The Bare Knuckled Pundit
09-08-2009, 09:57 AM
First there were the Birthers - those who fervently believe President Obama is in fact a constitutionally-ineligible usurper who is actually Kenyan, Indonesian, British or perhaps even Martian by birth. Now we have the Pipers - who believe the silver-tongued Obama will so enthrall an entire generation of our children over the course of 30 minutes that he will lead them like so many starry-eyed tweens at a Jonas Brothers concert down the primrose path to his vision of a Socialist American utopia.
Yes, despite the White House's billing of the President's remarks as the latest iteration of "eat your vegetables, do your homework and stay in school", the Pipers have seen through his poorly-crafted charade. Indeed, they see him for the pernicious political pied piper he truly is! Ever the duplicitous schemer, Obama will eschew mere encouragement for megalomaniacal indoctrination when he speaks to our children - gasp - live in their very classrooms via satellite today.
Allow me to say this as clearly and unequivocally as possible - Enough is enough.
Please, don't get me wrong. I wholeheartedly support freedom of speech and encourage everyone to be intimately and diligently involved in their children's education. But let's maintain a little perspective on this.
First, there are more than enough rational and substantive reasons to oppose Obama. We need not eagerly embrace an intellectually vapid knee jerk response to everything even remotely associated with his name. As a matter of fact, I can think of several trillion reasons off the top of my head. A figure that just so happens to coincide with projections of what the President's policy proposals and budgets will add to the national debt over the course of the next few years.
From health care reform and taxes to ""cap and trade" and Afghanistan to fundamentally altering the role and reach of government in society, there are too many consequential leviathans lurking in the political waters to waste our time drunkenly trawling for insubstantial red herrings.
Second, do you truly believe our children are so vacuous that the televised remarks of the President will turn them into subservient socialist zombies? Is your influence so inconsequential that Obama will be able to undue in a mere 30 minutes what you have tirelessly worked at day in and day out over the course of their entire lives? Is his appeal so alluring, his image so magnetic and his words so hypnotic that they will follow in his wake in Liberal lock-stepped legions?
In the process of fighting the supposed indoctrination of our children into mindless socialist vassals you're reinforcing the Liberal line of Conservatives being mind-numbed robots and nattering nabobs. Indeed, such hyperventilated histrionics ultimately give the President too much credit and parents too little
Finally, has the political environment become so toxic and polarized that the President of the United States can't encourage our children to focus on their homework and do well in school without being accused of cynical and devious ulterior motives? Can't we all agree that it's a positive thing to encourage our children to spend more time with their textbooks than on Facebook? Shouldn't our children's education and the impact it has on their and our nation's futures transcend petty partisan cynicism and bickering?
Look at where we land in global rankings of literacy, math and science scores and primary graduation rates. Nationally we're approaching a 30 percent high school dropout rate, while major cities like New York and Los Angeles already graduate less than half their students. That's to say nothing of Detroit's truly horrific 75 percent dropout rate.
Sorry to offend the faithful, but I'll happily accept the President's and anyone else's assistance in keeping our children focused and in school. I'll also have faith in my wife's and my own parenting abilities to be able to counteract any half-baked educational trends and ill-conceived politically correct tripe my son may encounter at school. He, his education and future are our responsibility and we, not the state, exercise the greatest influence over them after all.
In the end, perhaps the best words of wisdom come from an unlikely and ironic source, Liberal music icons and lyrical peaceniks Crosby Stills and Nash.
Teach your children well.
Remember, faithful readers, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Or as former vice president Dan Quayle so insightfully stated, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
Stay tuned for further updates as events warrant and we see if Obama can both inspire our children and spell potato without the assistance of the ever-present presidential teleprompter.
Yes, despite the White House's billing of the President's remarks as the latest iteration of "eat your vegetables, do your homework and stay in school", the Pipers have seen through his poorly-crafted charade. Indeed, they see him for the pernicious political pied piper he truly is! Ever the duplicitous schemer, Obama will eschew mere encouragement for megalomaniacal indoctrination when he speaks to our children - gasp - live in their very classrooms via satellite today.
Allow me to say this as clearly and unequivocally as possible - Enough is enough.
Please, don't get me wrong. I wholeheartedly support freedom of speech and encourage everyone to be intimately and diligently involved in their children's education. But let's maintain a little perspective on this.
First, there are more than enough rational and substantive reasons to oppose Obama. We need not eagerly embrace an intellectually vapid knee jerk response to everything even remotely associated with his name. As a matter of fact, I can think of several trillion reasons off the top of my head. A figure that just so happens to coincide with projections of what the President's policy proposals and budgets will add to the national debt over the course of the next few years.
From health care reform and taxes to ""cap and trade" and Afghanistan to fundamentally altering the role and reach of government in society, there are too many consequential leviathans lurking in the political waters to waste our time drunkenly trawling for insubstantial red herrings.
Second, do you truly believe our children are so vacuous that the televised remarks of the President will turn them into subservient socialist zombies? Is your influence so inconsequential that Obama will be able to undue in a mere 30 minutes what you have tirelessly worked at day in and day out over the course of their entire lives? Is his appeal so alluring, his image so magnetic and his words so hypnotic that they will follow in his wake in Liberal lock-stepped legions?
In the process of fighting the supposed indoctrination of our children into mindless socialist vassals you're reinforcing the Liberal line of Conservatives being mind-numbed robots and nattering nabobs. Indeed, such hyperventilated histrionics ultimately give the President too much credit and parents too little
Finally, has the political environment become so toxic and polarized that the President of the United States can't encourage our children to focus on their homework and do well in school without being accused of cynical and devious ulterior motives? Can't we all agree that it's a positive thing to encourage our children to spend more time with their textbooks than on Facebook? Shouldn't our children's education and the impact it has on their and our nation's futures transcend petty partisan cynicism and bickering?
Look at where we land in global rankings of literacy, math and science scores and primary graduation rates. Nationally we're approaching a 30 percent high school dropout rate, while major cities like New York and Los Angeles already graduate less than half their students. That's to say nothing of Detroit's truly horrific 75 percent dropout rate.
Sorry to offend the faithful, but I'll happily accept the President's and anyone else's assistance in keeping our children focused and in school. I'll also have faith in my wife's and my own parenting abilities to be able to counteract any half-baked educational trends and ill-conceived politically correct tripe my son may encounter at school. He, his education and future are our responsibility and we, not the state, exercise the greatest influence over them after all.
In the end, perhaps the best words of wisdom come from an unlikely and ironic source, Liberal music icons and lyrical peaceniks Crosby Stills and Nash.
Teach your children well.
Remember, faithful readers, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Or as former vice president Dan Quayle so insightfully stated, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
Stay tuned for further updates as events warrant and we see if Obama can both inspire our children and spell potato without the assistance of the ever-present presidential teleprompter.