I have to comment because I’m in complete agreement with you. Even when you consider that the DOE prepared some questions that asked children what they can do to help their president, it seems strange for everyone to be up in arms about this. I think the DOE questions need to be taken in context and when you read the speech and then read the question, I think the obvious answer is, “work hard, study hard, don’t use your circumstances as an excuse for failure.” I’m glad my school district (Provo School District) opted to show the speech and allow parents to opt out. I think parents should always be allowed to opt out but the district ought to support the president.

Great link Sharon, and I loved the “furor” comment. Sehr gut meine freunde.

Personally I don’t have a problem with Obama wanting to encourage children to succeed in school and help their community–but I agree that asking “What can you do to help the president?” is a bit weird. JFK didn’t ask for help for himself- he said “…ask what you can do for your COUNTRY”.

On the chance you want to hear a well-reasoned argument for why this whol furor is ridiculous, check out this piece by a Dallas Morning News columnist who did not vote for Obama.

Not sure it will work, but here is the link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jragland/stories/090409dnmetragland.3a33595.html

Guess what? We live in an interconnected world. We are all world citizens, and the sooner we recognize that our actions in middle America affect the outcome of wars in countries that we can’t even spell, the better we as a nation will be respected and able to further our own interests. People in many parts of the world were bemused, then dismayed by the Bush administration’s narrow focus, and yes, even here in America there are people who care about the fate of other people even if they have brown skin and different accents. President Obama has been a breath of fresh air to those of us who have been ashamed to talk to our non-American friends for the past eight years.

It IS all-American to be a world citizen. The sooner we realize that, the better. So maybe President Obama does need to pull some of the nation, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century.

As for respect, one of the first things I saw President Obama do was to hold out a hand to Senator McCain, showing him the utmost respect and desire to work together. Then he invited several influential right-wing members of the press to have lunch with him, in an attempt to steer the national dialogue to a higher plane. Mr. Krauthammer was among them. His articles continue to be incendiary and to make no effort to reconcile. When will the far right stop demanding that everyone else play by the rules of courtesy that they themselves choose to ignore?

I am not an Obama worshipper (in fact, I worship, as you do, the God of the Bible), but I admire the determination and vision of his life story. I want my children to emulate his good qualities, and to question vigorously and articulately all of the bad.

“Look, this was never about content. We were not going to have the president urging eight-year-olds to come out in favor of high taxes as patriotic. And anything he said would be perfectly OK, it will be “tie your shoelaces and be nice to your neighbor.”

What is odd and creepy is the conception of government that underlay whoever it was in the Education Department — and it could have been a plural — to have a question [for the kids to write about]: “How can you help your president?”

That is not innocuous. Look, it is not going to do any real damage. We’re not going to have people chanting poems about their Dear Leader. The question is that that kind of thing — about a relationship between the child and the president — is extremely odd. A child has a relationship with a parent or with a teacher, later a mentor or a coach, but not a president.

A child swears allegiance to the flag and the republic for which it stands, but not the man who happens to be sitting in the White House. That’s the difference between a “popular democracy” (which is really a dictatorship) and a constitutional democracy.

And the idea that you would want a child to have any relationship with a president is odd. He shouldn’t have any at all.”

And, no, this isn’t about race.

If the president were a Republican there would be no parental problems and no opting out. This whole business is politics, pure and simple, and as such it stinks to high heaven (like most politics does…). I agree wholeheartedly with Pmom. The office of the president demands our respect and our attention. Even if you entirely disagree with the man (and maybe some people should try listening to what he’s saying before writing him off as a “liberal Democrat”) it is important that we know what he is saying and what he is doing. Our children are going to be saddled with the enormous debt he’s conjuring for them. Shouldn’t they know something about the man himself?

One of my pet peeves about living in Happy Valley is that Republicanism seems to equal righteousness, and all Democrats are going to lead our children down the primrose path. I am neither one nor the other (a little bit of both) and I believe my children should have the option to decide for themselves (with discussion, of course) what is “righteous” and what isn’t, and what is right and what isn’t. I find Barack Obama fascinating, and we will definitely be watching the speech at home if they don’t get it in school. (My son’s school does not have television capability and I’ve heard nothing from my daughters’ schools.)

I’m not a fan of George Bush myself, but if he were the one adressing students, I would have no problem with my kids watching. What is wrong with watching the president give a speech?