Right wing’s schoolyard taunt: Obama’s a socialist and so's your mama

Just when you thought the culture wars were ancient history comes this news bulletin: Conservatives are up in arms over President Obama’s planned speech to schoolchildren Tuesday, the day millions of Americans return to work and school after the Labor Day holiday, touting the value of education.

After a summer of stoking controversy over nonexistent death panels in healthcare plans, critics on the right are now charging that the White House -- which plans to broadcast the speech live on the White House website and over C-SPAN -- is trying to indoctrinate their innocents on issues like healthcare reform and federal spending. Thanks to conservative talk radio and the right-wing blogosphere, Obama’s speech to children has been turned into a lighting rod for socialism.

 “As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education -- it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality,” said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell. “This is something you’d expect to see in North Korea or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”

Even the chairman of a state Republican Party, Jim Greer in Florida, has joined the fray, warning that Obama is trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

With rumors spreading faster than a California wildfire, school districts in six states -- Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin -- have opted out and will not show the speech. Others are mulling it over.

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To be fair, the Education Department in Washington may have helped stoke the controversy by suggesting in a lesson plan to teachers that, as part of the presidential moment, they could ask students to write letters to themselves about “what they can do to help the president.” That language has now been replaced with the injunction to write about “how they can achieve their short-term and long-term goals.”

Still, this faux controversy has stirred such a fuss that the White House is now planning to release the president’s remarks Monday -- one day before Obama’s back-to-school address -- so parents and teachers can read it for themselves to determine whether they want to subject their children to his motherhood-and-apple-pie homilies.

There’s a lot of presidential precedence for this sort of address -- and political backlash.

The first President Bush, a Republican, talked to children via teleconference about the need not to do drugs. That was back in 1991. At the time, Democrats howled that he was using the children to make a campaign commercial.

The second President Bush was, memorably, in a classroom talking to students about the importance of education when he was told of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Obama, with First Lady Michelle Obama, is a fierce supporter of educational improvement. Both of them bettered their own lives by winning scholarships to the nation’s top universities.

“It’s really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this,” White House deputy Heather Higginbottom told the Associated Press. “It’s simply a plea to students to really take their learning seriously.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: The Obamas at a charter school in Washington on Feb. 3. Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

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Comments

[Charles Root]

and had this been President Bush doing the same thing, this article author would be having a complete meltdown over it.

[Dave]

After 8 years of disrespecting Bush I guess the shoe's on the other foot.

[CWG]

yawn...Bush speaking to one class is precedence? Reagans PSA is precedence?

On the blog at the school where our kids go, MOST are soundly against it.
You may recall North Ohio is home to right minded Democrats, we help mr Obama get elected.
I cut and pasted your article to our blog, and only one supported it, 140ish others were offended as I was.
As an informed person, I find it difficult to respond to what seems to be agenda driven comments about death panels and "faux controversy" seem to alienate rather than inform. Yes. thats my real email.
regards

[Big Jim]

This probably no big deal, but why did I find an Obama comic book in between the Hulk and GI Joe comic books at a store my kids were in. Inside he was discussing weapons of mass destruction with McCain. This looks like propaganda for children. Not a very glorious spot for a US President to be between Hulk and GI Joe.

[Sunil]

Democrats were wrong in 1991 and now republicans are wrong in 2009. Kids should be encouraged to listen to their president (he is not talking as a democrat or a politician as some suggest). He is the president and whether Democrat or Republican, kids should be taught to respect the supreme commander. They have every right to disagree with him. And I don't see anything wrong with asking kids to write, "what they can do to help the president".

Anyways, this time my kids' school called to give me an option to keep my kids away from Presiden't address. I want to know whether the same option was presented to kids in 1991 when Sr. President Bush spoke, or to kids in Florida when Jr. President Bush visited them. If not, this is despicable and we are still a nation unwilling to shed our biases.

[Dave Wilson]

What most Americans don't realize is that Obama isn't the one making these decisions. All the decisions being made are the result of careful planning from 3 entities : The Trilateral Commission, Zbigniew Brzezinski and The Bilderberg Group. All 3 are the sole reason our country is moving towards a Socialist Dictatorship built off of Communism.

It was the brain child of these 3 groups to elect an African American president into office to defuse or weaken race relations and to appear sympathetic to racist ideology and spearhead a transition into Africa to prepare for the future harvest of fine minerals and other resources on the African continent . Obama like all past presidents since JFK (The last real president not controlled by the big three) has been a puppet whose strings are controlled by the three mentioned above.

Unfortunately most Americans only research so much into a candidate and therefore we have arrived at the point we have today. Maybe next time the American public will come to realize that our presidents are wolves in sheep's clothing.

[Monte Brown]

This is pathetic. I cannot believe that people would resort to teaching their children that Obama is a socialist. The parents who teach their children such nonsense are really trying to hide behind the fact that the parents hate Obama because Obama is black. Some people just need to stop hating. I did not vote for Obama, but I don't hate him, and I am starting to regret not voting for him. Obama is doing a great job as President of the United States.

[carly]

The far right is out to get Obama on anything he does and to divide this Country.Time to shine a light on these extremists.There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588

[Concerned]

Great! It was good that people raised a fuss about this before the "speech". Otherwise, the Department of Education wouldn't have revised its curriculum and who knows what they President himself may have revised in the "speech" as a result. Politicians need to fear their boss.... and in case you haven't heard, that's you and me.

Oh, and to compare this with speeches given by past presidents is foolish. Nothing on this scale has ever been done before.

[Spudbert]

Maybe the President should just read from "My Pet Goat."

[D Scott]

I honestly believe that it Obama was a white president there wouldn't be the same outcry against this speech. I remember Bush Sr.'s speech to the kids in 1990-1991 and nobody seemed to think it was a big deal. After all the talk of Obama being a Nazi on healthcare, and death panels, etc.. I'm beginning to think our country wasn't as ready for a black president as I thought. Now that the shine is wearing off of Obama, all the racist people are coming out of the woodwork.

[Archie Haase]

Until moguls Like Rupert Murdoch start muzzling and demanding integrity past corporate cash flow these things will be common. All one has to do is watch 2 minutes of cable's Fox news and you know where the hate comes from.

[Vredesduif]

Anything the president does is political. Presidents have made speeches at schools before but none has tried to capture an audience of ALL of the nations’ students before Obama.
The administration has already admitted that the hand out documentation could be misinterpreted (translation: politically biased) and was “inartfully” (translation: we got caught and did not fool them) worded. It was a deliberate attempt to further an agenda. (Most likely capture voters for the 2010 and 2012 elections)

The Obama administration’s “message of hope” has now become a “message of” Fear”
People now live in fear for what he might do next to destroy this country.

It is sad that someone who entered the presidential office with so much promise to do good for the nation has in less than one 10 months destroyed it all because of an unprecedented amounts of lies, distortions and effort to turn America into a socialistic country. (Transparency in the Obama administration is less than Mississippi river mud.)

If that all had been made clear during the campaign, it would be fair and expected. Since that was not disclosed it is a case of mass deception. The Obama administration has lost all credibility and is now viewed by many as an enemy of the country than the great hope it once represented.

The Obama campaign and his actions as president have made it clear that we need “TRUTH IN POLITICAL ADVERTISING” more than anything else. Our current political campaigning system of “MAY THE BETTER LIAR WIN” is not conducive to a good government. The minimum we need is a system that gives the voters a fair chance to make the right decision and really know what they vote for.

This applies to all politicians, not just Obama. Some are just better at misleading than others.

[Steve Rogers]

I think it is just bad timeing. Surely with all his "State of the Union" addresses he could have taken some time to make an announcement to schools about the value of education before now. Instead he has seen his support wane and now he comes to the children to help boost his image. His enemies are now embolden by his terrible August. I love the quote by Heather Higginbottom," It’s really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this." Is there anything that a politician does that isn't for a political agenda?

[Robert G]

It's a well known fact (at least in the conservative think tank circles that I run in) that Obama is:

1. Going to hypnotize school children remotely.
2. Going to slaughter a live puppy.
3. Going to tell them it's OK if gov't-run health care kills grandma.
4. Going to tell them that reading books will make you smarter.
5. Going to commit other acts of unspeakable evil during the broadcast.

If he wasn't going to do all these things, then it would be OK for him to do this. In fact, if he wasn't so dangerous and people were STILL against him, I'd be the first to label such detractors as RACISTS.

[Sacto43]

Republicans..are you people really this unhinged?
Just asking...

[Margaret]

Did these same states/people complain when Former President George H.W. Bush addressed students in 1991? Or the times President George W. Bush WENT to schools and interacted with students? (Remember where he was Sept 11th?).

The discourse in this country has gotten out of hand. President Obama wants to encourage kids to get an education. Why are these people so afraid of that message? What would happen if their kids obtained knowledge? I'm sure one consequence would be they wouldn't believe the crazy stuff coming from their parent's mouth!

[David]

There are people in this country who will do anything to protect their ignorance. If kids stay in school they might learn to read, which could lead to thinking! Now that's scary!

[Ramon]

As long as the Federal Government keeps putting it's head in our classrooms, we will not rest and allow the political motivations of Pledging to serve the President to go idle. The white house had to take the statement out of the original proposal as a result of the uproar and substitute it with "personal goals". What happened to Ask not what your Country "govenment" can do for you, but what you can do for your country. OBAMA is all about Government intervention. We need less Politicians and more Jobs by making this State a Tax free work environment. Let me decide how to run my families life.

[A, Andrews]

It seems that Bill Clinton not only brought the two idiot "journalists " from North Korea, he brought Kim's personal propaganda playbook to Obama to study. Now we really are getting our own " Dear Leader ". What a crock.
I hope Fox sticks to the plan and not air this blatant propaganda. Other network should follow suit, or we should boycott them. When they start losing even more viewers and go bankrupt then they will get the whiff who really pays for their advertising.

[MARIANNE]

Michelle does not look happy about all this.

[VG]

What's so wrong about being a socialist?! That is not a taunt--it is a compliment!

[JK]

I know Ill be writng my letter to myself to "ask what I can do to help the Presdent" In a word ----OBEY

[Lon]

Keep your kids home Sept. 8th or opt out if possible. Just as Van Jones has stated you need to start out small, innocent so people won't catch on and then over time slowly bring your true agenda to the front.

[Chat]

I too believe Obama is trying to influence our children to think his way only(a cult like following). Our children are not going to school to learn how to help the president. He has so many serious issues facing him he needs to stay from in front of the cameras and stay in Washington and correct them. There is no need for him to speak to school children. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to teach and inform children about the importance of education. Sure, other presidents have spoken to school children (with opposition too), but at this time this country is faced with a failing economy, lost jobs, healthcare, these are the things Obama should focus on.