On September 8th, President Obama is set to address the nation's school children and the right wing is losing their mind, or what's left of it, in an unprecedented response to a rather mundane activity. Never before has a sitting President been attacked in such a way for addressing the nation. Clinton, Bush, and Reagan addressed the nation's school children on a wide variety of issues, including staying off drugs, staying in school, and being good civic servants. This is the intent of the upcoming address but the right wing doesn't see it that way. (As an aside - Reagan went off on a tangent about tax cuts during his address to school kids in 1988, but that apparently wasn't an issue to the GOP. Policy talk is only indoctrination when it comes from the left, right?)
Florida's GOP chair has come out in open opposition to the address, saying that it would be an attempt at "indoctrinating our youth into socialism and liberal ideas". Of course, Glenn Beck, FoxNews's resident fringer, jumped on the ban wagon and announced that he would be airing a "special one-hour broadcast next Tuesday on television on the indoctrination of your children." He is furious that not only has the President decided to address school kids, but also, that the White House has sent out packets of information for teachers to discuss with students before and after the address, including why the he is talking to them, what it means, and how they can help. Somehow, in Glenn Beck's disturbed mind, this translates to brain washing your kids into being socialists. What? Never, in the history of our country, has a president been attacked for addressing the citizens of the country, and yes Glenn, children are citizens too.
Right wingers are also encouraging parents to keep their kids home from school on that day. Newsmax posted on their site "The fascist in chief is taking his special brand of brainwashing to the classroom. Keep your kids home. I think this man is a threat to our basic unalienable rights. I don't want him indoctrinating my children. Seriously." Seriously?
In all actuality, here is what the White House had to say about the address. "The goal of the speech and the lesson plans is to challenge students to work hard in school, to not drop out and to meet short-term goals like behaving in class, doing their homework and goals that parents and teachers alike can agree are noble," a White House spokesman tells ABC News, "This isn't a policy speech. This is a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school."
The President of the United States thinks that it is important for him to take time out of his day and address the nations children about the value of education and staying in school and the response from the right wing is that he is trying to indoctrinate our youth into socialism? People have officially lost their minds and it is embarrassing to live in a country where a very loud, very small minority, make us look like ignorant, uneducated dunces. They should be ashamed of themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment