Before watching this video, I was expecting that this would be another silly invented controversy. While it is certainly not one of the pressing issues of the day, change Obama’s name to Reagan or Bush and I think many of the controversy creators on the left would have been “outraged” as well.

My thoughts exactly, Dan.

It is amazing (and profoundly sad) how hypocritical each side gets when it protests (or protects) items like this.

Clearly, given what is not permissible in public schools, this is so clearly inappropriate.

And, as you note, had the message been pro-Bush, it would have been roundly jeered by those now defending it — or declaring it not important.

Leading up to President Obama’s address to schoolchildren on September 6, at least some Americans were upset about the president’s direct access to the hearts and minds of their children. But after Obma’s [sic] remarks were revealed to be wholeheartedly apolitical — really more of a pep talk for the first day of school — the news cycle moved on and no immediate harm was reported.

Zeke… if this is what you got out of that story, then you missed the point. It was revealed before the speech happened that a worksheet would be distributed to the school and students. The question, “What can you do to help the President?” or something similar, appeared. THAT was the source of the outrage!

The question should not have been, “…to help the President,” rather it should have been, “…to help America.” Obama often talks about how it’s not “about him,” and then distributes something like this, where the text makes it clear it IS about HIM?! After the complaints, the White House correctly apologized for it’s poor language, and made the appropriate edit.

Either you’re purposely misrepresenting the facts of the situation, or you don’t know the facts. Either way, a mistake.

What’s so discouraging about this story is how out of context it is being reported. Do the writer of this article and the commenters realize that this song, however creepy it might appear, was sung as part of Black History Month, and was one of many songs sung about famous blacks. Also, there are ample examples of songs being sung to praise GWB and Reagan, amongst others, but that was never used as an example of “indoctrinating” out youth. Of course, there are real examples of indoctrinating our youth that were never reported (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86LzKSsuB2w&feature=related).

Add the fact that these children, who are innocents in all this, are being forced to deal with death threats and armed guards at their school due to the outrage of these pathetic losers on the right.

You all are intellectual frauds, Lazy, incurious, dishonest sheep, taking everything Glen Beck and Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannity say at face value. You should be ashamed of yourselves, if you had any shame. Losers.

Ted Silliman in 2016! You’ve got MY vote!

Zeke is either very dishonest as a reporter or very out of the loop. Either way, he has no business writing here.

But after Obma’s [sic] remarks were revealed to be wholeheartedly apolitical — really more of a pep talk for the first day of school >

Funny how Zeke manages to leave out the workbooks and videos and other garbage that was all part of this. How nice of him to try and make it sound like the whole controversy was over Obama giving a speech.

Come on Dan, you can find far better people who don’t have an obvious agenda to write for this site!

Oh, I’m sure Zeke has no problem with his “Messiah” (Obama) being inserted for Jesus in “Jesus Loves The LIttle Children”.

These comments are a microcosm of the problem with political debate in America today. On one side Ted Silliman comes at Zeke from the left with terms like “lazy and incurious,” on the other side Zeke gets blasted from the right by “CaptainAmerica” as “dishonest” and Imnotblue even falsely accuses Zeke of getting the facts wrong. You are all entitled to your opinions and I encourage you to continue to comment with passion. That passion will help make this site great. But what will also make this site great is that some days we will be celebrated by the right, other days by the left. This was a good piece and the context that Ted Silliman demands does not change the fact that this is a political football and would have been with any sitting President. On the other hand, Imnotblue you were not listening to the debate before the speech if you think it was all about “a worksheet.”

Obama songs in the classroom, politicization of the NEA, Van Jones and the Czars, cap and trade, insane bailouts, ACORN, the healthcare lie that you can cut $500,000,000,000 from Medicare and add add thirty million people to the rolls and suggest that care won’t suffer… It’s ALL of this that makes children singing Obama songs really repulsive and scary. Allow me to reiterate that: REALLY REPULSIVE & SCARY!

I’ll have seconds, Jim.

Ted Silliman says:
September 26, 2009 at 11:20 pm

You do recognize that your YouTube video wasn’t of a PUBLIC SCHOOL… right? Do you not see a difference between a PUBLIC SCHOOL run by the government, and a private organization? Yeesh.

Dan Abrams says:
September 27, 2009 at 12:30 am

On the other hand, Imnotblue you were not listening to the debate before the speech if you think it was all about “a worksheet.”

Sure there were people who were upset about this from the start, but there are always going to be those people. However, those people and their claims aren’t what drove this story… what drove the story was the actual evidence, the controvercial content found, that gave this story legs. Without that, the story is just “a bunch of people complaining” (which is how Zeke tried to present it)… with it, the complaints have significant merit.

The issue of the worksheet was the most substantial claim to why this was wrong… substantial enough to get the White House to change their plans. Sure there were other claims, but aren’t there always? Shouldn’t we focus on the most important and relevant of all the claims, the claims that turned out to be undeniably true? That’s what makes Zeke’s report so unfortunate… it’s missing the “important fact,” in favor of more general terms, which wind up bolstering HIS opinion!

Re-read Zeke’s opening paragraph:

Leading up to President Obama’s address to schoolchildren on September 6, at least some Americans were upset about the president’s direct access to the hearts and minds of their children. But after Obama’s remarks were revealed to be wholeheartedly apolitical — really more of a pep talk for the first day of school — the news cycle moved on and no immediate harm was reported.

He states the issue as only being relevant to “some Americans,” and attributes their anger to the President attempting to have “direct access to the hearts and minds of their children.” That’s a great way to gloss over legitimate concerns of the issue. Again, if those concerns weren’t legitimate, why would the White House of reacted the way it did? Then he states this, “But after Obama’s remarks were revealed to be wholeheartedly apolitical,” well, the remarks WEREN’T “wholeheartedly apolitical,” they BECAME “apolitical” after the complaints! Isn’t that an important distinction to make? I would certainly hope so, as it changes the facts of the situation completely. Wouldn’t you agree?

So while I wholly appreciate you getting involved in the discussion, and am honored you took the time to address my comments… I stand by my original statement: “Either Zeke is purposely misrepresenting the facts of the situation, or didn’t know the facts to begin with. Either way, a mistake.”

@ImNotBlue: Only a small number of people were upset by the idea of the President addressing the students and the phrasing of one question on a worksheet was all anybody could find, which could possibly have anything to do with their claims, so one line was reworded.

And yes, usually our nation’s heroes and Presidents aren’t celebrated in school children song until they’ve passed or until their position has moved into history, but President Obama didn’t write the song in the video and he didn’t ask anyone to sing it. It’s sort of the same with any “hero” song; I’m sure George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks didn’t ask for any songs either, but elementary kids all over the nation are learning them.

In this case, a teacher wrote a song and had her students sing it. The only people who can rightfully say anything are the parents of those students and her supervisors. After all this isn’t a national issue, it’s just a decision by one teacher in one school, somewhere in the this big country.

I was not surprised to see how many schools where I live refused to show the speech. I do hope that many of the parents were aware enough to record the speech and sit down with their children and watch it together. What is unfortunate, when schools make this kind of decisiion, is that many of the children could use a pep talk but have parents that are to busy/uninvolved to take the time.

I hope the person who dreamed up that “worksheet” heard about it from their boss at the Department of Education. As I much doubt that the President himself had the time to write a “worksheet”. The media of course picked up on that and again went crazy. It would be nice if the media took the time to report the “real brainwashing” that takes place.

If I remember correctly school children wrote a song for President Bush in a school in New Orleans. They were thanking him for helping them out after Katrina. Hmmmm