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Flashback: Democrats on Presidential School Speeches Then and Now

By: James Richardson (Diary)  |  September 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In the wake of the public furor over President Barack Obama’s pending speech to school children next Tuesday, defensive Democratic surrogates and administration officials have maintained the President’s address will be a valuable education tool and aims to challenge students to “work hard in school” and “meet short-term goals like behaving in class.”

But the original prepatory material for Obama’s school house stump speech raised a few parents’ eyebrows and left others convinced the principle aim was nothing short of indoctrination.

The Department of Education told teachers they might “extend learning” and stimulate discussion by instructing students to “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” And to ensure the students hold themselves accountable, the teacher should collect the letters and redistribute them at a later time – presumably when the President’s approval rating has dropped another 10 points.

In a letter to school administrators announcing Obama’s back-to-school speech, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Obama’s special address will seek to inspire students by impressing upon them the necessity to complete school.

“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.”

White House officials say Obama’s telecast will be the first speech by a sitting president to stress academic achievement since 1991, when President George H. W. Bush spoke to students from Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C.

Democrats, of course, sang a far different tune when a Republican was preparing to address the nation’s school children.

Then-House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) said, “The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the President.”

To be clear, the Department of Education is only a tool of indoctrination when the Secretary of Education answers to a Republican President. When students are instructed to “help the president” and no doubt support his anemic legislative agenda, it’s a teaching experience – namely the lesson of political double standards.

Cross-posted at Skepticians.com.

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COMMENTS

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  • E Pluribus Unum

    Great find, James.

  • Aaron Gardner

    Nice one James!!!

  • bobojake

    and give the kids a day off from a SNOW JOB from the LIAR obama

    • http://online.logcabin.org/about/ suzieQ

      in states with Republican governors. There are 22 of them. And I doubt Crist or Schwarzenegger would do this, so it would mean 20 states total. That would still be pretty impressive.

      • dogmomma

        If I were you, I wouldn’t go near a party that doesn’t want me. Or at least wants its gay members to stay safely in the closet–just as the Bible thumpers, who proclaim with sickening superior smiles to love the sinner but hate the sin. Until tthese morons get their collectives heads out of their collective asses, and understand that sexual preference is NO SIN, I would not go within a country mile of this party.

        I have no doubt that the Neanderthal murders of Matthew Shepard, if they were able to express themselves inthe King’s English, would proudly support Right Wing Sentiments.

        • Leopard1996

          I will probably get banned, but I will not allow you to come here and just dump on this site in a driveby fashion.

          Maybe Suzie’s lifestyle may not play well some of the people that are republicans, but maybe Suzie believes that govenment needs to stay the hell out her life. Who is more apt, to work toward Suzie’s belief, conservatives or the communist that is in office now.

          And oh by the way, Look who represent Wisconsin, Russ Fingold, real strong conservative he is. To make the bullsh[*]t statement that the murderers of Matthew Shepard were republicans or conservatives is a giant leap of faith considering they would be probably in that right age range to probably have voted for Obama.

          And oh, how is the democrats record on gay rights anyway. They are folding on gay marriage, they are folding on don’t ask don’t tell, and that bill currently up that is sponsored by Barney Frank, is probably deader than Ted Kennedy. So before dumping on this site, go to Kos, or DU, or whatever gutter you scraped yourself from, and clean up your own d[*]mn party.

        • Aaron Gardner

          You do realize that Matthew Shepard was not killed because he was gay don’t you. Of course leftists like you often co-opt the dead for you own selfish causes.

          You hate filled cretin, you come here to attack SuzieQ because she is a republican. What are you a slave master, upset that she got off the plantation.

          Go spew your hate speech elsewhere troll.

        • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

          But stop blaming us for the Democratic party’s abandonment of LGBT issues.

          Blam.

      • lynnsmith

        But the bottom line is, we cannot put the responsibility of preventing the government takeover of America’s children onto other politicians. The evidence is clear, none of them can be trusted.
        I just sent out this email to my list…….
        >Here is someone else who mentions “brown shirts”….if you recall I said,”not since Mussolini had his “black shirts” and Hitler’s ugly brown uniforms adorned with blood red bandanas covered with swastikas and Heil eagles have we been assaulted as we are now. If you have children or grandchildren do not allow them to be a part of this. Keep them home on Sept. 8. Instead, sit with them and tell them of America’s history and her heroes. Tell them how the great men of the past fought and died to make and keep America free.”
        Dr. David Manning http://atlah.org/broadcast/ndnr09-04-09.html talks about the “long legged macdaddy” and I realized that even if kingO changes the dialog of his speech he is still going to be trying to elicit the support and admiration of children and draw them into politics in such a way as to create in them devotion to him that may be blind to his agenda. Putting the concerns of America onto their shoulders, into their hearts and minds is an insidious thing for anyone to do. Their childhood has been shortened enough by so many other pressures. Let them be kids, thinking of childish things, not the woes and concerns of a nation struggling under what seems to be an endless attack against her very existence.
        And after watching Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer on The Early Show (CBS) this morning (9/5) I was impressed and pleased. He never lost his cool. He stated his objections and when asked if the fact that the President has made some changes in the agenda for Tuesdays hijacking of America’s classrooms had changed Greer’s attitude about the concept, he said that if by Monday he had determined that Obama’s speech was nothing more than words of encouragement, then he would not object. He did say clearly, however, that it wasn’t the speech that Obama was going to make that concerned him as much as the speech he might have made if objections had not been raised my millions of parents.
        And I agree. Even though I do not have school age children I can see that “kingO” would never have passed on an opportunity to feed his narcissism. A friend of mine is convinced that kingO dances around each night in his skivvies with a cardboard “crown” on his head like the one you can get from a certain hamburger joint…..I suspect that he has a wall of mirror…..can’t you just see it??
        So please, I say again, even if it means you have to miss a day at work, do not allow them to become part of kingO’s army of children. Talk to your neighbors and friends and make sure they keep their kids home too. If you don’t work and they do, offer to take their kids for the day. There are museums, zoos even parks that have historical sites and interesting things to do and see. Do that for America.
        This is only kingO’s first phase, the first step to making America into a totally socialistic country. Lynda

  • Hawkeye

    And weren’t the Democrats such ridiculous clowns when they mounted a stay home from school day. LMAO…

    • Aaron Gardner

      Let’s not play the equivalence game today.

    • Achance

      in this Country elected an avowed communist organizer as President? I’m just thankful that all my kids survived the indoctrination camps and I don’t have to deal with this. My response would be to keep them home and if I were still in government, I’d do my best to declare the day a holiday to deprive Comrade Obama of his captive audience.

    • Right_Again

      Hawkeye, your homework assignment after eight years of Bush as President is to write a letter to yourself about what you could have done to help him while he was President. Please also include ways that he inspired you. Put posters on your walls of some of your favorite sayings of his.

      Now imagine it was President Bush giving a similar speech to your children. Imagine them being assigned similar homework at the advice of the Department of Education. Are you still LYAO?

    • Leopard1996

      At least in my school district back then, Bush 1′s speech was never shown in any class that I was a part of. I think they had a good enough filter. (Teacher’s union), that pretty much made sure that this speech did not see the light of day in the school.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/williamgainey billg

    when you take the federal money for education from the Department of Education, you are trapped into the “do as I say or lose the money scheme”. When the GOP took control of the congress, they had the chance to do away with the Dept of Education as they had campaigned and THEY DIDN’T. Now the shoe is on the other foot and we clearly see that whether GOP or DEMS, politics is the name of the game. If the Dept of Ed is used by any administration in such a fashion it it clearly PROPAGANDA. Why do we need the Dept of Ed? Local control of the schools should come from the local Boards of Education who are close to and accountable to the local people and local standards, etc. WHY ARE WE SURPRISED? PARENTS, GO TO SCHOOL WITH YOUR CHILDREN THIS DAY AND STAND THERE AND DEMAND TIME TO STAND IN FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM AND GIVE THE LOYAL OPPOSITION RESPONSE1 The government is responsible to the people, not the people to the government! Support for our school, teachers, principals, local board of education and how do we help each other, not some self centered politican like BHO.

    • larueladue

      As much as we all wanted it, I don’t think that it was realistic to expect it. There were too many softies and RINOs that would have gotten in way…

      • http://online.logcabin.org/about/ suzieQ

        goes over as well as abolishing Medicare, social security, and VA entitlement programs. While they may all be terrible socialist programs that are hurting our country, politically they are difficult to challenge.

      • IJB

        (And, FTR, I think they should hold of on those kind of proposals until 2012.)

        …They absolutely should *not* start with the Dept. of Educ., no matter how much objective sense it might make.

        There are smaller Departments, like Energy & Labor, that should be gutted first, as there aren’t much in the way of constituencies around dedicated to keeping them open.

        Start with the doable, and save the unlikely-to-impossible for later.

        • Achance

          how much power organized labor has in this Country as well as how much power all the attornies and consultants that live off collective bargaining and USDOL enforcement actions have.

          What might be attainable would be to merge the Departments of Labor and Commerce. That way the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO would have to fight it out when the administration changed parties.

          • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

            With organized labor. It should never have gotten the foot hold it did in the federal government.

            Unions once had a role to play in labor relations but, unfortunately, they became the thing they used to fight against. And that includes all of them.

            Also, stop federal funding of nonprofit partisan orgs like MoveOn.org, ACORN, and so on.

            The Dems have used incrementalism to bring it this far, we’ll have to use the same tactics to undo it. Reagan started the process but nobody up after him kept it going.

          • IJB

            Unions are only 12% of the workforce. And I don’t think they make a very sympathetic figure to your average Independent voter, not including the NEA (which is why taking out the Dept. of Educ. is not doable, right now).

            Anyway, I think DOL can be shutdown. It wouldn’t be easy, and it might take a sustained effort.

            But, if handled right, I think it could be done.

            And doing that is a necessary first step, for dismantling the leviathans that are the non-Right-to-Work states…

        • izoneguy

          Then OSHA

          • mom2oneson

            that goes outside the US from government/tax money.

    • mom2oneson

      entitlements and created new ones to keep the districts collecting more cash from the feds.
      The biggest impact citizens could make is withdrawing their children since so much funding from the gov is tied to attendance. The other thing they could do is NOT fill out the free lunch forms.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Some people look at Democrat failures and see ways to attack them.

      Some people just take any excuse to bash Republicans.

      Some people get it, some people don’t.

    • freetexpal

      billg-you hit the nail on the head with this one, friend. This is the first of many posts I’ve read on the referenced subject with which I agree whole heartedly.

      ” PARENTS, GO TO SCHOOL WITH YOUR CHILDREN THIS DAY AND STAND THERE AND DEMAND TIME TO STAND IN FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM AND GIVE THE LOYAL OPPOSITION RESPONSE1 The government is responsible to the people, not the people to the government!”

      I agree and second this one! I have experienced several incidents with my kids in public schools which required me to do exactly that, i.e. go with them into their school and make some real noise. Staying at home, pulling your children out of “your” school so the megalomaniacal President can have free and clear air time to indoctrinate the students and recruit them through lies and deception is NOT the right answer. The right answer is to get smack in the middle of it all and stand up to this threat. I will not allow any usurper, communist-Marxist to have anything to say to my children without a confrontation and a fight. If the same thing happened during another administration, as long as it was not some lying, fraud hypocrite, it probably would not bother me. The fact is I don’t believe or trust anything which proceeds out of the mouth of this one, not a single one!

      Thanks for the great post.

  • ColdWarrior

    Dear President Obama,

    You wanted to ask school children to write a letter to themselves asking how they might help you. Here’s mine.

    Dear Self,

    I think I could help President Obama by advising him to answer the following questions about his education.

    When you applied at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law School, what nationality did you put on your applications?

    Will you release copies of the applications?

    Did you receive any financial assistance from anyone to attend these schools? From whom? Was it paid back? For example, if some benefactor paid for your schooling at Harvard Law School, would you provide all the details (how much money did he provide, did you pay it back, did you claim it as income, etc. You know, the kind pesky details an investigative journalist might ask you in an interview or at a press conference, if any such journalists still existed.).

    What courses did you take at three schools? What your grades? Who were the professors? Will you produce your transcripts? Will you tell us what score you achieved on the Law School Aptitude Test?

    When you traveled to Pakistan with your Columbia friends, who were your travel companions? What passport did you travel on?

    When you were at Columbia, Bill Ayers was there, too. Did you know him?

    Who, exactly, were your college roommates? Can we interview them?

    We students are all very interested in your educational background. So I am sure other students will have other questions. I’ll have follow up questions to your answers. And I know since you professed to be “transparent” that you’ll provide full and complete answers.

    Thank you so much, Dear Leader. And thank you, Self.

    ColdWarrior

    http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/obama_harvard_/2008/09/23/133199.html

    • rec0n

      And that self-possessed letter is why you should most certainly be a committeeman, and I should do the right thing for all of us and just take a pass.

      I may borrow it though, if you don’t mind.

  • rec0n

    The bit under ‘extended learning’ was really special. It will be a cold day in hell that the man who espouses foregoing the private sector to build personal wealth, instead bringing your skills to community organizing and the government, the man who has worked closely with that POS Ayers to radicalize schools, or feels the need for a civilian militia gets anywhere near my son. Arne Duncan and my school both heard from me yesterday. I was white hot.
    We’re going to have some face time re: five year olds and sex ed too.

    The curriculum layed out by Duncan is straight up bs. It establishes the first step of obedience and plays directly in to the Obamarama doctrine. Think the F*ck again, mofo.

    I can’t even talk about this crap without losing it again.

    Menu of Classroom Activities
    President Obama?s Address to Students Across America
    (PreK-6)

    Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education

    September 8, 2009

    Before the Speech
    ? Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama. Teachers could motivate students by asking the following questions:
    Who is the President of the United States?
    What do you think it takes to be president?
    To whom do you think the president is going to be speaking?
    Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
    What do you think he will say to you?
    ? Teachers can ask students to imagine that they are delivering a speech to all of the students in the United States.
    If you were the president, what would you tell students?
    What can students do to help in our schools?
    Teachers can chart ideas about what students would say.
    ? Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
    During the Speech
    ? As the president speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note-taking graphic organizer such as a ?cluster web;? or, students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children could draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following:
    What is the president trying to tell me?
    What is the president asking me to do?
    What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
    ? Students could record important parts of the speech where the president is asking them to do something. Students might think about the following:
    What specific job is he asking me to do?
    Is he asking anything of anyone else?
    Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
    ? Students could record questions they have while he is speaking and then discuss them after the speech. Younger children may need to dictate their questions.

    After the Speech
    ? Teachers could ask students to share the ideas they recorded, exchange sticky notes, or place notes on a butcher-paper poster in the classroom to discuss main ideas from the speech, such as citizenship, personal responsibility, and civic duty.
    ? Students could discuss their responses to the following questions:
    What do you think the president wants us to do?
    Does the speech make you want to do anything?
    Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
    What would you like to tell the president?

    Extension of the Speech

    Teachers could extend learning by having students:
    ? Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked with the following labels: personal, academic, community, and country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in that area. It might make sense to focus first on personal and academic goals so that community and country goals can be more readily created.
    ? Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.
    ? Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
    ? Interview one another and share goals with the class to create a supportive community.
    ? Participate in school-wide incentive programs or contests for those students who achieve their goals.
    ? Write about their goals in a variety of genres, such as poems, songs, and personal essays.
    ? Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
    ? Graph individual progress toward goals.

  • fredsgal54

    I student could write the President to help him to stop smoking. It could go…
    “Dear Mr. President. A good way to try to help you would be to tell you that smoking is very bad for you. It is not a good example for us know that you smoke. You could set a goal for yourself to stop smoking, Set a date, then review it later to see how you are doing with your goal.”

  • jburr

    for my children to go to the local zoo to see Libby the lion, yet I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of parents know nothing about the President of the United States trying to indoctrinate our children. It does not matter what political party the President is from it is not his job to raise my children and tell them what it means to be a good American, it is MY JOB!!! I am their father and I don’t need, nor did I ask, for his help raising my children. This sounds eerily reminiscent of the youth SS that Hitler cultivated across Germany. That turned our really well didn’t it. Spread the word this can not be allowed to happen. One would think that the President would have more pressing matters on his plate, than trying to replace millions of parents all by himself. Mr. President do your job and leave my children alone.

  • mdd1956

    Those dropouts and likely dropouts President Obama would like to address have already quit school, or aren’t paying attention.

    These directives were sent directly to schools rather than through normal district channels.

  • Curt409

    Why do we put our kids in governent schools anyway? Convenience?

    Someday soon, we’ll wish we had a time machine so we could go back and trade convenience for doing the right thing.

  • NH_GOP

    Bush spoke to the kids and/or was reading a book to them.
    He didn’t ask them to pledge allegiance to server their master.
    He wasn’t creating a civilian national security force with kids in uniform doing military chants, or paying them to go door to door promoting his agenda.

    He simply addressed them in a speech.

    Totally different thing.

  • HSMom

    According to Ed.gov, they need to let parents have the opotunity to view the material before showing it to their children.

    http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ppra/index.html

  • Common_Cents

    You know its going to be watered down so they can expose the radical right as crying wolf. I’d love to see the earlier drafts.

  • demsrule

    I think there is an enormous difference between democrats opposing a political advertisement and the GOP accusation of indoctrinating the children. You conservatives have sunk to an all time low in my opinion and bat-crap crazy is now a compliment compared to it.

    NH_GOP said:”Bush spoke to the kids and/or was reading a book to them.
    He didn?t ask them to pledge allegiance to server their master.
    He wasn?t creating a civilian national security force with kids in uniform doing military chants, or paying them to go door to door promoting his agenda.”

    Where do you get this crap from? What planet do you live on?

    • Aaron Gardner

      I hope it was worth it. 24days and 22hrs. Man…if only you had made it 2 more hours…you would have won your own Obama Blow Up Doll.

      Pity.

    • izoneguy

      is when libs come take a dump here and don’t clean up after themselves….

      TX Education Code – Chapter 26 deals with parental rights.

      26.001 – Parents are PARTNERS in their education and should be encouraged to actively participate in creating and implementing programs for their children.

      (No opportunity for parental involvement has been offered.)

      26.006 – Access to teaching materials – parents haven’t been given access to this speech to review it to determine if it’s appropriate for their child. Teaching unreviewed materials is likely a violation of Texas law. Subsection (b) provides that the district must make the materials available for your review. Ask them to provide you with an advance copy of the speech! Make this request IN WRITING!

      26.010 – Exemption from Instruction – parents must be given an opportunity to opt-out of any school activity that conflicts with the parent’s religious or moral beliefs. You need to deliver a written statement — and they’ll have to pull your kid out of class. Suggest that they offer an alternative, like studying the Declaration of Independence or the US Constitution!

      As for RRISD, policy EMB – instruction of controversial issues – teachers must be well-informed of the areas being taught. Since the speech isn’t available for teacher review, how can they be well-informed? Also requires that they are CERTAIN (emphasis on that word) that the material is appropriate. Again – how can they be CERTAIN?

    • ocleverone

      where the original “teaching” material included questions (disguised to facilitate student thinking) such as “how can you help the President achieve his goals” or creating posters to leave space for community activism.

      This whole “let’s talk to the kids” isn’t fooling anyone. It’s a cheesy attempt to bolster sucky ratings in the polls, turning 8 year olds into little lobbyists.

      I can see some strategist sitting around saying “hey, if we can get the kids to go home and tell their parents that Obama isn’t that bad a guy, maybe those right wing Bible thumpers will ease up on him. because you know how they love their kids”.

      Here’s the problem with the whole speech – let him talk to his daughters’ classes. Let him go into one classroom and read a book to 30 children and talk to them. (Like 41 and 43 did and maybe even Clinton). His mass approach is nothing short of condescending. He can’t go into the classroom but he can edict from on high.

      I want your party to keep your hands off my children. They aren’t yours to determine the shape of their beliefs, they are not yours to guide their moral compass – that is my job and I take it quite seriously. You already have made their education in the public system just short of a global joke and you have attempted to create a level playing field “everybody’s a winner” when life isn’t like that. You have created disastrous math programs, twisted the history books and usurped science curriculum. I will be darned if you are going to turn my child into a mindless droid for future community activism.

      If they choose to grow up and explore those avenues, then that is a choice they have made through years of observations and learning – not because of radio addresses from this administration.

      If Obama really wanted to “teach” the children, he would be talking about the Constitution, the Bill or Rights and the democratic process not how an 8 year old can help him. It’s pretty pathetic when, in less than a year, this administration has gone through the believing adult population and now has to circle around innocent children.

      Again, keep your party away from my children. You are not their parents and you do not have any say in matters such as these.

      /rant off

    • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

      I live on planet Earth.

      And you?

      I bet it’s a fictional one, like Ceti Alpha 6 or Risa or Alderaan…

    • Jack_Savage

      Come on buddy, you need to answer for your seedy little cult of personality. We’re waiting.

      • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

        …what would all the Jills do without them.?

        On second thought, in these confused times, some questions are better left unasked.

    • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

      …the troll wins. I don’t care how much fun it is, how satisfying, or how obligated you feel to respond; they want to distract you, and when you post, they succeed.

      Notify the site moderators and we’ll excise.

      • Jack_Savage

        They don’t distract me. They energize me. And by doing that, they do not win – they lose in ways they cannot begin to imagine. Plus it helps my training in multitasking. Bring on the little bastards.

        Having said that, would there be a standard subject line that would be noticed more quickly than others might when dealing with these under-bridge dwellers?

        • blooch

          That still works for old-timers here, and it’s as easy as “Kowalski” to master.

      • blooch

        it usually means we’re winning, or at least scoring bigtime.

        And Moe, I know you like fresh troll hide for your shammy cloths, not some bloody, desiccated thing shot full of holes by the time you get to it.

        • izoneguy

          They keep me on my toes.

          It is good practice for when you confront them in the 3D world.

          • blooch

            I use small caliber single tap, between the horns, to stun them and preserve the hide for Bwana.

      • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

        I understand what you’re saying though, Moe. There’s been many times I haven’t responded, but researching the clues suspected trolls leave is fun (and interesting). Often, they’ll use the same user-name at news/media sites. Sometime, when they use an uncommon true-name, there will even be a match on Facebook. There’s also been a few instances where I’ve had to back down from my initial instinct and given the person a pass (barely) after completing my research.