I watched the speech. No exhortations toward anarchy, communism or socialism. Just a common sense message about taking responsibility for one’s education. And it rang true coming from someone who started from humble means, without a father and achieved the heights of the American dream. I don’t think any of President Obama’s right wing radical detractors could match the authenticity of the message or the messenger.
The hysteria over Obama’s speech is for hysteria’s sake. Even hard core Republicans are backing down from opposing it. Laura Bush thinks it is a good idea.
What is his subversive message to brainwash our young people?
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By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer Ann Sanner, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 3 mins ago WASHINGTON – Take responsibility for your education. Go to class and listen. Don’t let failures define you. That’s the advice President Barack Obama will give schoolchildren Tuesday in a speech that drew fire even before he delivered it. “We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems,” Obama said. “If you don’t do that — if you quit on school — you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.”
Here’s when you say to people, “SHUT UP!!” What a nation of crybabies. What is wrong with the President talking with young Americans? If you don’t want to watch it, don’t turn on the video.
This backlash against the President is becoming ludicrous. Every little thing is a problem. No one got incensed when Ronald Reagan or George Bush gave speeches directed at school-aged children.
All of you who need to harp on every last thing as if it were a devastating blow to our nation, please, please, secede from the Union. But, before you do, remember all of the government sponsored benefits you will be giving up. And, remember, when you secede, you will have no one but you to blame for all of your problems. Enjoy.
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From YAHOO
On September 8, in what the Department of Education is touting as a “historic” speech, President Obama will be talking directly to students across the U.S., live on the White House website. But some parents and conservatives are blasting the president, calling the speech an excuse to brainwash American children.
[paragraph deleted]
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to the nation’s principals, inviting schools to watch the speech and included suggested classroom activities. But Jim Greer, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, came out swinging against the planned speech. An excerpt from his statement:
“The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President’s agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President’s initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.”
[paragraph deleted]
The Cato Institute, a public-policy research foundation, issued a press release entitled “Hey Obama, Leave Those Kids Alone,” criticizing the “troubling buzzwords” in the lesson plans:
“It’s one thing for a president to encourage all kids to work hard and stay in school – that’s a reasonable use of the bully pulpit. It’s another thing entirely, however, to have the U.S. Department of Education send detailed instructions to public schools nationwide on how to glorify the president and the presidency, and push them to drive social change.”
Across the blogosphere, comments covered the spectrum, from critical to supportive, and from one student, a little anger:
“I sent my children to school to be educated NOT indoctrinated.” — justamom
“The fact that people want to keep their kids from hearing the President of the United States encourage them to do well in school shows a true level of ignorance.” — Firefey
“As an [sic] 9th grade student, I’d like to say that 1. I’m not sure why everyone is so scared that we’ll all be brainwashed by the President … 2. My school is one that is not allowing us to watch the speech, and quite frankly, I’m pissed.” — Willbw
Both Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan both gave speeches aimed specifically at students that were nationally televised. In 1989, Bush delivered a televised anti-drug speech, and Reagan’s 1986 commencement speech and Q&A session was “beamed over public television into 171 school districts,” according to the L.A. Times.
It’s worth noting that schools are, encouraged, not required, to air the speech. The Houston Chronicle reports that one Dallas school district is leaving the decision to individual teachers. Susan Dacus, spokeswoman for the Wylie school district, says parents who don’t want their children to see it can opt out.
In an ironic twist, one Missouri school won’t be airing the speech because of a lack of funding. Michelle Baumstark, spokeswoman for Columbia public schools, told the Columbia Daily Tribune, “We don’t have the funding or the equipment to support that type of broadcasting.”
— Lili Ladaga
Don’t blame President Obama for our nation’s war fatigue. Iraq was unnecessary and we ignored the problem in Afghanistan for too long. And before the 2004 elections, Tom Ridge raised the terror warning to scare the nation into electing Bush. President Obama was given a mess.
Also, as a gay American, I would love for President Obama to come out more strongly in support of same-sex marriage rights. I also want him to stop enforcement of don’t ask, don’t tell. But I have no interest in diverting attention from getting health care and economic reform accomplished now.
And liberals and conservatives: get off your soap boxes and compromise. Our nation needs more action and less talk.
Progressives and liberals: you will lose my vote if you lose sight of the importance of incremental victories.
Bush had 8 years to destroy this nation. Let’s give President Obama more than 6 months to try to fix it.
Last week, I wrote: No, really, she said “Great White Hope”? http://40andoverblog.com/?p=1148
So, it turns out that Rep. Jenkins did know EXACTLY what she was saying when she used the phrase, the “Great White Hope.” Racism isn’t even veiled anymore.
I realized that I was talking to someone on her cell while she was in the office bathroom. I heard people talking and flushing. I need to sterilize my ear.
I am for universal health care coverage, but I will not pay for hearing aids or ocular implants for people who blast music in their ears. Especially on my subway car.
I saw a man standing just outside the employees entrance at a funeral home looking at the traffic going by. Was he waiting for something to happen?
My partner promised to handle a matter but left my cell phone number. Lesbian merger or dumping it back into my court?
How nice do I really have to be?
Would I get away with driving a person off a bridge if I promise to devote my life to public service (even though that wasn’t the quid pro quo for Teddy)?
If a bald, portly nerdy guy doesn’t see that he is lucky to have the girlfriend he has, will a baseball bat knock sense into him?
How come men think they are way better looking and way more desirable than they really are?
If you are blasting Karla Bonoff or The Pousette Dart Band and dancing around thinking you are cool, should you be entitled to social security benefits out of pity?
Did Sarah Palin drop off the face of the earth or was that just a fantasy I had?
Does Dick Cheney sometimes crawl back into his secret bunker for old time’s sake?
Do I have to go to the gym or can I imagine just how gross it is?
Dick Cheney never went to war. Dick Cheney was never interrogated. Dick Cheney has been a bureaucrat and desk jockey his whole life. Dick Cheney is not a member — trained or otherwise — of the military. In short, Dick Cheney doesn’t know anything about war, prisoners of war or interrogations, except what he has read from the Gestapo and Maoist rule books. I bet he really likes war games.
I don’t know anything about war either. But I know that only a sadistic fool rushes into war where young people die and lives of so many are forever destroyed. And I believe that only a sadistic fool goes straight to torture — yes, torture, and NO, there are not “enhanced interrogation techniques” — when there is at least a preponderance of credible information and analyses that show that a person subjected to these techniques will say anything to make the torture stop. So, the information is no more value than a coin flip.
Cheney’s unprincipled approach to all of this is appalling, but not surprising. Under the Bush Administration, his venal attacks on the government’s readiness to safeguard our nation would make him “unpatriotic,” “unAmerican,” and might subject him or his loved ones to attack in planted articles and leaks. (Valerie Plame comes to mind.)
He showed his true colors when he said that Bush would not bend to Cheney’s will in the second administration and that Bush showed an independent streak. Dick, no one elected you president. Ever.
Dominick Dunne was a writer of some repute early in his career. A career which careened out of control from drugs and alcohol, if I remember correctly. A person of power and privilege was the main suspect in his daughter’s murder and the suspect eluded conviction, as Mr. Dunne maintained, precisely because of his power and privilege. He then became a TV personality doing exposés on the “unsolved” crimes committed by the rich and powerful.
Dominick Dunne’s death has gone relatively unnoticed, more unnoticed probably because Ted Kennedy died hours earlier. What a strange juxtaposition. One man, a TV personality driven by never having gotten justice for his daughter; the other, a child of our American aristocracy and leader of a political dynasty who was responsible for a woman’s death and at the scene of another’s rape.
In these last few days, our leaders have gently referred to Ted Kennedy’s “transgressions” as they eulogize the liberal lion of the Senate. I keep thinking of Dominick Dunne.
I loved Ted Kennedy’s politics, but I am still working through my issues with all of these days of mourning. Was the nation better served by his service in the Senate or would his being held to account for his behavior have made us the more perfect union we desire? I keep thinking about the pledge of allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation [under G-d] with liberty and justice for all.”
I just don’t know.
Nooooooo. She didn’t really. Yesssss? Nooooooo.
A representative from Kansas, Lynn Jenkins (R) used the phrase “Great White Hope” when referring to existing and future leadership talent within the Republican party. And Obama got skewered for saying the Cambridge police acted stupidly?
She says she wasn’t thinking about a white contender against Obama in 2012 [I accept that she wasn’t thinking; but I wondered when she exercises her gray matter]. Also, various Republicans said no offense was meant. How nice for them to say. Charming, really.
Rep. Jenkins, one of 535 who review and pass laws affecting our land, did not know the back story on the unfortunate turn of phrase. Except you don’t have to know any back story to know that it can’t be a good phrase. [That is, if one uses one’s gray matter.]
Let’s sound it out together: Great [not bad so far] White [anyone have a plausible reason for this word other than racial reference?] Hope [as in champion]. Let’s parse it: White Hope. Hmmmm. A champion for whites as opposed to . . . other races?
To review, history books are not necessary to the implications of the statement. But I bet no one intended any offense. Rep. Jenkins and others like her [Herr Glenn “Gestapo” Beck, par exemple] truly are afraid of losing their status as the majority and governing race in America. And they are voicing it. And then, they fear they may face discrimination [retribution?] for their elitism and excusivity and want all of the programs against which they fought so hard when they had the power.
They see an end to THEIR society of whites-only country clubs, privilege and access to power (and not all whites are allowed, so if you have bad dental work, live in a trailer park and wear a sheet on occasion, you don’t belong either).
So these people are really hoping for a great WHITE hope. And, in case you are wondering, yes they’ve inbred so much that someone who can stay idiotic things can still become a Congresswoman.
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From the Associated Press —
OTTAWA, Kan. – A Kansas congresswoman says a recent comment about fellow Republicans seeking a “great white hope” was not a reference to someone who could challenge President Barack Obama‘s political agenda.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins said Thursday that she was making a comment about GOP leaders in the U.S. House. She says she was trying to reassure Republicans that there are bright leaders there.
But Jenkins says she apologizes if anyone was offended by her remarks at the Aug. 19. forum.
She says she was unaware of any negative connotation to the phrase.
The phrase stems from the early 1900s when there was a campaign to find a white boxer who could defeat heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was black.
A spokesman says White House officials will give Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A freshman Republican congresswoman apologized Thursday for telling a gathering in her district that the GOPwas still searching for a “great white hope” to stop President Barack Obama’s political agenda.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins used the phrase during an Aug. 19 forum as she discussed the Republican Party‘s future and tried to reassure members that the GOP has promising young leaders. Someone in the crowd recorded video of the event in Hiawatha, about 65 miles northeast of Topeka, and gave it to the Kansas Democratic Party.
“She apologizes if her words have offended anyone,” Jenkins spokeswoman Mary Geiger told The Associated Press. “That was not the intent in any way, shape or form.”
At an event at University of Kansas in Lawrence, Jenkins denied she was speaking in racial terms and said she meant only that the GOP needs “a bright light.”
“I was unaware of any negative connotation, and if I offended anybody, obviously, I apologize,” Jenkins told the Lawrence Journal-World.
At the Hiawatha event, Jenkins was discussing the GOP’s future, with Democrats in control of Congress and Obama elected the nation’s first black president, in response to an audience question. Jenkins is white, as are three House colleagues she mentioned as future party leaders: Eric Cantor of Virginia; Kevin McCarthyof California and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
“Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope,” Jenkins said last week. “I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington.”
The Democratic National Committee in Washington declined to comment Thursday.
“I saw that report,” White House spokesmanBill Burton said at a briefing on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where Obama is vacationing. “I also saw that her spokesperson backpeddaled and said that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give congressman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.”
The National Republican Campaign Committee in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Jenkins was not available for comment Thursday morning, but she was to hold an afternoon town hall meeting in Ottawa, about 55 miles southwest of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The phrase “great white hope” often is associated with pre-civil rights-era racism and is widely believed to have entered usage in the U.S. when boxer Jack Johnson, who was black, captured the heavyweight title in the early 20th century. Many whites reacted to Johnson’s achievement by trying to find white fighters — or a “great white hope” — who could beat him. The boxer’s story inspired a play, then a movie, with that title, both starring James Earl Jones.
Geiger said she doubts Jenkins was aware of the phrase’s connection to the play about Johnson. Geiger said she’s never heard Jenkins use it before.
She said Jenkins simply was discussing how the GOP has faced challenges in recent years but has talented young leaders, adding, “That’s what she was saying, that was it, nothing more, nothing less.”
Tyler Longpine, a spokesman for the Kansas Democratic Party, called Jenkins’ comment “a poor choice of words” but said he doesn’t think it was anything more than that.
He said a Democratic Party supporter shot the video at Jenkins’ forum in Hiawatha and shared it with the state party.
“The thing that kind of strikes me was the partisan tone of it all,” Longpine said. “If she’d stick to talking about policy rather than politics, she could have kept her foot out of her mouth.”
Jenkins, 46, won the 2nd Congressional District seat for eastern Kansas last year by ousting Democratic incumbent Nancy Boyda. She previously served two terms as state treasurer and four years in the Kansas Legislature.
I have been reading that many wonder whether such a flawed person could have been re-elected so many times in the age of the 24-hour news REcycle.
Sen. Kennedy was human and so he is flawed. He was born into wealth and into the closest thing this nation has to an aristocracy. He lost his brothers by violence, two of them by assassination. The dreams and hopes of a mourning nation broke his shoulders. He also is responsible for the death of a young woman and possibly two passengers on a private plane. He was the adult at a drinking party where a rape occurred. He had affairs and abused alcohol.