Published:  September 6th, 2009 14:30 EST
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Right-Wing Racism & Paranoia Over Obama's Speech To Our Nation's Kids
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This has been the summer of the town hall meeting trolls. This Astroturf movement has been whipping up hysteria -- warning that health care reform is the first step in Obama`s master plan to set up a socialist government.
 These right-wing nutjobs have a vendetta against Obama, they depict the president as a socialist who is against Mom, apple pie and democracy.
Obama is a wonky intellectual who speaks in calm and measured tones, and I find it difficult to understand how anybody could possibly mistake him for a dangerous radical.
But I guess I`m not a racist who sees only Obama`s black skin, and overlooks his eloquence, intelligence and bipartisan spirit.
Now these same conservative crazies are apoplectic over Obama`s plan to speak to schoolchildren this coming Tuesday.
"While it long ago crossed the borders of reason and civility, the hysteria over healthcare reform is -- at some level -- understandable, because wellness and infirmity are really just stand-ins for those most terrifying of issues, life and death. But there is no similar way to rationalize the bizarre co ntroversy now raging over President Obama`s plan to del iver a brief televised address on Tuesday to the nation`s grammar school children. According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Obama will `challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning.`" Tim Tutten/LA Times
Obama is seeking to motivate students "to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning." Don`t those goals perfectly encapsulate the conservative Republican ethic? Then why are the Republicans calling for parents not to let their children listen to the president`s speech?
In 1991 President George HW Bush made a similar speech to schoolchildren:
"I was intrigued by the links to a Washington Post story about George H.W. Bush speaking to school children on October 1, 1991. My daughter was in school then and I didn`t remember hearing about her watching any such event.
On WESTLAW, I looked up other news stories about the speech. It was reported as 10 minutes in some reports and 12 minutes in others. It was carried live on CNN, PBS, and [the NBC] and Mutual radio [networks]. The Secretary of Education sent a letter urging schools to have their students watch, but I didn`t find any evidence of how many schools followed that recommendation. And most striking: Bush laid out goals - to increase the graduation rate, improve student competency and better prepare students for entering school - and said, `Let me know how you`re doing. Write me a letter. I`m serious about this one. Write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals.`"
http://volokh.com/posts/1252117357.shtml
Conservatives didn`t mind when President George HW Bush and President Reagan addressed our schoolchildren, but they are in a tizzy over Obama`s speech to students.
Obama is the President of the United States for God`s sake, why all the controversy and paranoia over his speech to students? The birthers, tea baggers, pro-life zealots, gun nuts, Palin sycophants, and town hall meeting trolls have managed to convince many Republicans that Obama is a dangerous radical with a secret agenda to indoctrinate our children into socialism.
If Obama weren`t black none of the crazy accusations that have been hurled at him would stick. Unfortunately it`s very easy for some of these ignorant conservatives to believe that a black president is trying to undermine our democracy.
It`s time for prominent Republicans to speak out against the tea baggers and town hall trolls who have inaccurately and unfairly depicted Obama as a dangerous radical. All good Americans (Republicans and Democrats) should unite in defending Obama against these scurrilous accusations.
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