Barack Obama's Speech to the Children

So this week for AP U.S. Government, we were asked to write a blog on President Obama's speech directed towards schoolchildren across the country. We were asked not to comment on the content of the speech, but on the idea of him giving a speech at all. It is unfortunate that this should even be a topic of contention but alas, it is, and so I feel the need to share my opinion (for both personal reasons and it's part of my grade).

When I first heard that members of our country's Republican party were raising a stink over our President giving a speech to our schoolchildren, I honestly thought that I had either misheard or that it was a joke. I couldn't fathom the idea that parents and political leaders in this country were preventing their children from listening to our country's duly elected president give them words of encouragement for the upcoming school year, as many presidents, including Ronald Reagan and both Bush presidents (Republicans), have done. Of course, these right wing troublemakers refused to believe that Obama would simply encourage the children, they believed that he was going to jam down these student's throats his "socialist" ideas, such as Universal-style healthcare. Jim Greer, the chairman of the Republican party of Florida, went so far as to say, days before the speech or release of the script, that schoolchildren would be "forced to watch the president justify his plans for government run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president is not only infuriating, but goes against the beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents in an invasive abuse of power." When I finished hearing that quote, I was nearly speechless. This man was implying that the country's president had no right to talk to the country's schoolchildren, based on the completely unbacked idea that he would inject propaganda into his speech. When asked what his backing was, as a matter of fact, he claimed that he believed that the speech had been changed significantly due to the justifiable paranoia. What I was amazed to see was people backing this man's ideas, confirming his statements. Even at a local level, students in the Northern Ozaukee School District did not watch the speech due to parent protest, all because of paranoia incited at a high level in the Republican party. The idea that a man who is the elected leader of our country is not allowed to speak to that country's children is absolutely infuriating, and the fact that it is all based on false pretenses instilled by party rivalry is the cherry on top.

As I wrote the previous paragraph, I almost felt like I was writing a satirical piece on what is wrong with America. I actually wish that I had been. The entire situation is so ludicrous that it actually seemed unreal. My question is, how is a president supposed to lead a nation in a new direction when he is not even allowed to speak to the nation's children. It isn't possible, and until some bi-partisan effort can be had in a simple arena such as this, more complex goals can never be met. Thanks for reading, have a nice week.

-Michael Olson