Resistance to Obama’s School Speech [Updated with Pink Floyd]
By pm317 on September 7, 2009 at 5:01 PM in Current Affairs
Remember during the Democratic primaries, how many said their children wanted them to vote for him. In keeping with his community organizing training, Obama’s pattern has been to bamboozle the most vulnerable citizens. He went after the youth. And some of their parents fell in line. Do you remember this video from last year?
By all accounts, this school speech should not have been a problem. Ronald Reagan did it, the elder Bush did it. But why the resistance to Obama? And contrary to the media lapdogs saying it is all conservatives, I think there is resistance from a lot of different quarters. The media and Obama’s handlers made up this humongous marketing campaign and they are still in it. The supporters in their drunkenness are still perpetuating the cult of personality theme enough to scare a parent.
There was a pied piper like quality to Obama’s election campaign. There was no vetting, no hard questions, accept everything, and ignore the lies and the obfuscation. What do we really know about this man, the president of the free world? Why are his transcripts sealed? Why is there a one-page medical report? I won’t even say the B word but there are so many things that we don’t know and the media didn’t ask. I think the media shenanigans of last year are finally catching up. It is ironical that they thought they were helping him but does not appear to be so.
The tea parties, the town hall eruptions about his health insurance reform, and now the resistance to his what would have otherwise been an innocuous speech are all indications of a bigger problem Obama is encountering. A problem mostly caused by how his minions and supporters have behaved over the course of his election. A problem caused by his lack of candor and lack of transparency in telling us who he is and what he stands for.
I can understand the mistrust of the people resisting his speech but what I don’t understand is the stupidity of Obama and his handlers. They have not explained to the people the rationale for why that speech to the children and why now. “Oh, he wants to inspire them” is not enough. Parents are not just going to give up control of their children to someone they don’t trust, even for a couple of hours. Obama should get back to governing and leave the inspiration hullabaloo to parent-approved life coaches. Maybe if he demonstrates success for what we hired him to do, namely policy and governance, parents and others will perhaps look up to him on other matters.
UPDATE: When I wrote this piece last week, the speech was not yet available. Hotair has a good critique of the speech and also a comparative analysis with Reagan’s and the reaction to Bush’s (41) from the Democrats.
Here is Ed Morrissey of Hotair:
[snip]
I think the White House and Obama fouled this up from the beginning, making it look much more political than necessary, and gave their critics a boatload of ammunition with which to attack them. The speech, included in its entirety below, turned out to be entirely innocuous. But by asking teachers to impress upon children the need to “help President Obama,” they made it look blatantly political. They seem to have forgotten that they’re the public servants, and that the people do not live to serve political masters. As Frank Wilson puts it in another context, Americans see themselves as citizens, not subjects, with the President only of a higher rank for the temporary period of time that we put him there. This has been incompetently handled from beginning to end, including the highly embarrassing scheduling that inadvertently excluded millions of students from the speech.
[snip]Update II: I’ve run the speech through a word frequency counter and found the following results:
* 56 iterations of “I”
* 19 iterations of “school”
* 10 iterations of “education”
* 8 iterations of “responsibility”
* 7 iterations of “country”
* 5 iterations each of “parents”, “teachers”
* 3 iterations of “nation”In other words, Barack Obama referenced himself more than school, education, responsibility, country/nation, parents, and teachers combined. And to think that people accused Obama of self-promotion!
UPDATE from Larry Johnson–Need to end this excellent article with some Pink Floyd:
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he needs to quit giving speeches,
and get to presidenting
Well said, foxyladi14. I have never been so sick of seeing anyone’s face on tv as I am of Obama’s. He is torturing the American public by subjecting us to his image daily. Don’t his handlers know anything about overexposure? All I can think when I hear his voice is: GO AWAY!!!!
I agree. I never thought I’d cringe more than when I heard W’s voice, but I was wrong. This is worse.
Yes, if he would just GO AWAY!!! If some sinister voice would accost him and say You’re in the wrong place my friend, you’d better leave. Does he feel all these negative vibes or is the bubble they keep him in impervious?
I think the number is up to 42 speeches and town halls…not including tomorrow or this Thursday. He’s diluting the effectiveness (gag) of his speeches. People are already tired of watching him read off his teleprompter.
they say the more he speaks the more he drops in the polls LOL
well here it is the speech day.
my grandaughter just got home from school.
i asked her about potuses speech.
she said they didn’t show it.too busy.
all that bru ha ha for naught.
Well said! I understand the speech (for tomorrow?)is innocuous, but I also understand that there were sneaky plans that had to be scrapped–e.g., having teachers do execises on how they can help Obama.
It is so interesting that with previuos presidents, having a special message was perhaps seen as an honor. But with Obama, after seeing how his marketing team operates, it’s like buying laundry soap or tooth paste. We don’t want to be told what brand we have to buy–we’ll figure it out for ourselves, thank you very much.
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was geared to indoctrination of youth into socialism. He worked with Ayers for five years on this.
It’s just time to implement.
Ayers said, “Bring the revolution home, kill your parent, yeah that’s where it’s at man!”
Yeah, that’s what Ayers said. But you notice he didn’t kill his parent – otherwise who would have bailed his slimy ass out of jail. With the exception of the judge, the people Ayers and his band targeted were working class cops and NCOs.
And you notice Ayers didn’t give away daddy’s money to the poor when he inherited it. No, he started his various foundations and programs to save us poor, ignorant little people with his ever-flowing wisdom, while spreading the money not to those who could use it, but to his equally pretentious cronies.
Ayers and Obama – both fake “men of the people.”
That is exactly the point, maryann!
I live in liberal NYC, but this Ayers mental case could never get anywhere near the NYC school system. Ayers has free speech and due process rights to beat the rap on the bombings. But anyone who lets the Weather Underground near the educational system is from another planet.
Obama is too strange. I don’t trust him.
AMEN! He’s weird enough to convince me there really are reptoids running around in human clothing. He is creepy, but those under his spell may be creepier yet. Where’s the rugged individualism that once was synonymous with America? Why the blind allegiance? To anyone? That’s so un-American. Or at least it used to be.
He’s the president. Yes, the primaries were cheated. But he is our president.
What these schools are doing is disrespectful to the office and to our country.
There is nothing in the Constitution that reads “respect the president”.
Respect is earned not voted on!
Dispectful how? Obama wants to progangandize using a captive audience. Parents have a right to protest.
By the way, he also was handing out lesson plans for the teachers to use with the class after his speech. He is crossing a line and most parents are not so easily fooled.
Tricia, you are correct that their more ulterior motives for the 0bama talks to school children have been either scrapped or modified.
In the beginning the plan was to ask them to write down how President 0bama had inspired them and how they could help President 0bama. This was a sneakey way to fish for compliments from these children so that the 0 people could warm the cold hearts of non-supporters.
When I first heard about this, my first thought was that he was going to explain health care to children and in the process explain it to everybody else. I actually think that would have been a better idea.
Remember that marine that stood up at the townhall meeting and talked about education and stated “Leave my kids alone.” Well, that was a few weeks ago and I guess this is BO and his thugs’ answer to that young man.”Try and make me.”
see what has happened is that his popularity has fallen, so he is going into campaign mode again. When he fails at administration that is what he does.
Regarding the school speech: isn’t this the reverse bait-and-switch or matador-bull thing we’ve seen several other times in Chairman Obama’s tactics, most notably in dealing with the eligiblity issue during the campaign? There was (and still is) the question whether Barack Hussein is really a natural born American and they avoided addressing the issue until they felt like there was enough (what they would call) fringe outrage on it before they showed their hand (posted a counterfeit “Certification of Live Birth” on the Internet) and then were able to say, “look at how wacky these right wingers are — they made such a big deal over nothing.” This has devolved into another iteration of the same game with their refusal to release the vault copy while Americans ask, “hey, where’s the (real) birth certificate?” The end game seems to be finding a way to reduce the credibility of their opponents while pushing their communist agenda in a behind-the-scenes, sleight-of-hand sort of way.
Is this another Saul Alinsky tactic they’re using? I’d read Rules_for_Radicals but I think it would make me go insane (plus I’ve spent enough time around commies to know their style). For Indoctrination Day they first released a plan to teachers about how to present Chairman Obama’s address to the school children with some very disturbing tips, then they scrub this and now it looks like he’s going Sesame Street on us and is just going to tell them things like wash your hands and work hard?
Do I see a pattern here, or am I just imagining things?
Heavens, don’t give him any more ideas! First thing you know he’ll actually be on Sesame Street standing next to Big Bird and spewing his propaganda.
I saw Meechelle doing exactly that very thing on Sesame St.
actually he is going to be on Nickelodeon
I saw the ad for it a few days ago. I found
it a little disturbing
Is he the stand-in for Patrick on Sponge Bob?
No sweeping the stage. First day of real hard work he will of done in a long time
martha he has been on tv giving a commercial for george lopez
You are correct. The republicans need to stop falling for it.
For instance, when he wanted to give a speech, they should have said, “oh thats great, now lets continue to debate health care”.
Instead it went exactly as you said, they blew up about his school speech, talking about how he was gonna do this and that, then when he doesn’t do it, he can turn around and discredit the opposition.
They should wait until he does it first then point it out. Much more effective.
He’s always used
1. Plausible Deniability
2. Retreatable Shock-jock-ism
3. Double Entendre
4. Audacity-then-retreat
5. Ridicule
6. Mocking
7. Outright abuse
Everything from “lipstick on a pig” to buzzing New York City with Air Force One, it’s push-the-envelope distractions then deny, deny, ridicule, deny. It’s a strategy to demoralize Americans who seem ever more hopeless with Obama usurping away with his British, Kenyan, Indonesian and (who know if he has) American citizenships.
With his multiple citizenships, which he refuses to revoke, how can the military follow his orders not knowing the absolute origin of their intent? There have been federal actions taken against American citizens (Wayne State); how do we know these are not of foreign origins or goals? How can the military follow orders from an unconstitutional usurper, when they are vowed to only follow constitutional orders?
This is so absurd and we are over as a Constitutional Republic. Igor Panarin, Russian Political Science professor, has recently accelerated his prediction of the end of the USA to 2 more months remaining…
http://caosblog.com/11031
Panarin is an unrepentant Bolshevik who will say anything to make a few Kopecks.
We’ve survived far worse than Oblahblah and will survive him (albeit with a few bruises).
Very true.
maryann,
The one that drives me craziest is the ridicule…the snarky sarcasm. The middle-finger-to-the-face, brush-off-the-shoulders, “Oh-they-think-we’re-going-to-pull-the-plug-on-Grandma” when he is caught being plain stupid. It’s an attitude his supporters inherited and they feed off each other. Can’t respect that.
The Oborg never answer questions. They always ridicule the questioner.
It’s definitely a narcissist’s trick. There is a narcissist in my immediate family and the similarities are astounding.
He could so easily put to rest the question about his citizenship, but instead, he releases a fake-looking birth cert to … daily cheeto?
With the kiddies, he leaks the lesson plans “How can we help Obama?”, gets people riled up, then releases a transcript of his harmless, even yes, inspiring, speech, and it looks wonderful.
So the obot cheerleaders can further marginalize a growing sector of the population that does not trust this guy. They can paint them as crazy, delusional, toxic and destructive.
This is now narcissists work. They are so needy of adoration, they hone these skills over a lifetime. They hone their charm, their attractiveness, their tactics.
But the parental outcry over his address did one thing, I bet it made him sit up straight and edit his speech to be less focused on him than it originally was. The narcissist I know will be on good behavior just after being exposed. For a little while. Until enough trust is regained, then it’s back to the old ways, the old divide and conquer.
Less focused on him? Doesn’t it use the term I about 50 times?
Just a note – the first people to start questioning Obama’s eligibility were Hillary supporters – back in spring of 08.
So much of what Obama does is right out of Rules For Radicals. His whole non-response to the eligibility question is obviously meant to piss people off, and distract them.
The speech to school kids – although it sounds innocent – sends a definite message to the parents who oppose him. It is a message of intimidation that says: “Look at me. I’ve got access to your kids.”
Yes, Benjamin. At this point, he just wants to get his foot in the door of the elementary school, like any skilled salesman. The speech itself will be as benign as a baby lamb.
“There. You see! That wasn’t so bad, was it?!?! You see what a nice guy I am? Your kids really like me! I’ll inspire them to be better students, you’ll see!”
But there will be a next time, and a next time after that. After the first inspirational speech, the precedent has been set. He’s going to be so popular!
I think children often have better BS detectors than most adults, and they generally resent geeks like Obama telling them what to do. If the lecture is too long, it may backfire. And if the chosen one attempts subsequent lessons, the kids may become very irritated. Also, parents may have spoken glowingly about Obama to their kids during the campaign, but they will begin to resent the golden boy telling their precious spawn how to behave. And I KNOW they will feel somewhat patrinized if a drug using, chain smoking, arrested adolescent appears to be replacing THEM as role models for their little darlings.
Let him say whatever he wants, my kids are immune. Ironically, I think the progressives will be the ones to freak out the most when their vulnerable babies come home roboticly chanting Obama’s name.
Yes, Onofre’s arm–I think you’re correct.
Just read the lecture. It sure wasn’t written with young kids in mind, unless it was intended to put them to sleep. Long, boring, yawn. The word “responsibility” appears 9 times. That’ll be sure to get their attention!
But of course, the word “I” appears more than any, something like 56 times. Obama, the true narcissist, includes a lot of autobiographical stuff in his speech.
HaHa–yes–I noticed that the “I” and “I’ve” were coming up a lot. I just felt too lazy to count the times . . . . It’s all about Him, isn’t it? Talk about a captive audience! All those young innocent witnesses to His magnificence . . .
pm317
Wow, your “Pied Piper” and “media shenanigan” comments are spot on. The country is waking up to the fact that we have an imposter in the WH.
Great analysis!!!!
EWard – what evidence do you have that “The Country is waking up to the fact that we have an imposter in the WH.”???
The few I hear about – from any source – would be negligible.
I’m afraid it will take realizing something they/we have lost that we can’t get back before most will wake up. Then, there are those that would be able to see the end of life as we know it but would still believe he would save them. People like that are just as dangerous as the Van Jones’s of the 0bama administration.
He’s losing trust even among his most loyal supporters because he’s not taken a clear stand on much of anything, is outsourcing the heavy lifting to Congress [who are totally wrecking the joint] and allowed the likes of Geithner, Pelosi, Frank, etc. sound like they’re mini-emperors and lie their teeth out to the American public.
I guess Axelrod and Co. thought they could keep the kool-aide trance in effect for the next 8 years.
Wrong!
People know the economy sucks and is getting worse. Yet, what do we hear: recovery and green shoots.
So, when the story about the school address came up and the highly questionable workbook was revealed, people immediately jumped to conclusions and thought the worse.
I admit, I thought it was creepy.
Yet the speech itself is ordinary, the sort of thing that no one should object to.
The public is on high-alert now, and the Republicans have been fanning the flames.
Obama has one last chance to turn this around and that’s with his speech before Congress regarding healthcare reform. If he gives another razzle-dazzle, style-over-substance performance [which is what I expect], even the progs will turn on him. His numbers are dropping like a stone.
But this is the House the Axelrod Built, enabled by our MSM. And it’s beginning to fall apart. The press will eventually turn on Obama, in the same way they did on GW and Bill Clinton.
I’m beginning to think it’s just an endless, self-perpetuating drama–The Theater of the Absurd. Too bad it’s real for us.
The First Green Shoot never lasted long. OUT with The Green Czar.
The People out here in the real world are not as Green as what they expected us to be in the House built by Axelrod!
There house is collapsing one Green Shoot at a time!
I agree, Just Me. In fact, I’m stunned at how a Van Jones was ever considered. Either the Obama folks knew all along of his past [which is what I suspect] and thought the public would never find out. Or he has the most incompetent staff in recorded history.
Neither bodes well.
Peggy Sue – 0bama has nothing more to give, speechwise, than he has always done. This last-ditch effort to congress is simply his narcissistic idea that he is so beloved that he can convince anybody of anything.
I don’t even understand why there are people at FoxNews and even NQ that still preface their negative remarks about 0 by first acknowledging his “effectiveness” as a speaker. “Effective” for what? for whom? The man **reads** speeches and in my mind does not even do a good job with that. (I’m trying to take into consideration my extreme bias, etc.)
BTW, 0bama has not “outsourced” anything to anybody. Pelosi and Emanuel had the stimulus package, health care bill, plus all the other far-left agenda ready and waiting long before his inauguration. That was part of their deal with him as they foolishly talked him into running as the democratic nominee. When do you think Pelosi and her house members had time to write a 1000-page stimulus package and a 1000-page health care bill since January 20th? These and others have been filed in her desk drawer.
I even heard NP say in an interview before the inauguration how the new POTUS would have the stimulus and health care bills ready to pass as soon as he took office to get him off to a running start toward a very successful presidency.
0bama just shows up everyday and gets his marching orders. This, of course, will only continue until he can finally get a handle on what the hell he is doing (if that ever happens). If he and Valerie Jarrett can possibly ever handle it on their own, the players in charge now will be long gone. That is the 0bama way.
pm317,
Thanks for giving me the heebie jeebies again with that video. I had almost put it out of my mind. YUCK!
Some of us got off in a thread about the POTUS’s speech to the kids on Pat Racimora’s post below. I am sorry to double comment, but in case someone doesn’t see my comment on that, I want to second many of your points.
Here’s what I said:
I always thought the speech was just pablum. But I didn’t like the idea at all. One of Denver’s top columnists, Tina Griego, has written an award-winning series about the problems in Denver Public Schools, largely in the Hispanci areas. About kids not attending, kids not studying, not graduating, etc. So when this whole uproar came about, she also wrote a commentary about how Obama’s life was such a good example for these kinds of kids and a speech from him should be welcomed.
Here’s what I wrote her:
Ms. Griego,
As an ex-educator, I am opposed to Obama’s address to the nation’s school kids on several grounds.
First, let me commend you for your sincere concern for education, especially in the Hispanic community. I have admired your work on that issue. But on this I think you miss the mark.
In this instance, I like Vincent Carroll’s column today better. The part about the Asian students may jar your Hispanic readers, but as a Caucasian teacher who last taught in a high school with a large Asian population, I do have to admit that I wish all American kids would follow their lead. Just pay attention and STUDY!
My main reason for not wanting Obama to give his speech is this: It is just another event that will “feed” the students nothing but pablum and waste time in school that they should spend on LEARNING. That was always one of my biggest gripes as an educator–all the little social programs (don’t even get me started on the D.A.R.E. program that has been proved a failure) for which schools are forced to give up valuable learning time in the academics.
Secondly, while I dislike Obama something awful, I know he would not dare to try to do any of his really far-left maneuvers during his speech. But it will be pablum coming from a person who is not honest. Many students will grow up to know that. It will seem just like all the other hypocritical speeches from people in government they will hear over and over in life.
First, Obama’s memoirs are so full of exaggeration and lies that Oprah should get him on her program and castigate him as she did that other guy (forget his name) who lied in his memoir. Please look it up; people have come forward to make clear that he did lie. I don’t like liars speaking to my children.
Secondly, while you think Obama’s background makes him a good example, I don’t. Don’t even get me started about his claim that his mother was on welfare. His mother came from a fairly wealthy family in Hawaii. Her parents put Obama in an expensive private school. He attended expensive schools, and who knows really how well he did in school. You are taking other people’s word for this without an ounce of real evidence. Unlike all other recent presidential candidates and presidents who have released their transcripts, masters theses, etc., Obama has refused. You may think the birthers are crazy. I do believe that Obama was born in America, but he does indeed have something to hide because he does refuse to release the COLB.
If he wants to put a stop to the rumors, why doesn’t he do that simple thing? Maybe because his official name was not Obama. Maybe he was listed as Caucasion like his mother. Who knows? How did he get into some of those colleges? Maybe by that time he was using his then Indonesian citizenship to attend as a foreign student. Who knows? But that might explain the trip he took to Indonesia in college when most Americans were denied visas to go there. (He quickly stopped mentioning that trip as one of his foreign credentials while laughing at Hillary’s trips as First Lady.) You just don’t hear him talk about that much anymore. Why? Would he have to explain something that doesn’t jive with the false persona he tries o create? He is the biggest phony we’ve ever elected as president.
I just feel this controversy is another way he has not lived up on his promise to UNITE our nation and to provide transparency. He has divided it more than I’ve ever seen it divided before. And please, please don’t pull out the race card, as that is an insult to the many African Americans who did not vote for him, as well as the many Hispanic and Asian Americans who also did not support him. This controversy came up because he still believes he is talking to an entire nation of obots who don’t think critically and just want to chant stupid slogans
Well said Diane L.C., I can see by the letter you wrote, just how much being a teacher meant to you. You are able to share the sense of what happens with students from a point of view we rarely get to see. Thank you for sharing this.
Diana – can you talk about the D.A.R.E. program?
To be brief, study after study has shown that the lesson against alcohol and drugs given during these programs shows no sign of carry over to the way kids act when they actually get to the middle schools and the high schools.
In the small town I lived in when my own kids were in elementary school, the program was run almost like a little Nazi youth group. During the final ceremony, I was afraid we were going to see them march out in their uniforms for a mini-Krystal Nacht of some sort.
I signed a paper asking that my older son be excused from the program and allowed to go to the library or get extra tutoring, etc. But, he later asked me not to do it to his brother because of the consequences he had faced. If you didn’t want your child taken out of the classroom for the many, many hours the program took during the weeks it was running, your kid was literally made to feel like a pariah. And they didn’t get the D.A.R.E. shirt that the other kids wore on certain days, so they always stuck out.
Yet, during the many years the program was in effect in the town, we saw no lessoning of teen drinking and drugs from the kids who went through the program. It was a total waste of time that would have been spent better on academics.
The belief is that these bully tactics do carry over in a way that you don’t want. The program is run in a way that uses peer pressure; it teaches kids to follow that pressure. And guess what kind of pressure gets them drinking and taking drugs later.
Then they tried to put in an anti-gang program also. I was finally outraged because we had almost no gang activity in that small town, only a few imports from the larger city 60 miles away. It didn’t last long as other parents also got disgusted.
A few years back, here in Colorado at CU a young freshman girl died of alcohol poisoning after being left to “sleep it off” with no one paying attention. She was from out of state. In her small home town, she had been known for her leadership in the high school mentoring program of their local D.A.R.E. program.
As a teacher, I just lost any patience with people who would always say that such and such needed to be taught in the schools. It was no wonder to me the kids could not read, write, study, or do math because their whole school days were taken up with teachers being assigned to “correct” all the social issues of the moment.
If schools concentrated only on academics, the kids would see that they needed to concentrate on them too. I love patience also because, I guess, I guess I feel it was my job as a parent to teach my kids by example and also teach their friends who were constantly at my house.
“I lose patience” not “I love patience”
Fascinating. Yes, I agree, teaching kids “don’t think of an Elephant” is probably not going to be effective in decreasing the time they spend thinking of elephants.
And the best way to get them not to do drugs or think about drugs is probably to fill their minds with other things, like science, literature.
Wow. Thanks for sharing.
Is’nt it a shame that we can’t say the B word without being called crazy right wingers. I am not a Republican, I was a lifelong Dem(41 years), but I DO NOT believe all the noise and questions are coming from Republicans. I know a lot of Dems that are questioning Obama and his philosophies.I don’t like what the Dems have become,and I am a proud Independant PUMA as of May 31, 2008.BTW, I am also not a birther, but I do wonder why he has spent so much money to keep things hidden. Maybe I am wrong, maybe where there is smoke, there is fire.
You hit this one out of the ballpark, pm317. I’m going to read it again just to ensure I got everything the first time. Great job.
Ferd
Nice piece pm317.
Although I could kill you for including that video of the Children of the Damned. Now I can’t get that sick song out of my head!
I think we should just let Obama keep talking. And talking. And talking.
Every time he opens his trap, his poll numbers tank!
Love it!
It will get into your head and stay there. And that one part of the tunes sounds a lot like part of Snoopy’s Christmas. It’s so horrible and unbelievable that adults subjected little kids to that.
I think politically the timing here is foolish. There are many parents who have gone to public meetings to discuss the health care bill; perhaps they feel if their voices are not worth listening to, why should this man speak to their children? Another time perhaps this would just be a usual message from the president. People get tired of being labeled and categorized and told when and how they can speak to their representatives, it is just plain poor timing with too many assumptions of trust that has been spent already.
Agreed.
Obama has used up a lot of the goodwill he got just like every other President and especially him bc of the “first black President” boost.
pretty pathetic, really, they thought they could slam thru so much socialism in so little time without any response.
years from now, we’ll look back at moments like the August town halls and now Beck’s taking down of VJ as either small bumps on the road to American socialism or the turning point which stopped the slide into American socialism.
Exciting time to be alive.
Is VJ really out? Out nof the public eye may be, but really out… I doubt it.
Never forget than this is a clique born out of the undergrounds, more comfortable in the shadows than in the public light. They will never stop working on their marxist agenda until dragged into the light.
The story of VJ is just begining. This guy will resurface if we don’t keep a good track on him.
Obama is way over exposed. His vacation was a respite for all of us. The best thing he could do now for his presidency is to lay low for a while. But he won’t, he’s a narcissist and speechifying is like a drug to him..
The speech is all about the I’s
56 of them – swamping all other references.
And of course, taking credit for every desk or pencil provided to the students as if personally paid for by Obama.
More importantly,
Obama CLEARLY KNEW of VJ’s past.
There is no debate.
The question is whether the media will cover it, the facts of Obama’s knowledge via the FBI VETTING are indisputable.
Will the media ask, as has been asked for EVERY OTHER SCANDAL IN MODERN HISTORY,
WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT.
August 28. 2009 Huffpo, by Eva Paterson, former VJ employer – keep in mind that was YEARS ago and the FBI contacted her “vetting Van”. Here is her QUOTE: I was interviewed in my own office by an FBI agent, dutifully vetting Van.
Are we do believe the FBI missed everything else?
THE NO VETTING STORY IS FALSE!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-paterson/glenn-becks-attack-on-van_b_271518.html
Well, the White House is wise to stay above the fray but someone has to set the record straight. And as the person who first hired Van Jones, initially as a legal intern and later as a legal fellow, I am in a unique position to know the truth.
And the truth is: Beck is fabricating his facts.
……
In other words, Van is within the normal White House chain of command, reporting to an office confirmed by the United States Senate, just like most White House staffers. Media outlets sometimes use the “czar” shorthand. But the facts show that Van has no mysterious role or extra-constitutional powers.
Beck has implied on two occasions that Van Jones and other Obama appointees were not vetted by the FBI. False. I was interviewed in my own office by an FBI agent, dutifully vetting Van. Yet another fabrication on the part of Mr. Beck.
HERE IS THE SF CHRONICLE, TODAY, ADMITTING OBAMA KNEW OF VJ PAST, INCLUDING TRUTHERISM:
note well:
Jones resigned amid a furor over his signature on a 2004 petition questioning the government’s actions around the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Supporters say the administration surely knew his background when they appointed Jones, the first African American to write a best-selling environmental book, as special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In fact, agents interviewed at least one of his former supervisors in San Francisco – Eva Paterson – when the FBI vetted his appointment.
Huffington Post??? HA HA HA HA HA HA
Eva Patterson. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sickening SF left wing “activist, community organizer”. She is in the Chronicle from time to time and one example of why I quit my 25 year subscription.
This is a two edged sword. If Obama knew about Jones past, then he has given tacit approval to the things Jones has done. If he did not know he is incompetent. Choose your poison, either way this can’t be good. Maybe the larger issue is the czars themselves.
It is indeed as it represents a shadow government, which is an anathema to a free society.
Beck never said the FBI didn’t vet Jones. True, he implied it but simply as a question. But Beck’s main point, as much as I’m not a fan, remains true. If Obama knew all this about this guy why would he appoint a person such as this to such an important position? Managing the federal program to re-tool the economy to a whole new technology is a mere staff position? Okey dokey.
To be charitable I’d like to chalk it up to inexperience. Obama knew this guy for years. Is this another person whose views he never knew and or did not hear? Just asking although I’m aware that questions are now un-American.
Wow. It was in the Huffington Post. So it must be true.
(eye roll)
So you are saying the WH knew about Van Jones aka Mr Green Jeans? They knew all about him and wanted him anyway?
White House: Van Jones Did Not Fill Out 63-Question, Seven-Page Questionnaire
http://www.breitbart.tv/white-house-van-jones-did-not-fill-out-63-question-seven-page-questionnaire/
I wouldn’t be cool with Dubya pulling this crap on my kids, so why would I allow Ozero-race-baiter to use my kids to distract? I told my friends to stop the bs in defending this guy and start asking questions like why now? Why not do an online speech and encourage the parents to sit down with their kids to watch it? Better yet, invite the parents to join in on this “inspirational speech”? They showed their hand by sending out that creepy guideline. And now I’m supposed to trust the overzealous teachers in my kids’ school to be non-political when I see them in school wearing obama shirts, buttons and have his shit all over their classrooms? During the general election, the school had a mock election, Barack was Yoda the wise Jedi and McCain was Squidward from Spongebob. Yeah, no bias there.
UGH our school held the same mock election seems they have been trying to squeeze into the classroom far too often!
Why can’t he just do a PSA and let parents talk about it with their kids??
Why does he need to say anything to school children? This smacks of rulers and dictators – they surely indoctrinate children as early as they deem impressionable. Why are we giving this would-be dictator access to our children?
As parents we do not need this most undeserving man of the highest office in the world to begin influencing our children. Who needs the president to tell them to study hard and wash their hands? It’s b*&& s$#@.
Good take on this pm
Children’s books embrace Obama
There are several books on Obama. I wonder if they will become necessary reading or subjects of required book reports?
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/inauguration/la-et-obamabooks16-2009jan16,0,5831755.story
http://michellemalkin.com/
Despite the rhetoric from Democrats and the MSM right wing Republicans are not the only ones questioning Obama’s leadership ability and honesty.
It seems that most life-long Democrats and so-called liberals/progressives are afraid to speak out publicly. However, there have been tidbits the media, at least the media that dares asks questions, about grumblings from even the Democrats about this administration.
Americans had an understandable visceral reaction to Obama targeting their children for “support”. These are not adults with life experience and their minds are easily swayed whether the adult is telling the truth or not. This is the kind of thing that happens under dictatorships. It is creepy to have the POTUS telling school aged kids to convince their parents to support him. Too much Hitler Youth-like for me.
Obama seems to go out his way to pit the young against the old. Children against parents. Black against white. Those who agree against those who disagree. Obama and his supporters remind me very much of GWB and his supporters. So much for “change”.
Absolutely! The best way to inspire is by example. Let B0 get a few accomplishments and do some work for a living and the kids will get the message.
Yes, quit campaigning and actually lead. If he could do that, we probably would have seen it by now. No, this is the campaign that never ends, because that is all there is. Whoever thought a community organizer… divisive by nature could actually unite this nation and lead by example? Maybe celebrities and tingles thought this, the rest just thought they were getting something out if him. Fat chance.
Spot on Docelder. Every speech I’ve managed to watch sounds like another campaign rally. No specifics, no facts, no clear explanation of his policies. Just a lot of “who’s with me?” type rhetoric and cheering crowds. Of course these cheering crowds don’t know anymore than they did when they walked in. But hey, who cares? Obama made them feel good. ‘Nuff said.
If you strip away all of his superficial ornaments, like the phony autobiograghy, the humble Kansas beginnings fraud, the hyped up but non existent accomplishments, and the media tinsel and glitter, you’re left with a detestable, pusillanimous brat. An accurate assessment of his life should be reason enough to disqualify him from giving “inspirational” speaches to our children. In fact, since he got where he is with deception, intimidation, ridicule, and a complete absence of hard earned accomplishments, he is the exact opposite of the type of person that I want my children to admire and imitate.
What do you think his REAL motives are for giving this lecture to our children? I view it as the primer for proper goose-stepping.
Your prose is marvelous, Onofre’s Arm. Pusillanimous is a great word to describe a man who has never truly examined his life but can write
bookspedestrian pulp fiction about it.His real motive is the use of impressionable children as a means to further his own agenda, which is apparently adulation, acclaim, and adoration for him and an autocracy for his senior supporters, i.e., shadow government.
Personally, I always thought it was absurd for any president to be speaking to children in school or anywhere else. What the hell did politicians EVER do it for? What did Reagan, Bush do it for? The propaganda effect.
After G.W.’s moment reading “My Pet Goat” as the WTC was attacked, I figured no president would ever risk it again. But, Obama’s team felt like he NEEDED this propaganda moment because his numbers are sinking.
Obama was going to win over voters by giving a speech to their children. It backfired on him. They didn’t realize that the partisan hate-mongers in this country are geared up for war. They didn’t realize it because this WH is INEXPERIENCED. But, that’s why I didn’t want Obama to be president in the first place.
“Partisan hate-mongers”
Who, exactly, are you referring to?
Yes, what exactly do you mean and who do you mean? Not you Tammy but Mountainaires, “partisan hate-mongers” And then this from candymarl “Obama and his supporters remind me very much of GWB and his supporters” What is that about? There never was a cult like following for Bush. There never was a all white band of followers either.
We need to stand together against the regime in Washington, not vilify others who may have voted for Bush. I started at this site as a Democrat and then I saw the light, long live the PUMA. We have to have unity or all is lost.
Nice work pm317!
I spent two hours at a Tea Party this afternoon. I got hot in all my camoflauge, but I didn’t have to call anyone for bail money! Joking!
As to the speech, the pre-arranged work lesson was the problem, and I don’t know that republicans caused the outrage. Parents chose to be involved in their childrens’ classrooms, and they should continue to do so. Haven’t we needed that for some time now?
The children can be attentive and courteous, but their parents are correct to monitor the speaker.
From emails
We just completed our rally in New Lenox/Joliet, IL
outside of Barack Obama’s bastion of Chicago. And guess what – we had by far the largest crowd yet!over 10,000
—————————————-
Good news. There is room for you to be a part of history! Join the patriots from St. Louis who are going to participate in the 9/12 March on DC.
There is a 2nd bus leaving from West County Assembly of God 5:00 am next Thursday. It’s supposed to be first class with bathroom in the bus. Fellow Patriots will enjoy each other’s company for the 14 hour journey to DC. They will be in DC Friday and the march on Saturday and return on Sunday. There are rooms reserved at Day’s Inn and Red Roof Inn in Alexandria VA. Shared rooms would cost between $22 to $44 dollars a night—depending on how many are sharing. (Rooms are $85 each.)
Each of the two buses holds 50 people. Full capacity for each bus means the cost would be $100 per person. A BARGAIN! We’re close to 40 on each bus at the moment which puts the cost around $120 RT. Please help us fill these buses!
http://912dc.org/
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRANSPORTATION AND ROOM, CALL MARYANNE HODGE OR SANDRA DAVIDSON.
Maryanne Hodge
hodgma@yahoo.com
———————————–
Find a Bus in your State
http://912marchondc.ning.com/notes/Updated_Bus_List_for_the_March
Video of Illinois Tea Party Express at the link.
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/09/the-american-insurgency-tens-of-thousands-protest-obama-across-america.html
Hey, my Senator, Klobuchar, couldn’t WAIT to endorse the O, sayng her teenie daughter had told her to. Apparently the daughter wanted to babysit the minor Obamas. What a great reason to vote for Obama (my KID says so)! What a great reason to help Klobuchar get re-elected!
This is one issue I believe is silly. All recent past presidents have given such a speech to school children. Since he’s black, his remarks could have a positive influence on a group of children who otherwise might not pay much attention.
Tek, I think the objections came from asking teachers to include this whole thing in the curriculum.
Of course Presidents talk to school kids. Normally, at least not in my experience, Presidents don’t try to use teachers to reinforce those views.
Of course, you may be right. This may all be silly. Another “look over there” moment like GWB and his group.
Can we be sure that the speech that the WH released is the one that would have been made to the children if Chairman Obama’s Truth and Education squad hadn’t “gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar” (i.e., the “lesson plans”, etc.)?
Exactly!
The suggested speech related materials supplied to teachers are more problematic than the speech. They come close to crossing the line into indoctrination, with why is it important to listen to the president and other elected officials and write a letter describing how you could help the president being some of the most problematic (with the last being so problematic that it’s already been dropped).
Also the timing is wrong, we’re in the middle of a partisan battle on health care, and it’s not really a good time for him to expect parents opposed to his agenda to welcome this address to all school children.
Was I the only one that didn’t like the tone of this speech or the assumptions it made? He spoke about me, me, me and at the same time the reader got the impression he was addressing a bunch of burned out kids that hated school, wanted to cut, and didn’t even know the meaning of the word responsibility. He really has no idea who the backbone American is. We “tea baggers” try to raise responsible children and future leaders, sometime we fail but I don’t have a single acquaintance that doesn’t work their ass off trying. What about the joy of learning. The pure excitement and adrenalin rush of figuring something out or finishing a project that you are pleased with. Their was no joy in that speech, I found it oddly depressing. Am I alone?
Depressing and BORING.
Redundant.
All of his speeches are dull–and narcissistic.
My State decided NOT to air it in the schools.
YAY!
What state are you in Tammy?
Minnesota.
Well where I live in Kansas is. My kid will not be in school for it either because parents have to individually ask the principal to excuse their kid. Problem with that is it draws attention to a high school kid in a way he doesn’t want or deserve. I resent Obama elbowing his way into every aspect of our lives. Now it is to woo our kids to divert attention away from a contentious issue( of his own making). I don’t need him to give my kid guidance when I have no respect for his character.
I’ve commented before that Obama tends to lecture and harangue but not try to persuade. A good leader doesn’t need to hit people over the head (or especially children) a good leader uplifts and inspires.
Guess that whole Civil Rights/MLK thing went over Obama’s head.
I actually had someone tell me the other day that Obama was a Civil Rights leader in the sixties. I kid you not. When I pointed out that Obama was born in ‘61 and would have been a child through most of it they were pretty pissed off. To quote Reagan the attitude was “facts are stupid things”. Obama supporters – out right winging the wingers!
THAT’S what was wrong with the speech,Georgia! You nailed it. He was talking down to kids whose families have talked UP responsibility and the importance of education for all of our kids’ lives. I just thought it was a silly speech and couldn’t quite articulate why it bothered me so much. You’ve articulated it for me. Thank you.
It’s as if he thinks all children were either from a single-parent household like he was or from irresponsible parents. He thinks because he is an involved father, he is unique to all.
But, the biggest problem with it is the fact he has a hidden agenda that is becoming more and more apparent. The Van Jones disclosure is what this president is really about – fundamental change that would send the average American into a tail-spin.
I wish he would show what an “involved” father he is. I understand his desire to shield Sasha and Malia. But all we heard about his Martha’s Vineyard vacation was his golf and tennis. Where does that leave time for the kids?
Tks lana “talking down to kids whose families have talked UP responsibility” That’s it exactly. The speech has such a limited perspective. Tks again!
Although other presidents have made speeches to school children, there is s distrust of obama. Of course there is – he has never revealed who he really is or what he really stands for and he never will. This was quite apparent during his marketing campaign. In my opinion, he’s a phony and a stooge – I am looking forward to the 2012 election so we can get him out of office. And by the way, I’m a liberal democrat.
I like to think of how President Hillary Clinton would have addressed the children….
Our schools don’t start until the 9th. So I guess we don’t have to listen.
The links to the “suggested” classroom activities can be found here:
* Classroom Activities (Pre-K – 6)
download files PDF (115K) | MS Word (119K)
* Classroom Activities (7 – 12)
download files PDF (170K) | MS Word (184K)
http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html
Great piece. How can a Usurper or used car salesman who is selling a lemon ever do what is right as actually governing as a POTUS with checks and balance under our U.S. Constitution that he hates and wants to remove?
I am with the parents (epecially the marine), stay the hell away from my kids!
I would add another update but don’t feel like it. Pl. go here for Ann Althouse’ annotation of Obama’s speech. It highlights the speech in all its glorious shortcomings.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/obamas-speech-to-kids-is-nearly-10x-as.html
Thanks for the link.
As usual he contradicts himself within the same speech. I have only read parts of the speech but what a waste of time.
Me…me…me….now what do you think about me? And how will you support me?
Geez….the left would have gone ballistic if Bush 43 said, ‘How will you support me’, to the kids. When all Bush wanted support for was his war of convenience and complained that those who didn’t support him were unpatriotic.
Sorry about the video..
I had to add it in to drive home how bad it is/was.
only a handful of times in my life have i wanted to beat the crap out of someone as badly as i wanted to beat the crap out of that woman directing the kids.
what a brain dead moron!
Bravo PM317, Why is it that BO thinks “checkstand politics” , where the kids are getting antsy and start asking for all kinds of candy and then because of BO the parents will repeatedly and firmly say “NO Candy!” ?? Kids come home and bug the parents and they in turn do what? Vote?
“Mommy BO said it was OK ’cause he got in a lot of trouble too as a kid.”
He said, “I get it”.
The parent thinks “Get what?” I don’t have a job to feed my kids but this guy can flat out to them?”.
The only thing BO was learning at 04:30 while living in Indonesia was the call to prayer and the language of Indonesia.
I think there is some hidden agenda here (some cockamamie thing his handlers came up with), Teak but I don’t know what it is. The speech itself is so pedestrian, I am not sure what he wanted to accomplish here.
He got caught red-handed, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. He backed off when he saw that parents do not want him messing with their kids.
So like your garden variety sulky, passive-aggressive narcissist, Obama releases a pablum speech and implies that parents were crazy to have feared him.
Most parents are smarter than you are, Obama. They know what kind of nonsense two-year olds dish out. They can see you coming and going.
The reason people don’t want Obama speaking to their kids is because he is only a role model for r*cism, bigotry, lies, and exaggerations.
Yesterday, he lied again stating the Republicans did not have a plan for Healthcare. That is a flat out lie.
He intends to tell children he grew up poor. That is a flat out lie.
He did not go to his Mother’s, Father’s, or Grannies Funeral.
Most importantly, he uses the word “a” in front of every “vowel”.
Can the lying ass idiot.
CAROL HAKA
????
Good morning-but I don’t get this
The word “an” is to be used in front of a word that starts with a vowel.
Examples:
a liar, a cheat, a moron
an illegal campaign contribution, an anti-American, an *sshole,
CAROL HAKA
oh F*CK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
not the dreadful “Sing for Change” video!!!!!!!!!!
Boy I couldn’t agree more with pm. Here’s an interesting conversation about the subject between Ann Althouse and Dayo Olopade:
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/22264?in=27:25&out=40:35
pm317, your addition of the Pink Floyd “The Wall” video is very apropos. Funny thing, with the Hitlerian schoolteacher in the video, the fascist persona is up-front and obvious; in Thee-One’s case, he is totally non-threatening–all smiles and honey–and this is even more dangerous.
I think your article about this event has been excellent. Thanks.
Larry added it in (thank you, Larry!). That video is scary but not far from Obama’s study guide to the teachers on his speech (which they scrapped after the outcry) and the involuntary participation required of some parents and kids . Why do I think there was some ‘Favreau’ like juvenile cockamamie agenda to this speech?
Financial pit-bull Karl Denninger provides his version of “An Address to Our Schoolchildren”:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1416-An-Address-To-Our-Schoolchildren.html
When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html
and
Some Local Schools Won’t Show Obama Speech
Some Others Have Sent ‘Opt Out’ Forms
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/obama.education.speech.2.1169625.html
When Obama pleads with students to stay in school, he is unfortunately addressing a mostly Black audience. It is a fact that most White students stay in school and do well.
My middle-schooler just got home and the speech was not shown in any of the classes he had today. That’s just a small sampling of the number of classes held today, but apparently his teachers did not think it was worth interrupting their curriculum for.
I have no problem with any president making a generic type of speech to our school kids – what else does he have to do? Especially this one. My problem comes from the likely fact that most little kids don’t give two hoots in hell what the president says. Why should they bother? They have their parents and their teacher for all that preaching and telling-what-to-do.
In any case, if anyone wants to reach the kids with a message of any kind, you would be better off using Ronald McDonald.
Wow!
Shocker! Judge orders trial on eligibility issue
Arguments planned Jan. 11 for challenge to Obama
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109242
Obama was born in …. Kenya!
Lame Duck anyone?
Here is a link to the grade 7-12 after speech lesson plan:
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf
I believe this is the watered down version. Yet
IMO, even this is application of community Organization techniques on a large scale. It is pushing a group think mentality that forces the concept that Obama “inspires us all”.
For example:
“• Create a “concept web.” Teachers may ask students to think of the following:
Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us?
How will he challenge us?
What might he say?
Do you remember any other historic moments when the president spoke to the nation?
What was the impact?
After brainstorming answers to these questions, students could create a “cause‐and‐effect” graphic organizer.”
“• Create a “concept web.”
That sounds like something right out of Axelrove’s dark matter. I’ll bet it’s tangled, too.