Just when I’ve started to feel more hopeful about our country, our economy and a potential solution to our health care crisis, things take a turn for the absurd.
What has happened to this great nation? It appears to have become so entrenched in polarization, thanks to Bush II, that conservatives can only see any actions by our president through one lens – the lens of hatred and distrust.
Next week President Obama plans to deliver a speech on education aimed at students across the country. His message is expected to be something about the importance of staying in school and gettting a good education.
Since when is encouraging kids to do their homework, pay attention in class and strive to learn, some sort of conspiratorial indoctrination? Have you people gone made? Sounds like we have a widespread case of koolaid drinking, and way too many people have lined up to the proverbial pitcher.
I really don’t get it. Presidents in the past have delivered speeches on education. They’ve shared the same kinds of messages and never do I remember people coming out of the woodwork saying they would keep their kids home from school that day and that the president has no business trying to fill kids’ head with his beliefs. And let’s not forget the Republican party and the conservative media who’ve joined the bandwagon, banging the drum about the president seeking to spread his socialist idealogy. Oh the horror!
The President’s spokesman Robert Gibbs didn’t mince words when he summed up the outcry from the President’s plans. “I think we’ve reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can’t tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school,” Gibbs said.
Actually, I think he was being quite measured by calling it the “silly season.” The conservatives and their diehard followers out there have gone beyond silly, they’ve moved straight into the crazy column.
It’s time for this country to get back on track. It’s time for conservatives to accept that they no longer have one of their own in the White House. Instead, they’ve got someone there who actually cares about all citizens in this country, and who cares enough to reach directly out to students. We all know education is that last great equalizer in this country, and it’s about time that we again have a president who’s acknowledging that fact, and acknowledging that teachers have a voice.
My hope is that every TV in every classroom across this country is tuned in to the President’s speech next week, because it’s truly a teachable moment that our kids shouldn’t miss.
