Obama's socialist message to kids revealed!!

[parky76]

Here is the text of the message he will read to American students tomorrow:

The following are prepared remarks from President Obama's Back to School Event scheduled for Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia:
The President: Hello everyone - how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.
I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.
Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.
So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer - hundreds of extra hours - to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.
And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book.
Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.
And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you - you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust - a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you - don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too.
So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America."


I did a quick scan and saw the words "AIDS" and "volunteer". Clearly, this is part of a Communist brainwashing scheme!!!

[sugarb]

Wow. That's an awesome message that young people need to hear. And a lot of kids will be able to relate to it, because it addresses some harsh realities a whole lot of kids face. Everyone needs to talk to young people like this...encourage them, no matter what the circumstances; make them accountable to not only others, but themselves.

[timhau]

Originally Posted by parky76

Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class.

He wants to make everyone autistic!!

[Flo]

He mentioned Harry Potter, he wants kids to become satanists !

[Undesired Walrus]

How utterly depressing it is that some parents wouldn't want their kids to hear that.

ETA: What's with bringing God into public schools? Not on Barry (Although I doubt the parents who kept their kids home would have a problem with that.)

[Eddie Dane]

I became communist, reading this.

Thanks Parky!

[Juniversal]

Originally Posted by Eddie Dane

I became communist, reading this.

Thanks Parky!

I am also ashamed to say I am now an anti-American, communist, Marxist, socialist, facist white hating racist radical Muslim Terrorist. *hangs head in shame*

[timhau]

Eddie, Juniversal, now you're just being ridiculous; if you could catch communism from that text, we'd all be affected. Such a juvenile attempt at sarcasm is uncalled for, comrades.

[MysteryMammal]

Oh no... I just got a craving for Pringles from reading this. Damn you, Obama, and your subliminal product placements!!!

[Skeptic]

Quote:

If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Some idiot over at National Review claims this is a "political gaffe" because it "seems to be calling" those Americans who quit school to enlist in the armed forced during WWII and the Korean war unpatriotic.

Ah well.

Still, even he makes quite clear that in his view the speech is "largely inoffensive" and that this "gaffe" is unintentional, not that Obama really thinks this about these veterans.

I'm sure there are conspiracy theorists who think Obama uses mind beams to brainwash children through the television set, but on the whole the right doesn't seem to use this speech for anything more serious than snarky "his ratings have dropped so he is going to suck up to kids" comments. Which might even be true, for all I know.

As for the speech itself: good speech, as usual per Obama, which (duh) emphasizes the importance of education.

Sooooooooooooooooo?

[parky76]

Al Sharpton is hating this speech. His whole career has been based on convincing black youth to blame all their problems, failures, and future.....on the mythical "white man".

[Skeptic]

Because, after all, nobody ever has any problems, screw-ups or disappointments in life that are not due to racism.

[BigAl]

Originally Posted by parky76

Here is the text of the message he will read to American students tomorrow:

The following are prepared remarks from President Obama's Back to School Event scheduled for Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia:

Bush Sr. Speaks to the nation's children Oct 1, 1999


This was a national speech given a month prior to the election for his
second term.

BUSH: "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."

Quote:

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

[Undesired Walrus]

Originally Posted by BigAl

Bush Sr. Speaks to the nation's children Oct 1, 1999


This was a national speech given a month prior to the election for his
second term.

Eh?

[Tricky]

Originally Posted by BigAl

Bush Sr. Speaks to the nation's children Oct 1, 1999


This was a national speech given a month prior to the election for his
second term.

BUSH: "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."

1991, actually.

[Dancing David]

Um, "How can you help the President?" was the big hoo haa , how can you help the presdent.

By staying in school.

Be cool stay in school.

I support our communist leader in his message of complete indoctrination through completing school.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Tricky

1991, actually.

Making it 13 months prior to the election, not one month.

[Redtail]

Originally Posted by parky76

Al Sharpton is hating this speech. His whole career has been based on convincing black youth to blame all their problems, failures, and future.....on the mythical "white man".

They aren't myths! I saw one behind my house!

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Redtail

They aren't myths! I saw one behind my house!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pJQSQgwHvb...00/camping+jer

That's totally a photoshop.

[Juniversal]

Originally Posted by parky76

Al Sharpton is hating this speech. His whole career has been based on convincing black youth to blame all their problems, failures, and future.....on the mythical "white man".

Lets be honest. The likes of Al Sharpton (and Jesse Jackson for that matter) are remanants of the civil rights/post civil rights movement era when racial sparring and injustice was pervasive and very real. Mind you I don't know many blacks (including myself) that are actually fans of theirs OR enjoy their captain save a negro anntics but I think some whites wrongly interpret this "swooping in when injustice rears its ugly head" as hating whites or as you say blaming "all their problems, failures, and future.....on the mythical "white man". Rather then a largely unnecessary behavior that's persisted since the civil rights and post civil rights movement era.

[Ziggurat]

I have yet to see anyone mention what really kicked off the controversy: not the announcement that Obama would give a speech to school kids, but the lesson plan which was initially distributed to go along with the speech:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301...ptember-8-2009
One of the suggested activities for teachers to assign students was:
"Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
I believe this has since been changed, but I find it quite interesting that this aspect of the controversy (both the initial objections and the subsequent retraction of that material) has gotten virtually no mention.

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

I have yet to see anyone mention what really kicked off the controversy: not the announcement that Obama would give a speech to school kids, but the lesson plan which was initially distributed to go along with the speech:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301...ptember-8-2009
One of the suggested activities for teachers to assign students was:
"Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
I believe this has since been changed, but I find it quite interesting that this aspect of the controversy (both the initial objections and the subsequent retraction of that material) has gotten virtually no mention.

Why would that kick off the controversy?

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Upchurch

Why would that kick off the controversy?

Because it's not the job of school children to help the president. And because teachers have politicized classrooms in the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDEAYgm0Dv8

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

Because it's not the job of school children to help the president.

Who said it was?

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

And because teachers have politicized classrooms in the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDEAYgm0Dv8

How is that applicable?

[JoeTheJuggler]

The really important question: where does Michael Jordan stand on health insurance reform?

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Upchurch

Who said it was?

The department of education. Did you not read what I posted?

[JoeTheJuggler]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

Because it's not the job of school children to help the president.

I think that's just a rhetorical device similar to the President's Physical Fitness Challenge. The idea is that it's patriotic or good citizenship or pro-American or whatever to work hard and be the best person you can be.

I really don't think it means anything like "help Obama to realize his partisan political agenda".

I think it's a perfectly legitimate use of the office of the President, and one that even Laura Bush approves of.

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

The department of education. Did you not read what I posted?

I did read it. Didn't see the word "job" anywhere in there. Did you?

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by JoeTheJuggler

I think that's just a rhetorical device similar to the President's Physical Fitness Challenge.

And you may be right. But lots of people don't trust Obama, and get uncomfortable with that sort of language. My point isn't so much that I think they're right, but that key reasons for objections have basically not been mentioned by most press accounts of the whole kerfuffle.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Upchurch

I did read it. Didn't see the word "job" anywhere in there. Did you?

Are you also going to argue that children don't earn wages at school, so my use of the term was inappropriate?

[kellyb]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

I have yet to see anyone mention what really kicked off the controversy: not the announcement that Obama would give a speech to school kids, but the lesson plan which was initially distributed to go along with the speech:

I have yet to see any evidence that the suggested classroom activities are what kicked the controversy off.

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

Are you also going to argue that children don't earn wages at school, so my use of the term was inappropriate?

Of course it is inappropriate.

Do you really still not realize that I'm mock/imitating your own hyper-literal form of argumentation or are you just seeing how far I'll take it?

Because it is really formulaic and doesn't take much effort. I can keep it up ad absurdum.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Upchurch

Do you really still not realize that I'm mock/imitating your own hyper-literal form of argumentation or are you just seeing how far I'll take it?

Your imitation of analytical argumentation is absurdity. Why am I not surprised? The only tool you've ever had at your disposal is mockery, but any monkey can pull that off. You can't do the real thing, can you? How that must grate.

[The Painter]

Originally Posted by parky76

Here is the text of the message he will read to American students tomorrow:

[i][b] Hello everyone - .... - I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America."

The President says a prayer in public school. He mentioned God. He should know he's not allowed to do that.


I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the Feds helping set the curriculum. That is the States job, not the feds.

I also think the timing is off. It should have been researched a little better. For example, school here in western Suffolk county starts today, the President spoke yesterday. Oops.

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

Your imitation of analytical argumentation is absurdity. Why am I not surprised? The only tool you've ever had at your disposal is mockery, but any monkey can pull that off. You can't do the real thing, can you? How that must grate.

I really shouldn't. You're getting agitated.

...but would you kindly join me over here?

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by kellyb

I have yet to see any evidence that the suggested classroom activities are what kicked the controversy off.

Have you actually been looking for what kicked off the controversy? Have you gone to the sort of websites that were first complaining about the speech to see what they might have said?
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/01...choolchildren/
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/104812

The second link is particularly rant-like and more than a touch paranoid, but the prominence of the classroom activities in the complaint is quite apparent:
"if you have a strong stomach read the word.docs linked below with recommended classroom activities before and after the speech (be warned, if you love the Constitution you will want to barf)"

So again, to make myself clear, I'm not trying to argue that these fears were well-founded, I'm pointing out that key details of those fears are being avoided in most press coverage of the controversy. And that's rather interesting.

[Juniversal]

Yea because Michelle Malkin is an unbiased source that doesn't look for any opportunity to engage in inflamatory debates about Liberals or Democrats at the drop of a dime. A slightly more.....moderate...source then Malkin or Paul would be more convincing to me.

[Upchurch]

Originally Posted by Juniversal

Yea because Michelle Malkin is an unbiased source that doesn't look for any opportunity to engage in inflamatory debates about Liberals or Democrats at the drop of a dime. A slightly more.....moderate...source then Malkin or Paul would be more convincing to me.

Even then, it is arguable that it was actually the extremist paranoia of Malkin and "Misfit4Peace", et al, that kicked off the controversy. They have been jumping at shadows since before Obama was inaugurated.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Juniversal

Yea because Michelle Malkin is an unbiased source that doesn't look for any opportunity to engage in inflamatory debates about Liberals or Democrats at the drop of a dime.

You missed the point. Completely. I do not cite her as evidence that the complaints against Obama are correct. I cite her as evidence of what those complaints were. Can you understand the difference? Can you understand why her biases don't make any difference in regard to that question? She was voicing a complaint about the distributed lesson plans. That is evidence that the lesson plans were a source of complaint. Quite simple, really.

[Juniversal]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

You missed the point. Completely. I do not cite her as evidence that the complaints against Obama are correct. I cite her as evidence of what those complaints were. Can you understand the difference? Can you understand why her biases don't make any difference in regard to that question? She was voicing a complaint about the distributed lesson plans. That is evidence that the lesson plans were a source of complaint. Quite simple, really.

Don't get me wrong. I completely understand YOUR point. I wasn't disputing your point. Just the fact Malkin finds fault with Obama at every turn and this no different. So I wouldn't consider her much of a viable source for legitimate Obama concerns. Which doesn't effect your message regardless.