Should the president be able to address school children

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Tenchu

Do you have any links to news articles for this?

The fact that this is FOX News should be enough.

White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama - Political News - FOXNews.com

[Koir]

Originally Posted by MMM

The fact that this is FOX News should be enough.

White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama - Political News - FOXNews.com

*chuckles* Fox News.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Koir

*chuckles* Fox News.

Not even FOX News is making the claim that tksensei is, which is why I said it should be enough.

[Tenchu]

Originally Posted by MMM

The fact that this is FOX News should be enough.

White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama - Political News - FOXNews.com

That's just stupid. It seems a lot of Republicans don't have much faith in their political system... probably due to an overflow of faith somewhere else...

But he's the President; get behind him if you want your country to stay strong.

If you really think you've got a problem, then don't just whine, start a civil war!

[Koir]

Originally Posted by MMM

Not even FOX News is making the claim that tksensei is, which is why I said it should be enough.

Ah, okay. I just had to have a chuckle over Fox News being mentioned in this thread.

[YukisUke]

I think that the president should address the children of america because he's taking time out of of his very busy schedule to do this. No other president has ever done this besides Reagan(I think). I don't know why parents are getting so mad at this. It makes no sense.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by YukisUke

I think that the president should address the children of america because he's taking time out of of his very busy schedule to do this. No other president has ever done this besides Reagan(I think). I don't know why parents are getting so mad at this. It makes no sense.

George Bush Sr. did it as well, and George Bush Jr. went to an elementary school on the morning of 9/11/2001. It is a bit of a presidential tradition to speak to school children on the first day of school. But for some reason when President Obama wants to do it it is called indocrination and brain washing.

[solemnclockwork]

MMM,

Two things jump out at me.

One being the so called right-wing extremists, second being conservative media machine. For whatever reason has it occurred that there *might* be a little evidence that would point to socialists tendencies? Van Jones comes to mind. That said, the White house has acknowledged that the wording may lead some to believe in negative way in a honest way. To this the country is VERY polarized right now, even more with health care people are up in arms over everything. Now the question is, are they honest about what they believe?

there is some truth in ignoring the far-lefts/rights, and not giving them a platform.

PolitiFact | Republican Party of Florida says Obama will "indoctrinate" schoolchildren with "socialist ideology"

We searched previous media reports to see if former President George W. Bush ever gave a nationwide address to schoolchildren, but based on our search, it appears he did not. He did, however, regularly visit individual schools and discuss the importance of education with students.

We did learn, however, that President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation's students in a televised speech during school hours in 1991. ''I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid,'' Bush said, according to news reports from the time. He told students to ''block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart'' and ''work harder, learn more.''

Democrats at the time criticized the speech. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives.

Republican Newt Gingrich defended Bush's speech, though. "Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?" Gingrich said at the time. "It was done at a nonpolitical site and was beamed to a nonpolitical audience. . . . They wanted to reach the maximum audience with the maximum effect to improve education."

It's the same old thing going on in politics.

One thing confuses me. The usage of Fox News, to put it bluntly are you attacking or supporting them?
CMPA: Center for Media and Public Affairs

Here's a actual link to the materials for anyone use.
http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html\
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/prek-6.pdf

I don't believe he should be speaking to the students, why you might ask, several reasons. Right now he needs to be working on health care, and putting up a BI-partisan bill. Arguably you can say kids are important, but are they going to go down a drain if they are not spoken to by the president? I question the effectiveness of this (If it inspires one kid to do good then it was a success). One could also say he is wasting around a hour of actual class time, but that arguable too. Education system needs fixen, but talking and trying to inspire people only go so far before reality hits them. Simply put, in a way there are more pressing concerns right now then giving a speech, which could be given at a later date, while also putting the focus on education.

[Ryzorian]

I can see both points. Still, the dept memo was the real concern, and yes, it has Maoist ideas behind it. Besides, if some parent doesn't want his kid to see the president, dumb as it may be, that's thier right.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by solemnclockwork

MMM,

Two things jump out at me.

One being the so called right-wing extremists, second being conservative media machine. For whatever reason has it occurred that there *might* be a little evidence that would point to socialists tendencies? Van Jones comes to mind. That said, the White house has acknowledged that the wording may lead some to believe in negative way in a honest way. To this the country is VERY polarized right now, even more with health care people are up in arms over everything. Now the question is, are they honest about what they believe?

there is some truth in ignoring the far-lefts/rights, and not giving them a platform.

PolitiFact | Republican Party of Florida says Obama will "indoctrinate" schoolchildren with "socialist ideology"

We searched previous media reports to see if former President George W. Bush ever gave a nationwide address to schoolchildren, but based on our search, it appears he did not. He did, however, regularly visit individual schools and discuss the importance of education with students.

We did learn, however, that President George H.W. Bush addressed the nation's students in a televised speech during school hours in 1991. ''I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid,'' Bush said, according to news reports from the time. He told students to ''block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart'' and ''work harder, learn more.''

Democrats at the time criticized the speech. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives.

Republican Newt Gingrich defended Bush's speech, though. "Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?" Gingrich said at the time. "It was done at a nonpolitical site and was beamed to a nonpolitical audience. . . . They wanted to reach the maximum audience with the maximum effect to improve education."

It's the same old thing going on in politics.

One thing confuses me. The usage of Fox News, to put it bluntly are you attacking or supporting them?
CMPA: Center for Media and Public Affairs

Here's a actual link to the materials for anyone use.
http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html\
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/prek-6.pdf

I don't believe he should be speaking to the students, why you might ask, several reasons. Right now he needs to be working on health care, and putting up a BI-partisan bill. Arguably you can say kids are important, but are they going to go down a drain if they are not spoken to by the president? I question the effectiveness of this (If it inspires one kid to do good then it was a success). One could also say he is wasting around a hour of actual class time, but that arguable too. Education system needs fixen, but talking and trying to inspire people only go so far before reality hits them. Simply put, in a way there are more pressing concerns right now then giving a speech, which could be given at a later date, while also putting the focus on education.

I am a little surprised, solemnclockwork, you would be against the idea of the leader of America addressing the nation's children.

A ten-minute speech televised to students has nothing to do with health care. Think about it this way: If he were to say "I do not have time to address the nation's children because I need to focus on health care" it would be political suicide, and frankly, BS. So please don't play that card.

Speaking to children on the first day of school is a bit of a presidential tradition, even if not every president has done it. Reagan did it. Bush Sr. did it. No one was up in arms. But why does Pres. Obama elicit such fear? Why do people feel like they need to protect their children from the words of the president? This is unprecedented disrespectful behavior.

I honestly do not know why people would be against this. I have my suspicions, but I will save those for now. I don't listen to conservative radio, so I can only guess that Rush and Sean have a hand in the president=boogieman hate machine that seems quite powerful right now, and is mostly based on unsubstatiated rumors and all-out propaganda lies.