I was going to write a longer post about this earlier today, but Ace over at Ace of Spades HQ already covered it,
A very big part of the resistance to this speech is the double standard. And this is important, and not mere grousing. All conservatives know that there would not only be an opt-out if, say, President Bush the Younger had given this speech, but that it would barley have been shown at all in the first place.
The sensitivities of liberal parents would have been respected. Not just respected — those sensitivities would have been dominant, blocking out coverage except for in a small fraction of schools.
On the other hand — Obama.
Now, what the liberal/governmental establishment wants to tell us here is that we are second class citizens. We have some political rights, but not nearly the full panoply of rights enjoyed by liberals.
And we reject that.
We. Reject. That.
And we’re not “crazy” or “stupid” to do so. We are simply tired of the liberal/bureaucratic establishment treating us like second-class citizens of no importance and no account, and of arrogantly treating us as children in constant need of their sage wisdom, lecturing, and hectoring.
Not having it.
We can’t stop the liberal/bureaucratic establishment from attempting to treat us like sub-citizens. But we sure the hell can refuse to endorse that attempted classification by acquiescing to it.
Compare… Universities receiving federal funds forbidding military recruiters on campus, in direct violation of (IIRC) the Solomon Amendment.
Oh, that’s different. Liberal sensibilities are offended here, so they’re allowed to break the law and continue receiving their federal dollars.
But if the DoE spreads “preparatory materials” which include the suggestion that students write letters to themselves as to how they can “help the President” (not help America; not help themselves or their families; help the president, this president), that’s fine and dandy.
This president created a cult of personality which infected a substantial number of adults as it is. And conservatives are bit reluctant to see that cult of personality imposed on impressionable children? Their own children?
Stupid? Crazy?
How about we, like liberals, jealously guard our rights and wish to be free from the coercive power of the state?
Oh, right — dissent is only patriotic when liberals are dissenting.
Exactly. The point to all this is not that people thought Obama was going to hypnotise their kids and turn them into zombies or robots or anything. It’s simply the principle of the matter. Why do we need the President lecturing our kids, anywise? PARENTS are the ones who should be determining the course of their childrens’ lives, not the President. And we certainly don’t need schools training our kids on how we can help “the President.” The President’s “values” are no better than anyone else’s, and are in fact worse than most. There’s no reason why parents should be considered “stupid” for not wanting him to impart those values to their kids.
Face it – there’s just something more than a little bit creepy about President Obama. He’s the kind of guy that I’d teach my kids not to take candy from. No robotics. No zombification. Just the fact that he’s odd. And manipulative. And untrustworthy. And lies in a bald-faced manner.
For what it’s worth, the actual speech was plain vanilla. My main qualm with what Obama actually said is how useless it really was. We need to have a nationwide Presidential address to tell kids to not drop out of school? To study hard? To listen to what adults in authority say? Great. People either already have that covered, or they don’t. This is the same thing Bill Cosby’s been telling inner city kids for years. If education is so important, than stop wasting the kids’ time and let them get back to learning how to recycle and put condoms on bananas and all the other stuff they’re covering in the publik skools.
Sorry lefties, the issue isn’t paranoia, but it IS about trust. And Obama simply hasn’t earned it.
