Once again, one of the masters of the universe trotted out on MSNBC has discovered the cure to one of society's ills - more Obama.
Daily Voice editor and CNBC contributor Keith Boykin waved off the reservations of some parents about President Barack Obama addressing their children in the classroom. Boykin appeared on MSNBC on Sept. 3 in a segment about the classroom controversy and added his insightful commentary on the matter.
"So much of the debate about President Obama has been politicized in an effort by some to delegitimize his presidency," Boykin said. "This is clearly much ado about nothing. We're talking about the President of the United States speaking to school kids. Why wouldn't schools want this to happen? That's why our kids are so dumb today, because they don't want to have basic common sense in the classroom."
But it's not as if there isn't a precedent for politicos to target schoolchildren to push a certain issue or agenda. As Creators Syndicate columnist Michelle Malkin pointed out in her Sept. 2 column, there are a number of instances where this has gone on in the past:
The activist tradition of government schools using students as junior lobbyists cannot be ignored. Zealous teacher's unions have enlisted captive schoolchildren as letter-writers in their campaigns for higher education spending. Out-of-control activists have enlisted their secondary-school charges in pro-illegal immigration protests, gay marriage ceremonies, environmental propaganda stunts, and anti-war events.
Boykin dismissed those accusations for the bizarre reason that that very few if any of these schoolchildren were able to vote.
"These kids don't vote. I don't understand why parents are concerned about health care related to kids hearing a speech from the President of the United States," Boykin said. "They're 17 years old. Some of them may be able to vote, but the idea the President of the United States is giving a speech to thousands and thousands, or millions of school kids from the potential of reaching a few 18 year olds doesn't seem likely. I meant this is about basically encouraging kids to stay in school. It's a worthy motive. The idea that anybody would be opposed to it is ultimately about politics and nothing else."
Boykin might be correct - if there were an election tomorrow. However, there will be next presidential election in 2012 and there are 15-year-old school kids entering the ninth grade this year, that could potentially be eligible to vote in 2012 for Obama's reelection bid.
Boykin also failed to realize that what troubled many parents was not the planned speech, but the classroom activities that the U.S. Education Department suggested teachers use in conjunction with it. The "suggestions" (which were developed with help from White House aides) included having children "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president," and to discuss what "the president wants us to do."
According to a Sept. 2 report from The Washington Times, the White House has revised some of the language in the video address, which was said to include a message to "help" the President.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Would someone please inform
September 3, 2009 - 14:23 ET by OhmingWould someone please inform the MSM that Obamas' idol - president Lincoln, was not only a republican but also homeschooled.
And would someone please
September 3, 2009 - 15:54 ET by motherbeltAnd would someone please inform them that the White House is now backtracking on the idea of asking the kids to "help the President"?
Wonder why that is.....
The people's voices can and will be heard (when they are "allowed" to know what is going on, or find out by accident) and can bring about change! Yes, we can!
LOL!! Pretty cool to steal that from them!
So Is He Saying...
September 4, 2009 - 01:02 ET by Intellectual HonestyThat's why our kids are so dumb today, because they don't want to have basic common sense in the classroom."
So is he saying that the kids are dumb because they (the kids) don't want to have common sense in the classroom? Oh...he meant the parents are the dumb ones? Oh. Could have fooled me with that sentence structure.
No, you government-schooled moron,
September 3, 2009 - 14:34 ET by R D Helm...the reason our nation's schoolchildren are so "dumb" today is due to the fact that our schools are run by government.
Where you not paying attention to the idiocy that played itself out all across America last November? Do you think Obama would have been elected if government wasn't running our schools?
Not a chance.
Even Robert Gibbs, who you news goobers told us was the smartest POTUS spokesmouth EVER, is afflicted with it:
"PRESIDENT OBAMA DELIVERS NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA'S [SCHOOCHILDREN]."
-Dave
Even when the government tries to kiss you, it is just a prelude to a good screwing. -Neal Boortz
Dave--
September 3, 2009 - 17:49 ET by Kat Outta the Bag"...the reason our nation's schoolchildren are so "dumb" today is due to the fact that our schools are run by government."
Here in Florida, education is all about the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) that kids have to take...a government idea. All education is built around the FCAT, so basically anything that is not going to be on the test, is no longer taught. Kids are not getting a well-rounded education anymore.
The reason FCAT was put in
September 3, 2009 - 22:28 ET by RR GOPThe reason FCAT was put in (and similar tests in other states) is because half of these kids were walking out of high schools with diplomas, didn't know enough to survive college and companies were complaining about what dumba$$es they were when they went to work for them.
Parents don't like it because they walked out of high school with a diploma not knowing much of anything, so they don't think their kids should be held to any kind of a standard, either. To them a high school diploma is a right of passage and doesn't really need anything to back it up (another example of our society's entitlement mentality), and besides high school should be about having fun! Learning is for the nerds.
Rather than getting in a tizzy over school prayer, sex education, and Darwin, parents would serve their children better in demanding that discipline in schools be enforced, that their kids are safe from the hoodlums, and that teachers that hand out As and Bs like candy though their kids learn nothing be put on notice.
In the meantime I guess it's escaped notice that other countries are slowly but surely taking over in many fields (hmmm, maybe they just have more home-schooled kids?), because we waste resources on kids who don't want to learn and parents who take anyone pointing out the ignorance and bad behavior of their kids personally, or desperately seek some kind of medical reason to excuse their kids' lack of discipline, poor grades, and laziness.
Well, enough picking on fellow conservatives.
The Libtards are interested only in social engineering and not in real learning...and they run the show.
So, how's this 1950s view of how things ought to be working out for us?
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
That's Some Hooey
September 4, 2009 - 01:13 ET by Intellectual HonestyHere in Florida, education is all about the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive
Assessment Test) that kids have to take...a government idea. All
education is built around the FCAT, so basically anything that is not
going to be on the test, is no longer taught. Kids are not getting a
well-rounded education anymor
Oh, please. First of all it is simply not true that only what's on the test is taught. If that were true I would be happy because it would mean they are getting back to the basics. When all is said and done, if the basics are taught then success will be evident by the ability of students to continue learning on their own in a rationale, honest manner.
In a nutshell: schools need to teach students how to teach themselves. Cover the three R's and everything else will fall into place.
Libs have been running the
September 3, 2009 - 14:28 ET by mattmLibs have been running the public schools for decades and now they're calling our kids dumb?
I guess I must have been educated in the public schools because although I know there's something wrong with this, I can't for the life of me figure out what it is...
Could someone tell me why we
September 3, 2009 - 14:30 ET by OhmingCould someone tell me why we need a Dept of Education on a federal level in the first place. Besides wasting money on an Obama scale and making other industrialized countries education system look good, what does ours do exactly. How are we better off by not keeping all education money at a state level?
All you have to do is look
September 3, 2009 - 14:35 ET by MightyMouthAll you have to do is look at the "genius" that started the Department of Education---> JIMMY CARTER!
Pretty much explains it all!
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
Nuff said.
September 3, 2009 - 14:42 ET by OhmingNuff said.
just another reason....
September 3, 2009 - 14:48 ET by jon_torlinJust another reason the peanut man is the second worst president in US History.
-Jon
Ohming......Thats because
September 3, 2009 - 23:55 ET by ToenexWe must all learn to walk in lock step to serve our beloved leader.
Hey, when everybodys heading over a cliff we might want to think about a u turn no matter what the numbers say.
Authority isn't truth, truth is authority
"Les Moore"
Out here in cowboy country
September 3, 2009 - 14:32 ET by StarAZOur superintendent of schools said the workbooks did not teach analytical thinking about what kids hear and were too worshipful, his word, of the president. He said parents can get their kids another assignment that day. And teachers who use the materials have to have a signed clip saying it was OK.
Over-saturation perhaps?
September 3, 2009 - 14:35 ET by bre1227Geez, let me think of a couple reasons why Obama shouldn't be allowed to penetrate the classroom. First, my 17-year old daughter is getting more than enough information about health care reform from her liberal teacher in "Health" class 5 days/week. Second, because I am in the industry and have actually read the thing, I pretty much can refute whatever they discuss that day so the information is not true. Third, I'm told that her "Psychology" teacher stated that people only seemed to listen to people of like-minded ideas and views. The example, she gave was conservatives only waching Fox News.
Probably the biggest reason though is my daughter is a budding conservative and shouldn't be force-fed that crap if she doesn't want to listen.
More strawman setups
September 3, 2009 - 14:35 ET by Sefton"So much of the debate about President Obama has been politicized in an
effort by some to delegitimize his presidency," Boykin said.
No, Obama's doing the delegitimization fine by himself.
Boykin is the product of
September 3, 2009 - 14:36 ET by George S PattonBoykin is the product of the public school system, an ignorant, mindless leftist.
Exsqueeze me?
September 3, 2009 - 14:41 ET by FeynmanFanI think this was a shot at the NEA. They're the ones running the show.
"I support the President but not his policies" - Blonde
Liberals shooting themselves
September 3, 2009 - 14:51 ET by SeftonFF - With a statement like the one he made, no doubt he limped off the set because he just realized he shot himself in the foot.
"Thats why our kids are so dumb today..." ??
September 3, 2009 - 14:42 ET by MightyMouthMr. Boykin is obviously a product of the US education system because that was a pretty dumb thing to say!
So our kids are dumb becasue they haven't heard enough from Barrack Obama? What a moronic argument!
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
Liberals have been running
September 3, 2009 - 16:24 ET by motherbeltLiberals have been running education in this country (at the direction of the teachers' union) for 30 years, and now they say the kids are dumb????
And even the "Republican strategist" didn't point that out!
nice
September 3, 2009 - 14:44 ET by Kekela WardFirst czar Jones calls me an a**hole and now this clown calls our kids dumb.
Nice. Very nice.
Sam: "I hurt somebody's feelings once"
Re More Obama
September 3, 2009 - 14:54 ET by slickwillie2001Someone needs to do a takeoff on 'more cowbell' and change it to 'more Obama'.
Hello, MSNBC guest, you are
September 3, 2009 - 15:07 ET by b4m4wyHello, MSNBC guest, you are prejudiced. I didn't even want to watch the clip. The headline was enough.
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan
I love Newsbusters for
September 3, 2009 - 15:11 ET by mostlymoderateI love Newsbusters for letting me see so clearly in a foggy political world. This has nothing to do about "children" or "students". This has everything to do about more money going to undeserving, tenured, and unionized teachers that want more money and more government benefits.
If it was ever about the citizen children of the United States, whether white, black, brown or yellow, we would cut classroom sizes by securing our borders, we would eliminate ineffective teachers that hate their jobs and are only staying on because we can't fire them, we would have more standardized tests for advancement of both teachers and students and we would make schools the opposite of what they are now: government provided babysitting for liberal mothers and fathers that don't want to raise their children.
Called the school...
September 3, 2009 - 15:16 ET by robertlbryantI called the school that my son goes to and, even though I know I don't have to really ask, I made sure it was okay for me to come in and watch it with him.
I plan on taking down notes of what he says and explain to him what is right or wrong, if either is the case of whatever he talks about. This way my son doesn't get a day docked from him, and I can also make sure he isn't being fed any crap that he doesn't need to hear.
I did let him listen to the beginning of that video up there, and he looked real mad and said, "I'm not stupid!"
What an ignoramus...
September 3, 2009 - 15:54 ET by PA ConservativeI wonder if these clowns realize how they project their adulation for their messiah when they make comments like this. What a sad, biased individual this poor soul is. He honestly cannot see how anyone would be offended by the dear leader trying to go into our schools. Blinded by his bias and reverse racism...Actually pretty pathetic.
PAC
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new government...
MARINES aren't so dumb
September 3, 2009 - 16:07 ET by TheAssessorHaven't been on here in awhile so this may have been seen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIHz5tevLAw
Makes me smile everytime.
It's America, not Omerica
Had to have staged and
September 3, 2009 - 23:49 ET by Dan The Man 2Had to have staged and doctored; it was Astroturfed.
OMO! That is too funny!
September 3, 2009 - 23:54 ET by Free StinkerOMO! That is too funny!
Awwwwwwwwwwww
September 3, 2009 - 16:08 ET by BondPlainBondBless Keith's itty, bitty liberal heart.
what started 30 years ago is why we've humskold for 15...
September 3, 2009 - 16:22 ET by vrwc13"So much of the debate about President [?] Obama has been politicized in an effort by some [VRWC?] to delegitimize his presidency [doesn't need any help with that, he is doing a fine job on his own doing that]," Boykin said.
"This is clearly much ado about nothing [... doth protest too much, methinks.].
We're talking about the President [?] of the United States speaking to school kids.
Why wouldn't schools want this to happen? ["d'oh" - Homer]
That's why our kids are so dumb today [public schools and/or their lack of common sense?] , because they don't want to have basic common sense in the classroom." [Created by the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), it was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 17, 1979]
v
...pass the popcorn please
Woudn't it follow that any
September 3, 2009 - 16:33 ET by Chris NormanWoudn't it follow that any debate about Obama, a politician holding the presidency, a political office, be "politicized" by the very nature of the subject?
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Why it is blasphemy to
September 3, 2009 - 16:51 ET by msh1973Why it is blasphemy to question the motives of the Chosen One, who are we as parents to make decisions for our own children.
Fairness Doctrine
September 3, 2009 - 17:10 ET by sergeant stogieNot only should we have the option to "opt out" our kids from this blatant propaganda exercise, the kids that get subjected to TOTUS should get to watch "Reagan's Greatest Hits" and decide for themselves.
Sounds like Keith Boykin has
September 3, 2009 - 17:53 ET by DoktorFrankenSounds like Keith Boykin has a very close relationship with DUMB.
...and just who is Keith Boykin?
September 3, 2009 - 18:02 ET by vrwc13A former White House aide to President Bill Clinton, Boykin was raised in St. Louis, Missouri and attended Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida, before graduating from Dartmouth College.
After leaving Dartmouth in 1987, Boykin spent a year and a half working for Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign and then entered Harvard Law School, where he was a leader in the campus diversity movement and general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He received his J.D. from Harvard in 1992 and then joined the Clinton/Gore Campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas. After Clinton's election, Boykin became a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Specialty Media. Once the highest-ranking openly gay person in the Clinton White House, Boykin helped organize and participated in the nation's first meeting between gay and lesbian leaders and a U.S. President.
Boykin left the White House to write his first book, One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America, published in 1996. - Wiki
Who indeed
September 3, 2009 - 18:29 ET by DoktorFrankenThe ultimate Leftist, it seems.
My children
September 3, 2009 - 18:49 ET by Joe CamelMy children went (read I paid a ton of money) to a private Christian school. It is one of the top rated in the country. Why, well, seems the local school had a bus weekly that took girls (not known to parents and the community till leaked) to Planned Parenthood downtown. They also had a homosexual gym coach who was showing and discussing with his 11 and 12 year old girls class on how to put on a condom, using a banana as a prop. Finally the "block" scheduling that cut in half the time they spent learning a subject. Though I was not rich, there was no way I would allow that to be taught to my sons..
A short civics lesson
September 3, 2009 - 19:21 ET by katainkentWhat is a constitution?
Having supplemented my children's education for years I can give several reasons as to why children are struggling in school. The first of which is that teachers essentially have no power in their classrooms to keep order. The second is that they have become so mired in liberal "addons" that have snuck into the curriculum that it has turned them into pop psychologists and social workers on top of being educators.
Part of the problem is that many parents have allowed this to happen. They have abdicated this responsibility and relinquished their children's futures to the hands of strangers. What a wake up call for people. Do they not realize this was only a small step from what kids already are fed every day in the public school system? Well, they should.
___________________________________________
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. ~Thomas Jefferson
Hey Idiot Boy...
September 4, 2009 - 07:28 ET by FuzzlenutterI wonder how you would feel if we had, oh, I dunno, Dick Cheney speak to your kids without you present...
September 4, 2009 - 10:19 ET by jessieHIf obama won't release his records. he isn't president. I wouldn't let my children talk to him, untill he proves who he really is.