Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Back To School Days
Obama's "controversial" school speech Tuesday? Transcript is here. It can be viewed here. And, guess what, a liberal did find something wrong with it -- it sounds too much like -- oops!! -- Bill Bennett!! Yeah, the conservative former education secretary and self-styled culture/values czar!
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Anyone paying attention should have guessed from the start that this would have been Obama's approach. While he's governing from the left as president (and had a voting record worthy of the "most liberal senator"), the fact is that Obama has always had a conservative streak on certain broad cultural issues ("broad" means more than just abortion and sexual orientation). Parental (especially fatherhood) responsibility falls into that category. Education sure as heck falls into that category. Maybe nobody noticed, but in this area, Barack Obama is more Bill Cosby than Jay-Z.
The speech cribs some anecdotes from his Dreams Of My Father memoir of how his mother pushed learning on him early (and got him up early too)!
Observations made to the NAACP -- about the need for parents to turn off the TV and put down the videogames -- also made their way into the school speech.
In other words, this is a speech any president could make -- but has a very special resonance when delivered by a black president to the nation's school kids.
Conservatives, take your chill pills and pick your battles wisely.
Labels: Barack Obama, education, schools
