Wow! It's about time that the most important figure in the civilized world took the time to address our most precious commodity!
Fear and hate get us nowhere. I hope we all have a plan to contribute on the national day of service declared by the POTUS this 9/11.
BTW...I am very happy that the blog is back...this forum is important. We should all be encouraging our friends from all walks of life to contribute to making America what it CAN BE!
The irony about all this? When President Bush did the same thing while president, the Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (I believe) was hauled in front of a congressional oversight committee to answer for the actions of "Big Brother."
Have we become so short sighted, so angry, so bitter that we cannot see the beam in our own eyes as we seek to pluck out the mote from our brother's?
Speaking more analytically, I think the President's timing was unfortunate, but I support what he was trying to do. It's something that I think is done by every President (though I think Nancy Reagan carried the torch for Dutch: think "Just say no"). I think the White House did a good thing to release the speech in advance, if just to allay any fears that the president might have been trying to subvert the impressionable young.
That said, when I was that age, I would have gotten more out of watching something like today's Planet Earth or a broadcast from the space shuttle than hear the President tell me what my parents told me every day anyway. It's a pity the President has to encourage the young to educational ambition and that it cannot come from those closer to them. Besides, doesn't the President have things that are more closer to his sphere of responsibility, like Afghanistan, poverty, health care reform, and his golf game (jk, jk...)?
Next time, I say leave education to parents, educators, and local school districts, and focus your energies on that for which we elected you: to protect us, to build our nation, and to get us out of our recession.
It was a great speech and I'm glad that my children had the opportunity to listen to their president speak to them about something very important. And yes, that would be a great thing for the president to make such an address at the beginning of each school year.
I've heard some talk as if there is a huge difference in the way dems and republicans handle these kinds of situations. When pres. Bush Sr. was to address school children there was an actual investigation into it and a controversy over whether they should spend that much money on something like that. It was a lot more ridiculous than what went on just recently.
If the Dems complained that much about Bush speaking to schools then that's wasted energy as well.
I think either side will always have their own opinions about the leader in power. Me..I really like Obama, think he's the best thing that's happened to this country in many many many YEARS..don't understand the anger towards him...COULD understand the anger towards Bush though. But I know the Republicans feel exactly the opposite...think Bush was great, think Obama is the devil incarnate and think Glen Beck actually speaks sense. Its all subjective isn't it?
No, I don't think it is subjective. I disagreed with many of President Bush's policies (of note: how we did Iraq, torture, no child left behind, and Harriet Meier, for a few), but I also agree with some of what President Obama has done (for example, telling Israel to stop building settlements). However, that you wrap the people who like george bush, listen to glen beck and are opposed to Obama's policy regarding healthcare into one group indicates to me that many on the left are missing the reality that it is Americans opposing this, not the GOP. As far as I can tell, the GOP is scrambling to keep up with this opposition, not standing out in front opposing it. If we truly are a democracy, the people in congress have to ask themselves, in the face of townhalls and massive protests at the capital such as was yesterday, do they want to do the will of the people and look at a bipartisan bill, or do they want to ram a minority supported bill down the people's throats? Please note-i am not in anyway speaking about the merits of the five versions floating around, but am speaking only of the tenor of the languange used.
I for one will not listen to glen beck, shawn hannity, rush limbaugh, or ann coulter, but I can still read the new york times and decide that a policy is or is not good for our country. One does not need the GOP to tell one what to think to come to a conclusion.
What is really pathetic about all of this is that a speech intended to start off the school year for our nation's youth is so politicized that it loses its value in some respect.
I thought that the speech was well crafted and presented. My son watched with me and actually understood the message.
I would have to say, in reply to a small part of Daniel's post, that there are millions of parents who are not engaged in their children's lives. Therefore, the speech by the president may have had an enormous impact for some of America's youth that were tuned in.
Anyway, it's good to see people back to the blog to continue the discussions! Hope you are all doing well.
8 comments:
The fear that some have about Obama concerns me...It is so far from the reality of the ACTUAL situation.
That energy wasted on freaking out on his speech could have been used to volunteer in communities.
Wow! It's about time that the most important figure in the civilized world took the time to address our most precious commodity!
Fear and hate get us nowhere. I hope we all have a plan to contribute on the national day of service declared by the POTUS this 9/11.
BTW...I am very happy that the blog is back...this forum is important. We should all be encouraging our friends from all walks of life to contribute to making America what it CAN BE!
BALS
GOTBALS!!!
WELCOME BACK!
The irony about all this? When President Bush did the same thing while president, the Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (I believe) was hauled in front of a congressional oversight committee to answer for the actions of "Big Brother."
Have we become so short sighted, so angry, so bitter that we cannot see the beam in our own eyes as we seek to pluck out the mote from our brother's?
Speaking more analytically, I think the President's timing was unfortunate, but I support what he was trying to do. It's something that I think is done by every President (though I think Nancy Reagan carried the torch for Dutch: think "Just say no"). I think the White House did a good thing to release the speech in advance, if just to allay any fears that the president might have been trying to subvert the impressionable young.
That said, when I was that age, I would have gotten more out of watching something like today's Planet Earth or a broadcast from the space shuttle than hear the President tell me what my parents told me every day anyway. It's a pity the President has to encourage the young to educational ambition and that it cannot come from those closer to them. Besides, doesn't the President have things that are more closer to his sphere of responsibility, like Afghanistan, poverty, health care reform, and his golf game (jk, jk...)?
Next time, I say leave education to parents, educators, and local school districts, and focus your energies on that for which we elected you: to protect us, to build our nation, and to get us out of our recession.
It was a great speech and I'm glad that my children had the opportunity to listen to their president speak to them about something very important. And yes, that would be a great thing for the president to make such an address at the beginning of each school year.
I've heard some talk as if there is a huge difference in the way dems and republicans handle these kinds of situations. When pres. Bush Sr. was to address school children there was an actual investigation into it and a controversy over whether they should spend that much money on something like that. It was a lot more ridiculous than what went on just recently.
If the Dems complained that much about Bush speaking to schools then that's wasted energy as well.
I think either side will always have their own opinions about the leader in power. Me..I really like Obama, think he's the best thing that's happened to this country in many many many YEARS..don't understand the anger towards him...COULD understand the anger towards Bush though. But I know the Republicans feel exactly the opposite...think Bush was great, think Obama is the devil incarnate and think Glen Beck actually speaks sense. Its all subjective isn't it?
No, I don't think it is subjective. I disagreed with many of President Bush's policies (of note: how we did Iraq, torture, no child left behind, and Harriet Meier, for a few), but I also agree with some of what President Obama has done (for example, telling Israel to stop building settlements). However, that you wrap the people who like george bush, listen to glen beck and are opposed to Obama's policy regarding healthcare into one group indicates to me that many on the left are missing the reality that it is Americans opposing this, not the GOP. As far as I can tell, the GOP is scrambling to keep up with this opposition, not standing out in front opposing it. If we truly are a democracy, the people in congress have to ask themselves, in the face of townhalls and massive protests at the capital such as was yesterday, do they want to do the will of the people and look at a bipartisan bill, or do they want to ram a minority supported bill down the people's throats?
Please note-i am not in anyway speaking about the merits of the five versions floating around, but am speaking only of the tenor of the languange used.
I for one will not listen to glen beck, shawn hannity, rush limbaugh, or ann coulter, but I can still read the new york times and decide that a policy is or is not good for our country. One does not need the GOP to tell one what to think to come to a conclusion.
What is really pathetic about all of this is that a speech intended to start off the school year for our nation's youth is so politicized that it loses its value in some respect.
I thought that the speech was well crafted and presented. My son watched with me and actually understood the message.
I would have to say, in reply to a small part of Daniel's post, that there are millions of parents who are not engaged in their children's lives. Therefore, the speech by the president may have had an enormous impact for some of America's youth that were tuned in.
Anyway, it's good to see people back to the blog to continue the discussions! Hope you are all doing well.
Balsy
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