Obama worship fears as president addresses students
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WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY? WHAT? Is it the Water????
From the page: "Obama 'worship' fears as president addresses students
September 7, 2009 - 9:02AM
The White House has tried to allay some parents' fears that a speech President Barack Obama will deliver at a Virginia school this week is an attempt to ply American children with left-wing propaganda.
Conservatives have been up in arms since the White House announced last month that Obama would give a back-to-school speech on Tuesday as many students have their first day of classes for the new academic year.
"The president's whole message is about personal responsibility and challenging students to take their education very, very seriously," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who explained that Obama simply wanted to encourage the country's youth to do their best.
"We have some very important goals for the country. We want to see more high-performing schools, we want to see more students improving their academic achievement, we want to see more students going to college, and succeeding and graduating," Duncan told the CBS News program Face the Nation.
"None of those things happens - it's impossible - if students are not working hard every single day," the nation's chief education official said.
He also said he was amazed that the last time a president made such a speech to US students was in 1991.
"The real question I have is, why has it been 18 years since a president has addressed our nation's youth?"
His comments came in response to conservative criticism that the president's speech was an attempt at "indoctrination" of kids and after droves of parents phoned school boards to complain.
Critics have suggested that the aim of the speech was to recruit US kids to the liberal cause and brainwash them with socialism.
Their ire was sparked in part by a "Menu of Classroom Activities" which the Department of Education sent to schools around the country when the speech was announced. One of the activities suggested that school children write about "how they could help the president".
"That's Obama-centric. It's not focused on education but on the worship of Barack Obama," Michael Leahy, spokesman for the conservative grassroots Nationwide Tea Party Coalition said.
"This is indoctrination, pure and simple, into the cult of Barack Obama, and we are opposed to that," he said.
Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, raged that "Pied Piper Obama" was going "into the American classroom" to spread socialist ideology.
Some school districts took the decision not to air the speech, others said they will leave the decision to teachers and school principals, and some offered opt-outs for children whose parents do not want them to see or hear the address. "
From the page: "Obama 'worship' fears as president addresses students
September 7, 2009 - 9:02AM
The White House has tried to allay some parents' fears that a speech President Barack Obama will deliver at a Virginia school this week is an attempt to ply American children with left-wing propaganda.
Conservatives have been up in arms since the White House announced last month that Obama would give a back-to-school speech on Tuesday as many students have their first day of classes for the new academic year.
"The president's whole message is about personal responsibility and challenging students to take their education very, very seriously," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who explained that Obama simply wanted to encourage the country's youth to do their best.
"We have some very important goals for the country. We want to see more high-performing schools, we want to see more students improving their academic achievement, we want to see more students going to college, and succeeding and graduating," Duncan told the CBS News program Face the Nation.
"None of those things happens - it's impossible - if students are not working hard every single day," the nation's chief education official said.
He also said he was amazed that the last time a president made such a speech to US students was in 1991.
"The real question I have is, why has it been 18 years since a president has addressed our nation's youth?"
His comments came in response to conservative criticism that the president's speech was an attempt at "indoctrination" of kids and after droves of parents phoned school boards to complain.
Critics have suggested that the aim of the speech was to recruit US kids to the liberal cause and brainwash them with socialism.
Their ire was sparked in part by a "Menu of Classroom Activities" which the Department of Education sent to schools around the country when the speech was announced. One of the activities suggested that school children write about "how they could help the president".
"That's Obama-centric. It's not focused on education but on the worship of Barack Obama," Michael Leahy, spokesman for the conservative grassroots Nationwide Tea Party Coalition said.
"This is indoctrination, pure and simple, into the cult of Barack Obama, and we are opposed to that," he said.
Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, raged that "Pied Piper Obama" was going "into the American classroom" to spread socialist ideology.
Some school districts took the decision not to air the speech, others said they will leave the decision to teachers and school principals, and some offered opt-outs for children whose parents do not want them to see or hear the address. "
