Soon your President will give his speech to your schools, frightening really. The skies will turn dark, the sea will part and lighting bolts will crash to earth, be prepared.
He is going to say how important education is for your future generations, how can he say that, how dare he say that?
Here is a pre speech release of this speech from the WH, how dare he be concerned about the children of America, the very nerve of the man.
I have no photos to share for this but would ask if one should be kindly displayed, it would be a huge question mark, only for the nonsense spouted by the crazies, the racists, the loonies, the people who don’t care about you dying on the waiting room floor while they line their pockets with donations from the corrupt insurance companies.
Here is the speech.
Barack Obama school speech in full
The full text of the US president’s back-to-school address, as released in advance by the White HouseAssociated Press
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 September 2009 09.59 BSTHello 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 12th 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.
I found this advanced pre speech of the speech he will deliver at 12 eastern, I was shocked by the blatant concern for future generations, how dare he I thought, how DARE he care?
Please continue the rest of the speech here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/08/barack-obama-school-speech-full
Heh! Really, this wanting to “help” children be educated and “help” people have affordable health care is so wrongheaded.e office.
Pres. Obama is neglecting the starting of unnecessary wars and deregulating the financial sector further.
If he doesn’t want to act like a president, he shouldn’t have run for the office.
Thank you for a great post.
What struck me about the brilliance of his speech was that adults can learn something from it too! The notion that your past does not define you & that you can always learn & grow. I keep thinking of kids who heard this speech who have similar personal narratives as the President. Perhaps there is a kid whose mother was White (as was mine) & whose Black father left when they were two years old (as mine did); whose mother raised them as single parent at one point on welfare to make ends meet (as was the case with us); who had a parent that put education first so that we could have a private school education, eventually graduating from an Ivy League college (as was the case with me). I am a grown woman & even I am inspired by the President’s narrative which is so similar to my own. Heck, I actually lived it & it still gives me goose bumps to hear him tell “our story” ;-). Just imagine what a child, especially a child of color & even more specifically a young Black male, whose path as yet to be traveled can now dream for themselves when they see themselves in the President’s story?
The best part is hearing kids talk about what they got out of the speech. Kids are smarter than people think. One of my friends said her son, who us nine & HATES to read, picked up a book when he got home from school today instead of playing video games. She asked him what was up & he said, “I gotta start taking this stuff seriously like the President said”
And the most ironic thing is that the Wrong (my new name for the Right) is always talking about personal responsibility…and that is EXACTLY what his speech was about. Morons!
The notion of pulling your kid out of school to prevent them from hearing this speech borders on child abuse. Kids need to learn to develop critical thinking skills; but THAT would mean that they’d probably start to question mom & dad’s twisted logic & become anything BUT right-wingers (or should I say, Wrong-wingers).
And the BEST way to get a kid to do something is to tell them they CAN’T. The kids are going to want to see the speech even MORE now (hello you-tube).
I think the next speech he needs to give is to parents about common sense parenting skills.
LuluMay, I’m white and blonde, my father left when I was 2 years old too. He left a legacy, a sister I didn’t know I had until I was 14 years old, we met once when I was 15 and lived together in London for 2 years,.We are still best friends now. What our parents did should never be an indicator of our own future, with the right coaching, we all rise above it as I’m sure that you did.
Cheers dear, we are who we are!
That’s for sure if I followed my parents and my older brother for that matter I would of ended up in the military after high school.
Yes hon, you are not well, your “heart” is in the right place though.
Lulu another insightful comment and thanks for sharing your story. My roots are second generation Irish American on my fathers side and my wife who is the most intelligent, insightful and beautiful woman I have ever met just happens to be of African decent . We have been married for over 17 years and have been through it all from cancer to the death of her mother from breast cancer at a relatively young age.
I was a terrible student all the way through high school. Actually I could have used a speech like that growing up. All I cared about was sports, music and girls back in those days. My parents were blue collar and just did not value a college education that much but I was still the first in my family to go to college.
My wife was the opposite. Besides having two parents who were college graduates. She was a perpetual honor roll student, achieved second place in the national science fair, was a debate champion and was accepted to most of the Ivy League schools she applied for because of her academic achievements. But of course we all know any racist would say she got into a particular school because of the color of her skin when the opposite was true. Fortunately because of the way I was raised I never judged people by superficial impressions.
It’s good old fashioned guidance. Obama knows what he would have benefited from.
My dad guided me. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know who or what I would have become. Naturally the guidance needs to come from a benevolent and non-selfish place.
Q you are lucky, I had George, my stepfather and a survivor of Gold Beach in Normandy in 1944 to guide me, he has seen it all and has taught me endurance throughout my life, I am eternally grateful.
Very nice reply!
I think that children in particular but all people subjected to challenging situations go one way or the other…with shades of gray of course…either being corrupted by what they experience or becoming wiser.
As Nietzsche said, “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.”
Not that I am happy about some of the unpleasant things that have happened to me in my life but I don’t sit around regretting or resenting them.
I teach my 6 year old daughter, when she falls she needs to get up. If she’s really hurt, crying is of course natural. But if she’s not, don’t cry just to get sympathy, continue with what you were doing before you tripped.
I look at life in the same way. If you get smacked down hard by something or someone, you have every right to holler or get upset. But if you’re not seriously hurt after you take stock of yourself, don’t dwell on what happened, continue moving your life forward.
Pres. Obama’s speech may not change any kid but his words may stick around in their heads at a fortuitous time.
Good words have a way of continuing to echo in people’s minds, this was very cool of our Pres. to do.
Great piece Kalima. Wonderful encouraging speech for our nations young students.
The right wing outrage over this speech just shows how THEY view everything through a cynical political prism. Thankfully youngsters are not as jaded as their parents and they still have some respect for the president. I know if I was in grade school even if it was Nixon encouraging me I would at least think about studying harder.
Most of all the right wing does not want educated consumers, voters in this case, because if they did they would never win another election.
Communist, socialist Kenyan, friend of a terrorist propaganda, just as I expected.
Keep the government out of our public schools!
And fluoride out of our water!!!
And tinfoil off of our leftovers and on our heads where it can do some good!
Nya!
It’s the MSM. They have mainstreamed the marginalizable, giving them a voice for divisiveness and falsehood. What kind of issue is this?
FUCQUIS MEDIA MAENSTREMUS (TM) !!!!!!
Hear! Hear! The fucking media is at it again declare the demise of the public option for the umpteenth time too. Face it they want to keep as much profits in private healthcare as possible for maximum ad money along with selling the constant outrage.
Why do people not see that the media is so complicit in this?
Because they are the invisible lens of “reality”, much like most people don’t question how their own minds perceive the world. It’s a given. It can also be a very fucked up given, in need of intramuscular Haldol.
America is owned by the entertainment industry. Those in the entertainment industry should be locked up in rooms like the kind you find in Sartre’s “No Exit”. With violent and wholly unattractive children’s birthday clowns. In a room without Cookie Puss. In a room without God.
😆
As soon as the media dubbed the Public Option as the “liberal” healthcare plan it has tagged it for inevitable destruction.
This line from a current AP article says it all. Somehow it paints Baucus out to be some centrist savior of healthcare reform from that dastardly socialist government takeover of healthcare.
“The long-awaited plan from the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Democrat Max Baucus, would create nonprofit cooperatives to compete with insurance companies instead of a government-run insurance plan sought by liberal Democrats and backed by Obama.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090908/ts_nm/us_usa_healthcare
In this case we are going to need lightning in a bottle and for once a House bill must defeat a Senate bill.
Yes Q, your media sucks big time. “No Exit” indeed, one of my favourite authors after Albert Camus.
I read the speech yesterday. It always impresses me how forthright the president is willing to be about his own shortcomings. He uses himself as an example of someone whose life could have gone in the wrong direction. That’s a brave thing to do. And it’s inspiring for kids who already see themselves on a bad road and think there’s no way out.
This speech is going to be so important for children of color. I don’t even care about all the right wing backlash about the speech. There are times when, as a person of color. I just don’t care what the white folks are fuming about. This is going to change the way children of color think about school, think about themselves, think about their potential. I’m so glad he’s doing this. It’s really needed in communities of color.
I read several articles during Mr. Obama’s campaign and soon after the election about how African American children were suddenly doing better in school. This is going to strengthen that impact. Kids of color are constantly subjected to negative stereotyping and propaganda. It’s really difficult for parents to combat when kids are watching tv and listening to music. But nothing combats a stereotype like a living role model. And that’s what we have in President Obama.
So let the right wing rail on. It’s another bout of hysteria that misses the point entirely. And that’s fine with me.
nelie, I adore you, you could see right through my post ansd see where i come from I thank you. As one reggae music falacy, gaijin loves what he does.
We seem to be on the same page. 🙂
Can you check the link, Kalima? I think it’s down and I want to see the video.
Sorry nellie, there seems to be a problem with the url, is this any better?
I shouldn’t post when I’m tired, I misspelt you name nellie, so sorry.
“your name”, good Lord!!
hee hee
Believe me, I can relate!
A great blast from the past — thank you!
You are welcome!
I think it should be your President’s theme song and maybe mine too on another site. 🙂
Very good point Nellie. It’s important for all Americans in the long run because not to far in the distant future the majority in this country will be minorities. If people of color are not educated because of the many socioeconomic problems we still have in this country the future is in jeopardy no matter what.
It’s not the socioeconomic problems. It’s the constant message from this society that kids of color can’t succeed. Today, the president did a lot to counter that message
Agreed. I should not conflate the two problems.
This nonsense about black kids not succeeding, lost any logic in November last year. I was hoping that it had sent a message to all of the minority kids to be as good as they could be in spite of their modest roots,
Barrak Hussein Obama made history and if you study hard, you can too. This message was so simple that no one had to utter a word to understand it. Your RW nuts shows the 20 something percent that are still puke inducing racists, if their campaign is to cause division, tell your elected congressmen and women, it won’t work. Enough is more than enough.
It was way past time to give these kids a boost, your President thought so too, I can’t praise him enough for his effort
You go Kalima. Spot on and well said.
It’s time to take this country back AGAIN from these right wing loons that cannot accept reality.
Small problem, title went AWAL and couldn’t edit, please advise. SOS!!
Sorry about that, Kalima. I’ve fixed the title and am working on resolving the issues you had!
Again, seems that Macs and Safari react differently to the site although Safari on my iPhone works fine.
Go figure…
Still can’t edit and found a spelling mistake. Oops!