Whew, That Was a Close One

During the last two weeks, so much of the country has been engrossed in the debate surrounding President Obama's address on Tuesday to the nation's students. And after taking a couple of days to rewatch the video and read the transcript of the speech (http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html), I can certainly understand why conservative parents and politicians alike were opposed to President Obama talking directly to their children concerning the importance of education. Just take a look at the following excerpts and you will immediately see the socialism seeping through:

• "Every single one of you has something that 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."
• "Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you because, here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future."
• When discussing earlier struggles that Michael Jordan and J.K. Rowling faced earlier in life, President Obama remarked: "These people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time."
• "Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something and that then allows you to learn something new."

Yes, he truly is evil incarnate. With a speech like that, it is clearly obvious that he was pushing his socialist agenda onto individuals with an attention span of a Jack Russell Terrier. Sarcasm aside, it was nice to see that Newt Gingrich had this to say about President Obama's address: "It’s a good speech. I recommend it to everybody if you have any doubts. I'd love to have every child in America read it, think about it and learn that they should stay in school and they should study." It was even nicer to see Jim Greer, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida who previously claimed that President Obama was attempting to "indoctrinate America's children" prior to the speech even being delivered, was then in favor of the address after reading the text. In fact, Greer declared that "It’s a good speech. It encourages kids to stay in school and the importance of education and I think that’s what a president should do when they’re gonna talk to students across the country." Last but not least, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the former United States Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush, stated "I’m glad that the President has spoken to the schoolchildren of this country".