is facing the (symbolically) most significant challenge of his Presidency so far in healthcare, and I'll bet he would like to have a bunch of what Michelle Malkin called "junior lobbyists" on his side. Just sayin'
ReplyDelete