Comments on: Conservatives Apoplectic Because Obama Is Doing Something Bush 41 Did Twenty Years Ago

By: cliff

cliff — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:18:06 +0000

Hi!

Please stop complaining about Obama’s address to the nation’s students.

Instead, please, please, please, tell all your readers to pull their kids out of their local school. If they are motivated at all, then their child will probably have a better education at home, than they will get at their local school.

I encourage ALL parents who are upset/worried/feeling uneasy about the President of the United States talking to their children, to immediately pull your kids out of school.

It is legal all across the country, and in places like Wisconsin, where I live, VERY easy to pull your kids out and homeschool them

God Bless!
cliff
NBO

By: Amagi

Amagi — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:08:26 +0000

James,
How can you make the claim that the people who disapprove of the War on Some Drugs is a vanishing minority? We have states decriminalizing and cities reducing penalties. Internationally this failed war is becoming obvious and policy is changing to reflect this.

Howland – Regardless, these are government schools and the government will probably do whatever they want. He is not my president and if I ever reproduce my children will be raised to respect a person, not an office. It is that kind of blind allegiance to an office or a badge or a title that allows dictators to rise.

It is definitely hypocritical of the right to bitch about this, they would (and have) do the same thing. All politicians are the same, regardless of party.

By: C Howland

C Howland — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:40:47 +0000

I think that if former President G.W. Bush had done the same thing, and parents had objected to it, they would have been labeled unAmercian. In fact, it happened when he visited schools, which he frequently did. I remember former President G.H.W. Bush’s address and though I wasn’t overly excited about it, he was our President and he was our kids’ President… just as President B. Obama is our President. What happened to respect for the office? Just because you might not agree, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to what he has to say. That’s what makes our democracy strong… Not listening to him because he MIGHT say something you don’t agree with, or Not listening to him because he is NOT of your political party only shows fear, and weakens the democracy our fathers fought so hard to establish.

By: Mickey

Mickey — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:29:06 +0000

Since the White House itself is billing this as “historic” — they themselves are to blame for presenting it as out of the ordinary. Moreover the fact that this seems to be the only time its happened — one event, twenty years ago, about a specific policy — shows that past presidents have shied away from this sort of ‘cult of personality’ behavior. Frankly it is far more suited to a third world country — which is perhaps why BHO is doing it.

By: Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:03:52 +0000

Michael,

So this is more about party than whether a President even belongs addressing kids in this manner.

Thanks for clearing that up.

By: Michael Haltman

Michael Haltman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:02:28 +0000

We could count on Bush to stick to his message. With Obama, I believe he is going to use this opportunity to preach to the treachers and administrators watching on healthcare and any other topic he wants to talk about.

It is all about TRUST!

They already had to redefine the description of the agenda.

By: Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:07:38 +0000

James,

Since you don’t know what Obama is even going to say, then isn’t all this apoplexy premature ?

By: James Young

James Young — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:05:44 +0000

And let’s remember, too, that the “War on Drugs” is national policy, endorsed by Congress. Just because it is a policy of which you and a small-to-vanishing minority disapprove does not make this a similar situation. Or do you ENDORSE kids using drugs?

To the extent that Obama pushes an agenda which is not national policy, he will have crossed a line.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:48:26 +0000

I didn’t have a kid in school 20 years ago. I don’t remember this but remember his prime time address on drugs. I don’t think though that his speech to the schools was as widely published or pushed through the Dept. of Education.

You have a point though. To an extent.

But times have changed and Barack Obama is a propaganda machine. I wouldn’t, I don’t think, have objected to Bill Clinton doing this (pre-Monica at least).