Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:08 pm
Fox News has jumped on the President Obama’s back to school speech is really indoctrination bandwagon today. On Fox and Friends, they right wing host Dana Loesch who claimed that the focus of the speech is, “submissiveness to the government.” They also featured a concerned parent who keeping their kids out of school. This is more wing nuts gone wild.
Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:
FNC’s Steve Doocy introduced the segment by saying, “This will be history. President Obama set to deliver a speech to students all across the country via the Internet and television, but some parents are concerned that his message is less about education and more about teaching the ideals of liberal presidency.”
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Right wing talker, and tea bagger, Dana Loesch said, “Well, two things actually alarmed me. First of all I really looked over the materials that were distributed by the Department of Education, and first thing that I noticed is the focus of these materials is on being submissive to the government, and respect for your president, respect for your elected leaders, that’s fantastic, except that your leaders need to reciprocate that respect and they need to realize the power in a republic lies with the voting people. That’s the first thing that kind of concerned me.”
She continued, “The second thing that concerned me is that normally when you have addresses such as this, or when you have assemblies, it is something the school board vets, it is something that the superintendent vets. There’s a certain protocol that must be followed before it goes down to the principals and ultimately the student body. All of that was leapfrogged by this administration. It went straight from the Department of Education right to the principals, and there’s a lot of parents who’ve spoken to me, they talked to their principals, and it kind of weirded them out a little bit, because this is also the first time in history that that protocol has been skipped.”
First of all keep in mind that none of these right wingers have any idea what is in the speech. They are making assumptions. Now let’s look at the “submissive materials”, Lash is so concerned about. This is from the DOE website:
“As the president speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note‐taking graphic organizer such as a “cluster web;” or, students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children could draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following:
What is the president trying to tell me?
What is the president asking me to do?
What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
Students could record important parts of the speech where the president is asking them to do something. Students might think about the following:
What specific job is he asking me to do?
Is he asking anything of anyone else?
Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people? ”
What if the president stresses how important education is and asks students to study hard. What if he asks teachers, parents, and principals to be more involved? I ask these questions because these are the same things that he talked about in every education speech for the past two years, so it is a pretty safe bet that that is what this speech will focus on.
As far as protocol not being followed, Loesch is playing games here. She is comparing a presidential speech to other assemblies and regular activities. Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan didn’t have to get school board approval to address students, so why would President Obama need it now? It is preposterous to think that Lash wants every board to in the country to approve the speech before it airs.
It isn’t a shock that Fox News jumped on board here, because since Obama’s election, they have become the fringe news network. I think it somewhat sick and sad that these people hate the president so much that they don’t want him speaking to their children about things like working hard and staying in school.
Isn’t the president supposed to do these things and set an example for students? The hypocrisy here is that there were no screams of protests a self admitted former alcoholic and cocaine abuser wanted to speak to students as president. That was fine. Just don’t let that black man near my kids.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
