President Obama's speech to students outrages Oklahoma GOP legislators

[Quicksilver]

What is wrong with people? This is a sorry state of affairs....
Oklahoma isn't the only state but the other states involved
in this is interesting.
NewsOK
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=11043490

[AzX5]

I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama! I pledge to be a servant to Barack Obama!

[Quicksilver]

If "I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama!"
is all that people get out of that video then
this country is in a sad state of affairs.....

[AzX5]

"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."
--The Cato Institute

[X5rolls]

Pledge to be a servant to the President? What is this, his kingdom? What a crock.

[X5Flyboy]

given how many Dems & liberals don't even like the "pledge of allegiance" in school, this goes way beyond that - what does he and his sycophants think??? that he's KING??? that we have to take a vow of loyalty???

Maybe the essay should be (using his own words) "define me by the people I surround myself with" - THAT would be a great learning experience!

[MrLabGuy]

Originally Posted by X5Flyboy

Maybe the essay should be (using his own words) "define me by the people I surround myself with" - THAT would be a great learning experience!

You mean people like Van Jones...LOL

Bush Senior did a school video cast speech back in his administration and Democrats were up in arms calling it a campaign speech. Politics as usual.

I did notice that "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." was changes to "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."

The administration claims that the first statement was "inartfully worded, and we corrected it,"

Can we say Hidden Agenda.

[MrLabGuy]

Flashback

House Majority leader at the time, Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), said "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students."
"And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.' "


House Democrats criticized President Bush for using Education Department funds to produce and broadcast a speech that he made Tuesday at a Northwest Washington junior high school. The Democratic critics accused Bush of turning government money for education to his own political use, namely, an ongoing effort to inoculate himself against their charges of inattention to domestic issues. The speech at Alice Deal Junior High School, broadcast live on radio and television, urged students to study hard, avoid drugs and turn in troublemakers.

Two House committees demanded that the department explain the use of its funds for the speech, an explanation that Deputy Secretary David T. Kearns provided late in the day in a letter to Rep. William D. Ford (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was out of town.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), chairwoman of the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, said it was outrageous for the White House to "start using precious dollars for campaigns" when "we are struggling for every silly dime we can get" for education programs.

Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.) said that if Bush feels obliged to use government funds to hire outside consultants "to make him look good," then he should fire some of the public relations experts on the White House payroll. "Then the president might be more sympathetic to unemployment benefits," Frost said, referring to Bush's threat to veto legislation to extend benefits.

[Quicksilver]

Ok let get this straight.
We agree that education for children is important.
So the President is going to give a speech
encouraging kids to stay in school and and make
education a goal....... Hmmmm "HOW HORRIBLE".

[AzX5]

I'm sure the Democrats will be questioning Obama on the cost of producing & broadcasting this speech, since there are such scarce education dollars...

Using Agency Funds for Bush Speech Is Ruled Legal; Some House Democrats Had Questioned Paying for Broadcast With Education Dept. Money
The Washington Post | October 18, 1991| Kenneth J. Cooper

It was legal for the Education Department to pay broadcast production costs for President Bush's speech to the nation's schoolchildren earlier this month, the General Accounting Office has concluded.

A number of House Democrats had questioned the use of $26,750 in department funds to hire a private company to tape and disseminate Bush's Oct. 1 speech from the Alice Deal Junior High School in Northwest Washington. The critics charged that Bush inappropriately turned scarce education dollars to his own political purposes in staging an event to show his interest in domestic issues.