According to Politico, the Right is up in arms about President Obama's plans to deliver a back-to-school address to students next Tuesday at noon (EST). It seems many are convinced that this is a not-so-secret plot by POTUS to, as the head of the Florida GOP put it, "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda." Radio gasbagger Tammy Bruce has gone so far as to encourage parents to keep their kids home that day. "Make September 8 Parentally Approved Skip Day. You are your child's moral tutor, not that shady lawyer from Chicago," she tweeted.
This is disgraceful. For starters, Obama's message, as described in a press release from Ed Sec Arne Duncan, will stick to anodyne topics like the need to work hard and take responsibility for one's own success (which once upon a time were values Republicans could cheer.) Admittedly, I don't have an advance text, but I'll bet a year's supply of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey that Obama will not be lecturing America's youth about the joys of bank bailouts, universal health care, or cash-for-clunkers--just as I am confident George W. Bush would never have used school children to hawk the Iraq war, the Medicare drug program, or "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Dick Cheney, maybe. But not Bush.
More broadly, Obama is the leader of this entire nation. It doesn't matter if you voted for him--or even if your head threatens to explode every time you think about him. He is the president, and, as such, it's a big deal that he's speaking directly to students about the importance of education. (Not teachers unions, you hysterics.) And, whatever one's party registration, the idea that any child should be kept home from class purely so their parents can make a political statement about an apolitical speech is appalling. Is the idea that we should shelter children from any contact with or knowledge of any president we personally dislike? Maybe, during the years our preferred party is out of power, we should just pretend that the president doesn't exist. That's a healthy way to run a democracy.
Admittedly, Obama is smooth. But he ain't smooth enough to wipe away an entire childhood of conservative teachings with one quickie speech about (all together now!) working hard in school. Buck up, all you deep-red wingers: Make the kids watch Glenn Beck afterward if it eases your anxiety. Have them genuflect before a poster of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. But don't be so paranoid about what might happen if they're briefly exposed to the sinister charms of a liberal president that you drag them down into your foxhole of craziness.
Or, at the very least, save the dragging for after school.
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COMMENTS (10)
Ummm ... you miss the point. Seeing Obama's smile and hearing his sonorous voice with the idios'yncratic, uh, emph'asis, might well suggest to the children of these right-wing oik and oinkers that - RUN TO THE HILLS - not all niggers are to be lynched.
They's not 'fraid of 'brain-washin', massah; they's 'fraid of questions afterwards about they own bleached-and-laundered brains.
Ummm ... you miss the point. Seeing Obama's smile and hearing his sonorous voice with the idios'yncratic, uh, emph'asis, might well suggest to the children of these right-wing oik and oinkers that - RUN TO THE HILLS - not all niggers are to be lynched.
They's not 'fraid of 'brain-washin', massah; they's 'fraid of questions afterwards about they own bleached-and-laundered brains.
Michelle sounds like a civics teacher here. She wants to lasso in the bad guys by appealing to our commitment to the noble virtues of our better angels.
If it sounds a bit quaint to you, tune into the right wingnut end of our national conversation and it won't take long before you are guffawing as spasmodically as I am.
We can beat back con artists in the vast right wing conspiracy by churning out more Mister Smiths and sending them once more into the breach?
I don't think so.
Cynical? You betcha.
Besides, turning our children into communists is the least of our worries. Also on the agenda, Obama, working closely with MSNBC, is intent on turning our children into other things.
For instance:
* ne ... view full comment
Michelle sounds like a civics teacher here. She wants to lasso in the bad guys by appealing to our commitment to the noble virtues of our better angels.
If it sounds a bit quaint to you, tune into the right wingnut end of our national conversation and it won't take long before you are guffawing as spasmodically as I am.
We can beat back con artists in the vast right wing conspiracy by churning out more Mister Smiths and sending them once more into the breach?
I don't think so.
Cynical? You betcha.
Besides, turning our children into communists is the least of our worries. Also on the agenda, Obama, working closely with MSNBC, is intent on turning our children into other things.
For instance:
* negros
* suicide bombers
* homosexuals
* Muslims
* progressives
* atheists
* welfare queens
* abortionists
* terminators
* soccer fans
* environmentalists
* NYT subscribers
* chart makers
Watch for signs of liberalism in your children's behaviors. For a complete list contact any Fox News employee in your area.
gw
I have been loathe to mention this but since Old Charlie Rangel beat me to the punch, what the hell. As I have said many times, people hate to lose and white people, especially white square conservative males, really hate to lose and especially to folks of color. That just ain't the way it is supposed to be. In my opinion, what we are seeing is behavior consistent with latent racial animus that they know they cannot vocalize so they use euphemisms like liberal, socialist, Hitler, Big Brother, you name it.
I know that there is a hard core 25% of the electorate who buy into this stuff but the question will be if Obama doesn't produce, will they crazies be the foundation of a growing anti Obama ... view full comment
I have been loathe to mention this but since Old Charlie Rangel beat me to the punch, what the hell. As I have said many times, people hate to lose and white people, especially white square conservative males, really hate to lose and especially to folks of color. That just ain't the way it is supposed to be. In my opinion, what we are seeing is behavior consistent with latent racial animus that they know they cannot vocalize so they use euphemisms like liberal, socialist, Hitler, Big Brother, you name it.
I know that there is a hard core 25% of the electorate who buy into this stuff but the question will be if Obama doesn't produce, will they crazies be the foundation of a growing anti Obama movement. I rather doubt it but stranger things have happened.
I've just been reading some of the comments over at Politico.
*shakes head*
Last month, Barney Frank was asking what planet these people were from?
Now I'm wondering what space-time continuum do these people exist in.
Conservatives are becoming so disassociated from reality, that they need to be put on powerful anti-psychotic medication.
Of course, that would just reinforce their belief in the Vast Socialist Conspiracy (TM) out to destroy 'Merica.
Sometimes I wonder if conservatives are projecting their secret desires on Obama. As in, "This is what WE would want to do to this country and our opponents if we had the power, so we expect to be treated the same way."
So who are the true closet Nazis a ... view full comment
I've just been reading some of the comments over at Politico.
*shakes head*
Last month, Barney Frank was asking what planet these people were from?
Now I'm wondering what space-time continuum do these people exist in.
Conservatives are becoming so disassociated from reality, that they need to be put on powerful anti-psychotic medication.
Of course, that would just reinforce their belief in the Vast Socialist Conspiracy (TM) out to destroy 'Merica.
Sometimes I wonder if conservatives are projecting their secret desires on Obama. As in, "This is what WE would want to do to this country and our opponents if we had the power, so we expect to be treated the same way."
So who are the true closet Nazis among us?
Maybe it would be better if Obama advertized his speech as an apology:
"On Wednesday President Obama will go on national TV to express his profound regret for winning the election last November. In a particular appeal to resentful white conservatives, he will underline that, had he known he was going to cause them such pain, he'd never have carried on his campaign to victory the way he did."
Of course, if they're looking for reasons why Obama won, the Republicans just have to glance up to the far north . . .
Maybe it would be better if Obama advertized his speech as an apology:
"On Wednesday President Obama will go on national TV to express his profound regret for winning the election last November. In a particular appeal to resentful white conservatives, he will underline that, had he known he was going to cause them such pain, he'd never have carried on his campaign to victory the way he did."
Of course, if they're looking for reasons why Obama won, the Republicans just have to glance up to the far north . . .
I'm glad that Obama drives the wingnuts crazy just like Bill Clinton did. I just hope he doesn't, like Clinton, do anything that would hand the GOP a rope to hang him with.
I'm glad that Obama drives the wingnuts crazy just like Bill Clinton did. I just hope he doesn't, like Clinton, do anything that would hand the GOP a rope to hang him with.
To show how much the wingnuts have infected our lives, my wife gets an automated call yesterday from the public school my kids attend. The message was from the school's principal, and it was to inform us that on Wednesday the president will make an address to some of the classes (I guess mainly older kids in this elementary school), and that if we object to it we can have out kids opt-out of hearing the address.
I thought "WTF?? How insane have these right-wing cretins become??" Now, I detested George Walker Bush. I hated shrub with a passion. But if he were to make an address to my kids' school, with the same basic message Obama will be sending (stay in school, work hard, get a good edu ... view full comment
To show how much the wingnuts have infected our lives, my wife gets an automated call yesterday from the public school my kids attend. The message was from the school's principal, and it was to inform us that on Wednesday the president will make an address to some of the classes (I guess mainly older kids in this elementary school), and that if we object to it we can have out kids opt-out of hearing the address.
I thought "WTF?? How insane have these right-wing cretins become??" Now, I detested George Walker Bush. I hated shrub with a passion. But if he were to make an address to my kids' school, with the same basic message Obama will be sending (stay in school, work hard, get a good education), I would not object in the least. For crying out loud, I vividly remember St. Ronald Reagan visiting my college campus in the mid 80s to proclaim his vision for tax reform and selling it as if he were JFK selling the country on putting a man on the moon. It was a purely political speech but no one seemed to care at the time.
How times have changed. We're now infested with certifiably psychotic thugs that pass for an opposition party. I'm convinced if BO were white none of this would be happening.
Weren't these the same people complaining loudly when Dubya wasn't being shown the proper respect?
I guess respect is only for white Republicans.
I keep asking this question -- at what point do these people cease to to be a loyal opposition?
I'm starting to have visions of Chile, Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet.
Weren't these the same people complaining loudly when Dubya wasn't being shown the proper respect?
I guess respect is only for white Republicans.
I keep asking this question -- at what point do these people cease to to be a loyal opposition?
I'm starting to have visions of Chile, Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet.
Some of these people who consider themselves so gosh-darned patriotic need to be told -- by school principals equipped with actual backbones if necessary -- that it's not "Barack Obama" but the president of the United States who is making an address, and that even if you don't like the man the office demands some basic respect (indeed, a notion the conservatives were often very fond of articulating).
Some of these people who consider themselves so gosh-darned patriotic need to be told -- by school principals equipped with actual backbones if necessary -- that it's not "Barack Obama" but the president of the United States who is making an address, and that even if you don't like the man the office demands some basic respect (indeed, a notion the conservatives were often very fond of articulating).
...but I'll bet a year's supply of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey that Obama will not be lecturing America's youth about the joys of bank bailouts, universal health care, or cash-for-clunkers--
You're on!
...but I'll bet a year's supply of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey that Obama will not be lecturing America's youth about the joys of bank bailouts, universal health care, or cash-for-clunkers--
You're on!