Lots of kids have come down with the dreaded obamaphobia today. They caught it from their parents. Where are the truant officers? The schools probably can not afford them.
Isn’t it Virginia state law that kids go to school? Compulsary attendance laws specifically list what constitutes an excused absense and what the attendance laws are. I don’t think Obamaphobia is on the list of excused absenses–at least I didn’t see it.
What I find amusing is that most of the people who are keeping little Johnny and Jane home today are the very people who have been stridently going around screaming RULE OF LAW any time the subject of illegal immigration comes up or if they see someone they think might be illegally in the United States. Funny how rule of law suddenly becomes a convenience. Maybe this one time, on the first day of school, rule of law can be wink wink nudge nudged away…for a greater cause. 
Video of the President’s speech will be posted as soon as it is available.
I really think the Loony-Becks went to far on this one. At a certain point, inane and arbitrary hatred of the U.S. President borders on inane and arbitrary hatred of the U.S. I mean if a flag pin is enough of a symbol to get all bug-eyed about patriotism, what kind of symbol is the Office of the Presidency?
This reminds me a bit of when our local Loony-Becks thought they were so unstoppable that they could accuse Chief Deane of treason and suddenly the entire county would forget about 30 years of public service and side iwth Corey Stewart and Greg Letiecq. NOT.
These Loony-Becks with their Teabagging and their guns and assassination threats got themselves on TV and thought they were suddenly all powerful. To them it was positive reinforcement for organize hatred and intimidation tactics. To us, it was just the TV cameras exposing how frighteningly insane and ignorate people can be. But they thought they were on a roll so they said, Hell yeah, let’s decide we’re enraged about the President encouraging kids to be good citizens and reach their fullest potential.
Now they look like fools. Will this be enough to wake up the electorate that overwhelmingly voted for change last November? Or are we just going to go on pretending that America wants to regress to the 1950’s?
Are people really keeping their kids home today? I haven’t heard of anyone doing that, except for what the idiot-box media might be drumming up. Mine are getting dressed as I write this, because I give them credit for having discerning brains.
It sounds like some are keeping kids home from interviews on channel 4.
I think it would be neat to be a student at Wakefield.
I hope lots of schools make it available. I think the address will be more potent if kids are with their peers.
I read somewhere that nationwide drop out rates are approaching 30%. I truly hope that stat is a misprint. I find that number totally unacceptable. How can that be?
Justin,
Thanks for starting my day with a good laugh. Couple things for ya’
See if you can figure out the difference between a clown wearing a US flag pin and a clown sitting in the oval office.
This isn’t about Corey and Letiecq, but…..awww nevermind.
“overwhelmingly voted for change” funniest line here. 52% is no mandate, and it ain’t even close to overwhelming. Oh, and don’t try to correct my English, you made 100 mistakes.
Anyone know anyone keeping the kiddies home today? Anyone on the black screen advocating it? Just curious.
Fox and Colin Powell: “Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.” That was in 2008 from Fox. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344190,00.html
CNN reported 16% in 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/05/dropout.rate.study/index.html
But that is just the way it is – some people will just believe what they want to believe without looking into the facts or the truth. And when someone points out the obvious facts, they will refuse to believe them, or twist it to make there point.
The one thing this whole episode shows me is that there is a great deal of suspicion about the new president’s motives. The president talking to school kids shouldn’t be a bad thing, but people were afraid that he would be pushing his political agenda as he has done in every speech since the election. The fears were originally founded on the statements from the administration not from the right. The right just took those statements and compounded them. To me the concern was understandable. They should have published the text much sooner unless they couldn’t because they were in the process of rewriting it due to outside pressure. Who knows?
As I recall, Bush made into office the first time by a 5-4 decision on the supreme court and LOSING the popolar vote to Gore. Second time around, it was a close call with the final decision, electorally, by the state of Ohio for President Bush. President Obama OVERWHELMINGLY won the electoral college, this election was NO nail biter Slow, not by a long shot.
I don’t think any of it is normal.
What statements? I heard nothing that I found fearful or could even turn in to something fearful because I hated the prez.
I don’t think it should have been necessary for the White House to release the text, although it was best that they did under the circumstances.
The man is president of the United States, elected legally by the people of the United States. The election wasn’t even contested. It was that overwhelming.
Obama didn’t just land here. I feel certain if Bill Clinton had wanted to welcome back America’s school children the same thing would have happened.
@Moon-howler
OK OK OK, allow me to let you in on the reason people didn’t want to send their kids to school. It had NOTHING to do with the fact the President was speaking to them. It had NOTHING to do with the fact that he wants to encourage them to stay in school. It has EVRYTHING to do with the lesson plan sent out prior to the speech. Nothing, until recently, was geared towards the students, but what they could do to help the president. That was the rub of all of this. I have no issue with the speech as long as the teachers don’t try to help indoctrinate their political beliefs in the children. The classroom is no place for that UNLESS ALL SIDES ARE GIVEN EQUAL TIME!!!!!!
The sooner people wake up and realize that their freedoms are being eroded evry day by this administration, the better they will be.
BTW, Van Jones admitted he was a Communist. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a communist in the ear of MY president. There are many things that need to be looked at in regards to the czars. 37+ is TOO many people not vetted by Congress and the American People!!! We do not need all of these people. Being from IL, I can see the typical Chi town politics being played out in DC. Scratch scratch…..scratch scratch….
Hi Medic, good to see you! Where have you been keeping yourself?
The lesson plans look like typical dept of ED lesson plans. (or VDOE or any number of educational shows) The ‘write a letter’ model is used in educational settings all the time.
Many people felt that their freedoms were being eroded under George Bush. An example would be the Patriot Act. The bottom line is, GWB was elected president of the United States. People could dislike him and his policies all they wanted. And at the end of the day, he was president.
Anyone who kept their child home from school today so they would not hear Obama has some serious issues. Loudoun County should also be ashamed of itself.
President Obama is speaking to the nation’s school children right now.
Um…what’s wrong with helping the President? Most kids would feel empowered if they thought they could really do that. Or don’t we want our kids to feel empowered?
Asking the students what they could do to help the President is the “typical education” plans of today? WOW, seems I have been out of school too long and I can see why many in PWC are wanting to home school their children. The initial plan that was sent out raised flags for me. There wasn’t anything about what the student could do or make a pledge to do for their education. The original plan, which got all of this started, was geared towards how the students could help Obama. My step children went to school today. I wanted them to so they could come back and tell me what the teacher said about all of this. Then the teacher, principal and I will sit down and discuss the school policy on politics in the classroom if it is needed.
I do not care if the prsident speaks to the children and encourages them to stay in school and study hard. The thing I had issues with was the original lesson plans afterwards. Even my mother, who was raised a democrat and taught school for 25 years, had an issue with the lesson plans. Even though the speech is chock full of me me me and I I I, I hope that it will be received well by the kids, even if it is 2,600 words. Hopefully this will not go into the kindergarten’s nap time!!!
I have been doing well, changed jobs and been working hard. Bought a house in the westgate area. Never buy a short sale house!!! They took things they were suppose to leave by contract. Plus they shut off the A/C in the house, left a faucet running and caused mold in one of the rooms downstairs, which wasn’t there when the inspector came through. We didn’t realize it was mold until we pulled the carpet. We thought it was just wet carpet, you know how that smells, well we were greatly surprised. No recourse, so I have to eat all of it. Plumbing was bad, they hid it well. 640.00 for a plumber today. Too much for a house that was inspected and found very minor problems with. I am looking at the home inspector thinking he didn’t do as good of a job as I originally thought. I hope things settle down SOON!!! My wallet is getting thin real quick!!!
Who knew school clothes were so expensive off of the sales rack??? they are not even name brands….sheesh.
Excellent question, Pinko. I thought that was basic civics.
I grew up in an era where I was taught to respect whoever it was in office. I think times have changed, pretty much like the bad manners I see now.
pinko, it isn’t so much about feeling empowered as it is about the other things that Obama has said. Creating a citizen “army” more powerful and better funded than our current military. I have issue with that.
Medic, I never said that ‘help the president’ was part of the model. I said that ‘write a letter’ (to self or others) was part of a lesson plan model frequently used.
To my knowledge, nothing was sent out. Suggested activities were posted on the Dept of Ed website. They were required. They were canned lesson plans a teacher COULD select. Or a teacher could use their own. Conversely, the teacher could just flick on the TV and turn it off when President Obama was finished.
I wasn’t crazy about Bush, but I encouraged my kids to write letters to him.
People who don’t want their kids helping the President should take them out of public school–possibly out of the country.
Come to think of it, it sounds like these people are miserable in the U.S. They should try living somewhere else. Maybe then they would appreciate HAVING a president that was elected via a democratic process, having the right to complain and having the right to “un-indoctrinate” their kids.
It’s not like Obama is asking for campaign money for goodness sakes!
@/\/\3|)iç 64
Medic, if we had a citizen “army” working as public servants as volunteers, we would be a heck of a lot better off than we are now. Maybe some of these “kids” could actually come up with a solution for the problems in the Middle East and get our troops home.
I think I know where you are. When you get settled in, that will be a very nice house. You also have nice neighbors.
The lesson plans, like all Dept of Ed plans, looked boring. Crap like that is always included in anything televised.
I thought it was simply beautiful. To see a President with such a diverse background speak to a high school student body with such a diverse background. To have the speech reach back into the history of this great country going back to before the Revolution and connect it to the lives and the challenges of America’s kids. To have them hear this message from this President will be a wonderful gift to this country. Thank you President Obama.
Excellant Emma
More parent should have the confidence themselves in what they teach their children and how their children are growing. Maybe more parents should review what it is they teach!
Honestly, that speech was long overdue from a President:
You are responsible for yourself
Your environment is no excuse
You have to work to suceed.
Excellent summary, Juturna. I give you an A+.
Those just sound like American values to me.
great speech, liked the examples of children overcoming obstacles and still succeeding in life!
I am trying to get the video to imbed. So far, no luck. After listening to President Obama’s speech, I know the value of perseverance. I get to experience it first hand, I fear.
I felt the same way.
I also felt sad because of the fact that I had to stay home from work today & tape this “gift” because my son – a BLACK MALE – would not be permitted to receive this “gift” in school today.
Julie, that is really sad. But I suppose it’s not too early for your son to understand that we still have a long way to go in this country. President Obama said himself that the landslide election last fall was not a marker of change, but the beginning of change. Those who are resisting change are now resorting to desperate measures. We shouldn’t be surprised by that. It is sad. But it has been a part of our history as long as we have been a nation. Longer really. And we are in better shape now than ever before.
I look forward to the day when using prejudice as an organizing principle will no longer be on the table for any political party in the U.S. Because we will be so diverse that such tactics will certainly backfire.
I hope that Prince William schools didn’t chicken sh!t out and not show that wonderful speech. Julie, do you live in Loudoun County?
That school board is sort of backward so I am told.
I was disappointed that we couldn’t hear the president of the studentbody, a neatly dressed young man, when he was introducing the President.
Here, y’all think Republicans should return this favor?
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html
Oh, yeah, 52% of the popular vote was an absolute blowout!!
Look at Johnson over Goldwater, Reagan over Carter, Reagan over Mondale, Nixon over McGovern and Eisenhower over Stevenson, then come back and tell me what a “mandate” Obama got. What an unbelievable pile you’re shoveling!!
Here’s one part in the speech text that confuses me a little: “When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school.” I thought he was American, so why does he seem to differentiate himself from the American kids?
Indeed, I remember what a big stink the Democrats made that time, and the fact they ordered the GAO to investigate.
However, I would say no matter which party’s president attempts to make a speech like this, the other party will make a big stink about it. That’s why it is funny that people act so surprised over what happened this time.
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Slowpoke Rodriguez :
Oh, yeah, 52% of the popular vote was an absolute blowout!!
Look at Johnson over Goldwater, Reagan over Carter, Reagan over Mondale, Nixon over McGovern and Eisenhower over Stevenson, then come back and tell me what a “mandate” Obama got. What an unbelievable pile you’re shoveling!!
Actually, Wikipedia, which seems to be often quoted here – does not seem to define Obama’s victory as a landslide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landslide_victories#United_States
For what its worth:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781450.html
I believe there were about 6.5 million more votes for Obama than McCain.
Obama won. Bush won. Twice. Clinton won. twice. Winner takes all. I think we have to remind ourselves that its all in the electoral college. The Bush/Kerry election taught us that.
@Second-Alamo
He could have easily meant “all the OTHER American kids.”
So the head of the Florida GOP, Jim Greer, who started the uproar about President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren today, read the transcript yesterday and decided he was fine with it, and that he would let his kids watch in their school. No, check that, he was HAPPY they would get to see it in school. Because it’s an upbeat speech, don’t you know, one that kids should hear.
Well, thanks a damn lot, Mr. Greer, because while your kids were watching President Obama’s speech in THEIR Florida school, my fifth grader was NOT watching President Obama’s speech in HER PWCS classroom.
http://wonkette.com/410950/vulgar-florida-gop-chair-made-obama-give-non-socialist-education-speech-you-see
Oh…and he thinks President Obama changed the original speech from the socialist/Marxist speech he originally penned, in response to all the pressure Mr. Greer put on him.
In the words of Dick Cheney, that guy is a major league a-hole.
Shame on the Congressional Democrats for stirring up a stink with Daddy Bush.
I don’t think any of my condemnation has been at generic Republicans. My disgust has been over people who would consider keeping their children at home so they wouldn’t hear the President of the United States. I certainly don’t blame Alanna, Laura Bush, my step-son for this stupidity. I blame those acting like indoctrinatERs. (sic)
Rick dislikes both political parties. I am not quite as vocal as he is about it but, I am not too far behind him. This is a good example of why I feel as I do.
SA, I don’t think he was separating himself from American kids at all. American kids went to American Schools. He didn’t have enough money in his family to go with them.
Moon, do you really think it is appropriate to force a child to view Obama or any other elected official? You really want government taking children away from their parents the parent chooses to remove their child for a day? You are not much for liberty are you? I am glad I do not live in Virginia. Just so we are straight on this….in 1991 democrats held Congressional investigative hearings when President Bush spoke to the school children. I cannot believe the blatant hypocrisy…oh wait…yes I CAN.
My kids went to school and the speech was shown today. My elementary school aged child summed it up when I asked him what the President had said, which was, “I have no excuses, I haveta’ behave, I can’t talk back, and I need to do my homework.” My child also mentioned the kids who overcame obstacles, like the young man with the brain tumor who had memory problems and had to study twice as hard. It was interesting to hear from him what he had gotten out of the speech.
My slacker kid was bored 🙂
Texas, Force is a strong word. Is it appropriate to force a student to read their history? How about do their geometry? Let’s use the word ‘encourage.
If the rest of the school is watching the president, then that kid can watch or can be a weirdo and go sit in the library to protect his virgin ears and eyes.
Texas, had you taken the time to read anything on the blog you would have read where I criticized the Democrats for going after Daddy Bush. You seem to be quick to judge without knowing the facts. I have praised both Presidents Bush and Reagan for addressing school children.
That probably makes 2 of us as to you living in Virginia.
What do you suppose is the relationship between those that didn’t send their kids to school yesterday out of fear of our president and any of the following:
1)those that can’t place the time frame of WWI within a decade or two?
2)those that can’t name two US Supreme Court cases with which they disagree
3)those that can’t name the states that border Nebraska
I am a snob I guess. For good reason. I want my child to be independent, come to his/her own conclusions and be happy.
High correlation I would guess.
Nebraska is a tough state to place in one’s minds eye. I always want to nudge it someplace else.
But Jutura, I didn’t miss the question.