Reading about the cooked-up-in-Fox-News-HQ brouhaha about how President Barack “The Wimp” Obama’s national address to schoolchildren is an attempt to indoctrinate America’s vulnerable yout’ (or at least those who bother to show up for school) with his evil political ideas, I’m transported back to the past. Specifically, the middle six years of the eight years of George W. Bush driving this nation off a cliff.
During those halcyon post-9/11/pre-economic meltdown days, any sensible critique of Bush’s proposals, plans, or personality was met from the Right with a baying insistence that, Damnit, He’s the President of these United States, and therefore WE (that is, YOU, you lefty scum who are criticizing unnecessary wars, torture, privatizing Social Security, whatever) Owe Him Our Respect. You can disagree with the Man, but you Must Respect the Office he holds.
They used this rhetorical fallacy (formally speaking, a false dilemma: one can respect an office and despise the office-holder and/or disagree with his politics) time and time again, and it had some effect on the middle-ground morons who don’t follow actual political events in the reality-based world and so voted for him in 2004 in Ohio.
Now that a Democrat is President, though, all of that Respect for the Office goes out the window, and a boilerplate speech about working hard and staying in school is treated as though it were a compulsory quiz the specifics of class warfare per Das Kapital, with anyone failing to be sent before the Death Panels.
Lefties need to recall the rhetorical excesses of the Right and use them right back at ’em. Anyone who takes their child out of school to avoid hearing THE PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES speak is clearly disrespecting the office we all must respect, and is no patriot.
Of course, I am not the first person to point this out, but it hasn’t gotten a lot of play on Slog, so here you go. Hope it comes in handy in any Labor Day arguments with right-wing relatives.
The difference is that only eight months into the term not even the Democrats can pretend to have any respect for the President.
Chicago Fan, if you don’t believe that the current President is really an American it makes perfect sense why they won’t respect the office. The office is currently unfilled by a “pretender” President.
I am back home in Montana and have actually heard that argument by some of the local “intellectuals”. And the level of hatred many locals have for Obama makes our hatered of Bush and Cheney seem very very mild.
Why do Republicans hate America?
Why do conservatives hate America?
Why does Fox News hate America?
Guess they’re just unpatriotic. If they want their libertarian paradise, they should move to Somalia. If they want their fundamentalist paradise, they should move to Iran. Leave America for the patriotic, progressive, majority.
It’s like the supposed silent majority has become the annoyingly loud minority.
Oh, yeah, that’ll be great. So when the Republicans return to office and say it against you again, you won’t be able to complain this time.
Downward rhetorical spirals are full of FAIL.
Only a communist would take a kid out of school to avoid the POTUS’ speech.
The Republicans want to take children out of school so they are easier prey for child molestors. It’s the only logical reason.
“cooked-up”
More like coked-up.
“The difference is that only eight months into the term not even the Democrats can pretend to have any respect for the President.”
It’s called having standards and expectations. We realize instantly when people are shitting on us. It takes nearly ten years of ruining the country before you lizards are able to say “hey, I never liked that guy!” about Bush.
Ronald Reagan talked to the students about tax policy, for fuck’s sake, and nobody said boo to a goose. It’s racism, pure and simple.
The Bellevue School District is among those that have made the decision to censor the President’s speech.
Here is my letter to Bellevue Public School Superintedent Amalia Cudeiro:
Superintendent Cudeiro,
I am writing to express my outrage over your cowardly decision to censor President Obama. The speech to America’s students scheduled on September 8th is a simple message of encouragement. The faux outrage ginned up by the extremist right wing fringe of this country is based not on fact or reason, but on hatred, racism, ad hominem attacks and obstruction. What message have you sent the students under your charge with your decision? That President Obama is not worthy of respect because he is of African descent? That he should be ignored, minimized and mocked because he is a “liberal”? That when a small handful of “teabaggers” say jump, the Superintendent of Bellevue Public Schools says, “how high?”
Beneath is a letter sent out by a much more level headed and competent Superintendent than yourself. Read it, you may learn something useful for the future.
Dear Parent:
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, duly elected by the people of the United States, will be addressing our Nation’s children on Tuesday, September 8. In so doing, our President, like his earlier predecessor, George H.W. Bush, will be delivering an important message to the young people of our great country that calls on them to do their best in school by working hard so they can be successful in their personal lives and in the global environment in which they will live and that will challenge them in every way in the years to come.
As Superintendent of Schools, I am pleased that the President of the United States will be taking time from his busy schedule to deliver this important message to our students.
I have instructed our building principals and classroom teachers at all school levels that I am fully supportive of having them integrate the message of the President of the United States into their lessons on Tuesday, or on any subsequent date. Toward this end, we will be televising President Obama’s speech, video streaming it, or recording it on DVDs for teacher use. I anticipate that our professional administrative and teaching staffs will incorporate the President’s presentation into classroom instruction in the best way possible to enhance this learning opportunity for our students.
As the integration of the President’s speech into our instructional practice will constitute a vital learning experience for all our children, it is my expectation that any child in any class where the President’s speech is incorporated into instruction will be a part of that instructional activity. Being a part of an instructional activity means that the child can participate fully or elect not to participate fully while remaining in the classroom, as would be the case with virtually any instructional activity.
Thank you for cooperation and understanding.
Sincerely yours,
Elliott Landon
Superintendent of Schools
Westport, CT
I am happy that the children of Westport, CT, have as their superintendent a true leader who is not cowed by a radical, violent minority seeking to tear asunder our civic institutions. How sad the same can not be said for the unfortunate students of Bellevue.
Sincerely, XXX
For those who wish to contact the superintendent, her address seems to be;
cudeiroa@bsd405.org
at least that is the format used by the school district – last name first initial @, although the superintendents address is not listed on the Bellevue schools website. It is the address I sent the letter to, and it didn’t bounce back. Apparently she is too much of a coward to publish her email address. What a disgraceful public servant.
There isn’t anything racist about this. You guys seriously discredit yourselves when you deploy the “R” word falsely. Soon, no one is going to take real racism seriously because you’ll have cried “Wolf” one too many times.
@11 – You are an ignorant, naive fool. Do yourself and the world a favor and shut your fucking piehole.
“The most important difference between America’s Democratic left and Republican right is that the left has ideas and the right has discipline.” Robert Reich
I completely agree with Chicago Fan that Obama and the Demos need to cowboy up and return the proverbial rhetorical ball back at the right. Obama is caving rather than standing up for his decisions, best evidenced with Van Jones’ resignation (over that “asshole” comment directed by Republicans – Cheney did the same fucking thing about Democrats when he was in office) and the apparent incoming concessions in the health care plan.
The pipe dream of true bipartisanship in the Obama Administration is impossible thanks to the right’s attack campaign. They clearly don’t want to work across the aisle and are merely declaring war for 2010 elections. It’s time for the Demos to play some smashmouth offense in this political game.
I so wish Congress was like England’s House of Commons, where they yell at each other in a frank yet pragmatic manner and get shit done.
I can’t say that I’m surprised that parents are acting this way, but I don’t want to believe that sane person would, especially one that is in charge of raising another human being. My mom is an elementary school teacher, and a conservative one at that, and she is outraged at the lack of respect that the parents of her students have for the president. She loved Bush, and she thinks that democrats are psycho communists, but even she believes that Obama just wants to encourage the children and that no brainwashing will be involved.
Elliott Landon, Superintendent of Westport, CT Schools, quoted by Pol Pot in @10, had me stomping my feet in the grandstands and roaring approval until his closer:
As Reagan used to say, well, that’s a real dipsy-doodle. He just ruined his peroration by tripping over a giant waffle and falling flat on his face in the syrup. Here’s a lesson for Superintendent Landon: being a part of an instructional activity means, actually, that the child WILL participate fully as long as s/he is in the classroom. If you don’t want to be in school, you can always drop out and join the bellowing incoherent mob in the streets. Yoda: “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Your words, though, are great, Mr. Pot (Mr. Pol?)…
Please remind us the last time a President addressed all school children in a Nation(ist) address?
Never been done.
Why now??
@17 – Just for examples, George Bush the Daddy and Ronald Reagan the Grand Old Man. Just about every President since the invention of frikkin radio has addressed the kids in school at one time or another, formally or informally. “Never been done”? Pay attention, lady. Been done plenty. Just never by a President who was anything but white-white-white. “Why now??” Because the speech is about encouraging kids to stay in school and get the best education they can so that the nation can prosper and it’s the beginning of the damn school year. If you can’t figure that out by yourself your film’s getting too grainy to develop.
#18: Nice try…but chaaaaa…uh-uh.
There is no precedent for this type of Uber-Skool mindwashing by El Presidente.
So re-playing videos and re-printing interview quotes of Van Jones himself is a “vicious smear campaign” and “distortions and lies”???
DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
It’s only un-patriotic if the President is white!
Ruler Of The Universe Supreme (ROT-US) @19 is John Bailo.
@16 – I think the key part of that last sentence is
“…the child can participate fully or elect not to participate fully while remaining in the classroom…”
I read that as the superintendent telling the brownshirts in his community that there will be no ‘opt outs’ such as going to the library, alternative lessons, etc. – the child will remain in the classroom because there is nothing controversial about this activity.
Has anyone who objects, by the way, bothered to read the text of his speech? Just asking. Because there is nothing — repeat, nothing — brainwashist or “uber” or this or that or the other — about it. Before you all start flinging accusations you might want to check the text. That way at least you’ll have a couple of facts to warp.
I read the President’s speech and must agree with @24. There is nothing “politically charged” about his message. There is way too “Much Ado About Nothing” going on here.
If you read the speech it sort of sounds lame to be coming from the President. He is supposed to represent this Nation and in the speech he lays out all of these boohoo hoos about his past. Those little anecdotes do nothing to improve his image or inspire me.
There has to be a better way to motivate this nations youth. I have a teenager and I guarantee that he will not be impressed by the POTUS speech.