President Barack Obama’s back-to-school speech has sparked controversy, with right-wing conservatives complaining that the president’s speech is part of some clandestine attempt to push his administration’s agenda. The White House combated these outlandish claims by releasing a transcript of his speech, but that hasn’t stopped many from going so far as to pull their children out of school for the day. When Obama’s Web address was broadcast, it was revealed that the speech was more or less the president advising students to stay in school and to work hard to make their country a better place.
“This isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.” –President Obama
Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush both issued similar school-themed statements during their presidential terms, with President Reagan actually including political commentary in his speech. Reagan called taxes “such a penalty on people that there’s no incentive for them to prosper … because they have to give so much to the government.” President Obama’s comments were much less politically charged. President Bush simply urged students to stay away from drugs and to work hard.
Many from the GOP jumped the gun in their criticism of the president. This past week, Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer accused Obama of trying to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda. Now that the White House got their hand in the cookie jar caught, they changed everything.” But after reading the transcript, he recanted, saying, “My kids will be watching the president’s speech, as I hope all kids will.”
Some parents criticized the president for openly pining for young Americans to ‘help him’ as president, when the reality is; Obama is asking that these students help America become a stronger nation. One parent said that he didn’t want his kids being taught that America was a country that needed “fixing,” but the speech echoes the sentiments of former President John F. Kennedy. His iconic “Ask not what your country can do you, ask what you can do for country” speech inspired an entire generation to mobilize and work hard to address the issues America was facing in the 1960s. Is America so cynical and polarized in 2009 that it refuses to believe that Obama can inspire this generation of youth to do the same? –todd williams
