The Obama Watch
There He Goes Again
The real lesson from Obama’s school speech.
Many American children did not see President Obama’s live address to school kids yesterday, not for political reasons, but for practical ones. There’s a lesson in that outcome, but for the president as much as for the kids. Alas, he’s unlikely to learn it.
Here in New Hampshire, America’s Ground Zero for presidential politics, the state’s largest school district did not show the president’s address. Initially, Manchester’s school superintendent told principals they could show it if they wanted to. But then he reviewed the school system’s policy on guest speakers. Turns out the schools would need to have written permission from parents before allowing the speech to be viewed in class. There wasn’t enough time to get all that done by Tuesday, so the superintendent nixed the speech.
One high-ranking administrator, who is a Democrat, told me he wanted to show the speech, but even if he had been able to, it ate into class time and he’s “got to focus on instructional activities.”
When Democratic school administrators say that keeping the kids focused on their school work is more important than showing them a video of the president telling them to focus on their school work, it ought to be clear that this televised address wasn’t thoroughly thought-out.
In Medford, Mass., the superintendent screened the speech first before deciding whether to let social studies teachers use it in class. In Florida, the superintendent of the Collier County School District wrote to his staff, “I have concluded that due to the logistics of making a Webcast available during that time of the school day, we will not be showing this address in Collier County School District classrooms or campuses.”
Across the country, many districts and individual schools couldn’t get the speech aired live for procedural or logistical reasons. That ought to sound familiar by now. It’s exactly the same problem that has plagued every major Obama initiative from the stimulus bill through “cash for clunkers” to health care reform.
Obama is full of ideas that sounds great in theory. Stimulate the economy! Reform health care! Give a live pep-talk to America’s students! But in practice they’ve all broken down upon implementation.
The stimulus bill was rushed into law, but the government couldn’t get the money out quickly enough for it to boost the economy in the spring. It will take another year before most of the money is spent.
“Cash for clunkers” was supposed to be an easy way to improve fuel efficiency and stimulate the economy. But economists say it didn’t stimulate demand as much as shift it. People who were going to buy cars later went ahead and bought them this summer. The public cost was astronomical, the benefit tiny, and billions of dollars’ worth of functional automobiles — a form of wealth — were destroyed. And the implementation was a nightmare. Washington changed the list of qualifying cars after the program started, and auto dealers still don’t know if they’ll be repaid for discounts they’ve already given.
Health care reform was supposed to be signed by last month. But as with the stimulus bill, Obama promoted it with lofty words and let Congress write the details. The result was a bureaucratic nightmare that would not control costs while itself costing more than $1 trillion and increasing the federal deficit.
All of these efforts shared the same trajectory. Obama announced the idea, rushed it through while leaving the details and implementation to others, and watched in dismay as it didn’t work as intended.
The president is an idea man. As the McCain campaign noted to no avail, he’s never managed anything more complicated than a pick-up basketball game. His whole career has been spent promoting theories, but he’s spent no time actually trying to make them work. The disconnect is showing.
The presidency doesn’t require managerial experience, of course. But it helps. Some politicians seem intuitively able to account for the logistical difficulties inherent in putting any grand scheme into operation. Obama doesn’t seem to have that ability. So far, he has operated as if his word alone is enough to execute a plan with perfection.
As the wreckage of plan after plan piles up, he seems oblivious to all of it. And maybe he is. He lamented to students yesterday that he lives in the proverbial “bubble” that prevents presidents from interacting with regular folks in a casual way. That is true, but with this president there’s an additional bubble, a distorting cloud of left-wing political theory through which he sees the world not as it actually is but as he wishes it to be.
Thus the stimulus plan is “working,” “cash for clunkers” is a “huge success,” and opponents of health care reform are the only ones spinning the issue.
If the president doesn’t at least temporarily step outside of his own ideological bubble from time to time, we’re going to suffer through a lot more failed schemes as he pushes grand idea after grand idea and never looks back to examine, or even acknowledge, the wreckage.
About the Author
Andrew Cline is editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader. His Twitter ID is @Drewhampshire.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (36) | Leave a comment
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Deborah D | 9.9.09 @ 6:47AM
Very interesting insight...basically Michael Savage's quote that "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder." Or as Rush says -- they only look at their "good" intentions, not the results. (They got us out of Vietnam, but refuse to look at Pol Pot's devastation of Cambodia after we left.)
They promoted (and still do) welfare, which has ruined the black family and the inner cities...but hey, it gives them the talking point that they are the "compassionate" ones. Mental disorder, indeed.
Robert Rosencrans| 9.9.09 @ 6:50AM
The worst feature of the speech is that it was just another Obama lie. Obama informed students that they must take personal responsibility just as he is about to embark on another speech which promotes no personal responsibility, the public option.
As the article correctly points out, Obama and his minions have no clue as to what they are doing, only a clue as to what they might achieve, and there is a gulf of failure which the separate the two concepts.
Obama's speech to the students highlights the fact that Obama is a political creature full of sound and fury, but not any political honesty.
TennesseeVolunteer| 9.9.09 @ 6:58AM
My wife is a headmaster of a 950 student Independent school of kindergarten through high school. She was notified about the speech and all of the 'how to's; at 5.51 PM on
thursday night.
Exactly one day before her school was to take a three day holiday!
the accompanying email basically said ' do this and be part of this great historical moment' and, oh, by the way...go to this website and do all of these downloads etc.
Besides all of that, she would have had to meet with her Deans, they with their teachers, letters to the parents and all kind of planning changes would have had to take place in one day!
The timing of this fiasco showed it only had a political purpose. Because no one that had ever run a school, or worked closely with one, would recommend a school do such a thing on such short notice.
While Nero/Obama was fiddling with his broken PR machine, the economy of Rome/US burns.
Where will you be on 9-12?
What will you do on 9-12?
Who will you bring with you on 9-12?
Darin| 9.9.09 @ 7:08AM
Question: What did the original drafts of the speech contain? I've read the final draft, but the "additional" material released (and later modified) by the Dept of Education did not match the speech. That material had kids writing the President telling him how they could "help him." Help him do what? This leads me to believe the original speech was much different than the one actually given.
Now consider this. Obama is addressing Congress on health care. This speech is also being televised. Is it unreasonable to think the original content of the school speech was to lay some groundwork for kids to get their parents to buy into Obama's planned dramatic changes of the health care system? Kids are very impressionable and much less likely to spot a con job. The general public didn't hear about the school speech until the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, with the speech scheduled for the day after the holiday. Any speech/appearance by the President is planned WELL in advance to arrange for site security, establish security for the transportation route, plan for contingencies, and so forth. Given Obama's record of non-transparency (despite campaign promises), I believe suspicions are justified. Security concerns would justify keeping the speech location quiet, but they don't justifiy keeping the fact of the speech or it's content quiet.
In 1991, President Bush gave a speech to school kids on avoiding drugs. The Democrats howled and there were investigations and inquiries all over the place. In a quest for fairness, I call for similiar investigations of Obama's speech. Or is someone going to seriously say what's good for a Republican is not good for a Democrat?
Kitty| 9.9.09 @ 7:30AM
My grandson is a 3rd grader this year, and his parents and didn't want him subjected to the speech. My grandson didn't want to watch it, either. So they decided that if it was shown he would ask to either be excused or to be able to put his head down on his desk.
As it turned out, the speech wasn't shown, at least in several of his school's classrooms, because the TVs didn't work.
Which got me to wondering: When the president finally implements his own Big Brother system, who will be responsible for hardware repair? Did Orwell cover this problem in 1984?
...
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.9.09 @ 8:52AM
There are two sets of powerful influence in play; titular heads wielding considerable influence characterizes both arenas. The first is relatively straightforward and will be decided tonight; who will be the one to outdraw the other, Obama doing the joint session MSM Side-step Two-step, or Tom Delay doing the Fox Channel Foxtrot? The second is much more interesting and also is ratings based, it involves the dethroning of O’Reilly by Glen Beck. The latter will be far more interesting than the internal squabble among the Democrats.
Stay tuned to Fox for both.
Country Boy| 9.9.09 @ 9:31AM
My wife is a high school English teacher. Additionally, she has been trying for some time to publish study aids for students. The credentials awarded by the formal process of "publishing" are substantial. The author becomes an accredited sources of useful information to students.
obama may be an "idea" man. But he should add "reality" to one of his ideas under consideration.
Matt Morehouse| 9.9.09 @ 11:00AM
First of all congratulations to President Obama on his address to our youth. With his eloquence he imparted much better the same wisdom I would have. He is a Loved Great Leader.
What he has deftly done is to establish a new national day of message to our youth from the President. You may be sure that henceforward the day after Labor Day will be known as “The Presidents Address to Youth Day” or some such name. It will be hyped in the media to the extent well known. (Until [if ever] a Conservative is elected.)
This President has at least three, likely seven more, and perhaps many more addresses to be made. So, one might ask, “What is the problem?”. No problem as long as messages stay on the same note as the first, but do you expect that? I don’t. The messages will become more and more slanted toward the Socialist agenda and after three, six or seven years students will be pledging alliance to BHO.
Remember Barack Hussein Obama and his people are intelligent, very intelligent. More intelligent than you or I; trained behind ivy walls, nurtured by Lenin, Marx, Alinsky, Ayers, Wright, and put to the test on the streets. These are combat hardened veterans. Do not at all underestimate the evil that lurks within their hearts.
Go to:
http://conversationsaroundawoodstove.blogspot.com
D. Reese | 9.9.09 @ 11:06AM
Whom ever wrote this editoral is a ractist bastard
and a republican. You people lost the election get over it. You people are pisted off because a black man is speaking and encouraging people of this great country to do better. How small can the republicans party sink to. You need to get on board the help the President turn this country around because you certainly FAILED to do so. You Republican did not stop Bush when he was sending 10 billion dollars a month to a pist poor as country we have no use for. Republicans need to wake up and smell the coffee. Have a great day.
btenney| 9.9.09 @ 11:26AM
D. Reese.
Whoever wrote your reply can't spell.
sfsean| 9.9.09 @ 12:08PM
How telling that D.Reese managed to spell "racist" incorrectly, thus proving the author's point that Obama has lots of ideas that he hasn't been able to implement. This country is not France where ideas trump performance. In this country, people are judged by what they've accomplished, not by what they've talked about with others. It's nothing to do with race D.Reese, it's the lack of competency that makes the Obama administration both freightening and laughable at the same time.
DougalE| 9.9.09 @ 2:41PM
The speech was a new version of "The Great (Half-)White Father in Washington Sends a Message to His Children."
I mean really. If he wants to speak to children at a school near Washington at the start of the school year and have it reported as news, that's fine. But when they insist that it be broadcast in schools across the country, that smacks of Maximum Leader-type excess. It's cultish, and it has no place in American politics or rather American education. He's assuming the role of parents, teachers and administrators, and the implication is that all of those local peons are not as important as he is in the context of public education. The truth is, of course, that they are far more important (and effective) than he is. This was political grandstanding of the worst kind. There is nothing this guy won't do for maximum exposure.
He needs to learn where his turf ends and the turf of local education begins.
I didn't object to anything he said. But I did object to the fact that young people were being forced to listen to it. Castro stages the same kind of events in Cuba where participation is also mandatory.
Roger| 9.9.09 @ 2:42PM
I amazes me that the only people that continually bring up the race issue are the folks on the left and those that voted for BHO, and of course BHO himself. So if you disagree with this president you are a racist. Is that the best you can do??? Is that your best defense of the Social nightmare your president is trying to lead us into???? Really? The racism is coming from YOU! and only you!!!
What a cowardly stance. Grow up and open your eyes.
Joan Lewis| 9.9.09 @ 2:43PM
Re: D, Reese, sfsean- Amen.
John| 9.9.09 @ 2:59PM
I taught fourth grade in an inner city elementary school for over 18 years and found it very rewarding. The first week of school, and particularly the first day of school is extremely critical to any teacher. These few days establish the routine, the tone, the mindset for the remainder of the year. Although the president may have had good intentions, I truly doubt that he considered the burden that this speech created on administators and classroom teachers who need to minimize interruptions as much as possible at the beginning of a school year. Perhaps if the speech had been given towards the end of the week, it would have had less of an impact upon instruction. Please let us not forget that parents are the most important individuals in the educational success of their children, followed by teachers, school administrators, the cafeteria workers and custodial staff...and somewhere way down the list would be politicians.
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.9.09 @ 3:00PM
D. Reese,
You ain't got no grammer. Don't fret, the first thing on the chosen one's agenda is get a public option supplying teleprompters to all those suffering constipation due to the government cheese.
Catherine Howard| 9.9.09 @ 3:04PM
D. Reese, you may want to brush up on your spelling....Good Grief.
ben| 9.9.09 @ 3:44PM
The left always brings up race because they are unable to look past it. They see themselves as the moral ones and us conservatives as the bigots. They have no use for fact, evidence, reason, logic or critical, rational thinking as that is not their argument. They are simply arguing intent and morality. The fact that we see a "better" anything is proof that we're all bigots. Liberals have accepted the belief that neutrality and indiscriminatness is a moral imperative. The libs believe discrimination is simply proof of ones own bigotry. That since nothing is ALL good and nothing is ALL evil, everything is both good and evil and thus nothing is better or worse than anything else, just different. This is obviously false as there are varrying degrees of good and evil- Something 90% good is not ALL good but is definitely better than something 90% bad which isn't ALL bad. Also to discriminate is simply to choose the better, the better price, product, behavior etc. ie "she's a discriminating shopper". To discriminate or choose the better one must use facts, evidence, reason and logic the essential items of critical rational thought. Libs reject these things in order to not discriminate. - My liberal friends often tell me when I challenge someones opinions, that I don't realize other people have a right to their opinion. When I speak highly of our country and culture they tell me that I HAVE TO respect all cultures, even those that wish to kill me and claim that I'm subhuman. So the libs attack those things we say are better simply because they see our defining the better as bigotry. As Thomas Sowell said, "That which is held in esteem qualifies to be their target, that which is held in contempt qualifies to be their badge". Those things we hold in esteem - freedom, free-market capitalism, religion, individualism, limited government, teenage abstinence etc are attacked by the left, not because they hate those things but because they see our elevation of those things as bigotry and prejudice. At the same time, to attack our bigotry they must manufacture moral equivilance between that which they are attacking and that which they are promoting. This is why they call America an "Imperialist power", Not because we are imperialist but because the cultures we hold in contempt, those cultures the Libs are promoting in their fight against our bigotry are imperialist. Islam is trying to take over the world- they are imperialist, we haven't even taken over Canada. This is why Ward Churchill called the victims of 911 "little Eichmans", and why Dick Durbin called our soldiers "Like the Nazis". They didn't make these statements because they're at all true, they made these statements because those that they are promoting, the islamic terrorists, are in fact like the Nazis, sided with the Nazis and espouse socialist beliefs like the National Socialist Nazis. They must create a moral equivilance between that which they are attacking and that which they are promoting, because if nothing is better and nothing is worse, then every behavior, culture etc would have to the same outcomes. When outcomes are different it is simply proof to the lib of some sort of chicanery. The greater the difference in outcome the greater the victimization. Our culture has created vast wealth and innovation that has made the lives of everyone around the world better. The libs see the success of our culture and the failure of other cultures as proof of our having in some way cheated them. It's why 911 as Rev. Wright said was just our "Chickens coming home to roost" - we forced those islamic terrorists to do it. How? Our greed and imperialism has provided us with wealth and success at the expense of the impoverished Middle East. We're rich and they're poor because we stole their oil - and we pay too much for it. Libs consider themselves morally superior because they don't take sides, and we conservatives are evil because we do. They do not need facts, evidence, reason or logic as they don't argue the merits of their policies and proposals, only the intent or morality of it. So when we say that Obama's policies are bad it doesn't matter how much evidence we use to support our conclusions, nor does it matter how well reasoned our argument. All that matters to the libs is that we are fighting against Obama's policies. Since the libs see everything as neutral, meaning no policy or behavior is better or worse than any other, the only possible reason we could be against Obama's policies is that we must be against Obama. And since Obama is Black and a Democrat, our rejection of his policies can only come from our racism or partisanship.
To be a liberal is easy - just reject all fact, evidence, reason and logic and refrain from critical rational thought.
To be a conservative is even easier - just become aware of the obvious.
ben| 9.9.09 @ 4:23PM
Evan Sayet gave two lectures on "Nuetrality" and "Indiscriminateness" at the Heritage Foundation over the last few years.
1-Regurgitating the Apple: How Modern Liberals Think. www.heritage.org/press/events/ev030507a.cfm
2-Hating What's Right: How the Modern Liberal Ends Up on the Wrong Side of Every Issue.
www.heritage.org/press/events/ev030307a.cfm
Joe| 9.9.09 @ 4:25PM
Poor racist, D. Reese. She must have studied under Rev. Wright as well. And of course picking on tiny Hondorus is Obama idea of War? Please take off your racist blinders and see what we see as a socialist/Communist trying to destroy our country.
Curtis Rasmussen| 9.10.09 @ 12:29AM
Political correctness kills.
Should we allow the fascist takeover of a huge slice of the economy because BO is black (white)? If we do, disabled and elderly people will die under the new healthcare plan .
Should the American people have allowed Van Jones to remain a Tsar because attacking a black man who happens to be communist is not PC? How many people would die when they can't heat their homes in winter because of the unsustainable green policies of this asshole?
Should the Hugo Chavez dictator lover Mark Lloyd remain the FCC diversity Tsar without public complaint because he's black? With the complete suppression of conservative media, god knows when the marxist takeover will be completed. How will people die? Use your imagination.
erica johnson | 9.10.09 @ 5:31AM
Yes,Obama is full of ideas that sounds great in theory. Stimulate the economy Bailey Button Ugg Boots ! Reform health care cheap ugg boots ! Give a live pep-talk to America's students! But in practice they've all broken down upon implementation.
Tammy Jo Roberts | 9.10.09 @ 5:32AM
So when we say that Obama's policies are bad it doesn't matter how much evidence we use to support our conclusions ugg boots uk , nor does it matter how well reasoned our argument cheap ugg boots . All that matters to the libs is that we are fighting against Obama's policies
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Appleby| 9.10.09 @ 11:24AM
The difficulty was that Obama gave too much lead time on his speech, so he had plenty of time to rewrite it once the overwhelming backlash became evident, making people who objected to what turned out a bland and canned soporific look silly.
Next time what he needs to do is get some of those Max Headroom giant jumbotrons and put them up in schoolyards and town squares ...
And if he wants kids to listen to what he is saying, for heavens sake don't put it on teevee in the schoolhouse. Kids don't watch teevee and they are tuned out of school and into things they can jam into their ears and crank up. Make a webcast or podcast out of it and tell them this is something their parents and teachers don't want them to hear. Binkies all over the world will be downloaded or tuned into the Oblah-blah just when he says to be tuned in. Oh, and unless there's a more modern version I would use "The Wall" as background noise for the Binkie Speech.
You guys up there in White House World need to watch more "Pinkie and the Brain" if you really do want to try to take over the world.
kdub| 9.10.09 @ 8:00PM
Applebe; "You guys up there in the White House World need to watch more 'Pinkie and the Brain' if you really want to try and take over the world."
LOL, Nice line! You obviously have kids.
jrs| 9.13.09 @ 12:39PM
I hate to say it, but the liberal media is right. The republican party (who I've voted for in every election) has become the party of bitter, racists who are trying their hardest to tear this country apart. It's ok if you disagree on policy issues, but let's give the man credit where credit is due. He is not this evil person who hates america. I firmly believe he loves this country as much as any of the spectator's readers, but simply has a different idea (which might very well be an incorrect idea). While we might disagree on the issues, there are some things he has done that are very positive, and this school speech is definitely one of them. Anyone who disagrees should take a good hard look at themselves in the mirror and ask them do they care about this country, or are they simply a bitter loser.