September 8, 2009 at 1:20pm
Has the country gone berserk?
Are we really this nuts?
Just how many people bought into the craziness about President Obama's speech to school children?
And how much worse can this anti-Obama movement get?
The president of the United States wants to encourage the nation's students to work hard, stay in school, and make their parents proud - and he is accused of trying to brainwash children. Of peddling a socialist agenda.
Apparently the president thought he had a message that might touch children, particularly poor children. As examples, he used not only his own life story but also those of current students who have overcome the kinds of obstacles that many poor children face. Those young people, he told students in his televised address today, "aren't any different than you."
"You need to work hard," he said. "You can't drop out of school," he said. "What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of America."
"Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up," he said.
This is the message that terrified some parents. This is the message they refused to let their children watch. This is the message that had people calling radio programs and writing letters accusing the president of being just like North Korea's Kim Jong-il.
Obama's speech was just the latest target for the rabid Obama critics and the outfits feeding the frenzy. When the bizarre attacks against Obama first started making the news, it was tempting to dismiss them as the rantings of a few conspiracy theorists. But the attacks are becoming increasingly crazy, and increasingly scary.
The Republicans in Congress, men and women who should have applauded the president's wish to speak to the nation's children, have been silent - smiling, I have to assume, as the nutty firestorm built. They ought to be ashamed. And we ought to hold them accountable.
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Comments for "TOWLER: The wingnuts and Obama's speech to the children" (4)
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J said on Sep. 08, 2009 at 1:45pm
WELL Said!!!!!!!
Steve said on Sep. 09, 2009 at 1:26pm
I found nothing wrong with the speech President Obama gave, but part of me wonders if it's the same speech he would have given if there were not such an uproar over it in the first place. We'll never know, I guess.
As for the country going berserk, I can't help but believe that the personal attacks on President Bush's character weren't in some way stoking the fires that now lead some to criticize every thing that President Obama does. I pity the next president, whatever party he or she may come from, for the attacks that will have to be endured.
Louis Richards said on Sep. 09, 2009 at 2:40pm
In my entire life, I voted Democratic once. That is not a boast, it is a simple matter of fact; and I would like to say that President Obama’s speech was an excellent speech, and was whole-heartedly endorsed by both Laura Bush and Newt Gingrich. Personal responsibility should be a goal for all Americans.
I am absolutely disgusted with many in the GOP who created such an unnecessary uproar relentlessly pursuing illogical arguments and insane misstatements in order to mask what I, and many others, believe is simple racial bias.
It has been reported, in the months since the election, that the Republican Party membership is quickly declining. If the list of candidates is restricted to the likes of Cheney, Palin & Jindal and promoted by Limbaugh, Beck & O’Reilly and their ilk who only spew vitriol & hate … I completely understand why clear-thinking moderates are in the current stampede.
Kathryn Thomas said on Sep. 11, 2009 at 2:03pm
What has angered me most about this silly situation is that national media continually reported it, stoking the fire, but no one produced any numbers. How many people actually pulled their kids out of school or demanded that the school not air the speech? My sense is that, like the Birthers, this was a lot of noise by a few crazies. And by giving this type of issue equal time, the press just legitimizes it.
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