Obama Speech to Students Illustrates the Rise of Partisanship
By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
On the first day of school, the president went to a high school to address students about the state of America's schools. Here's what he said:
... We haven't taken the time to read to our kids, to talk with them, to teach them the art of communication, how to think, how to write, how to speak clearly.
What happens at home really matters. And when our kids come home from school, do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube watching music videos? Parents: Don't make the mistake of thinking your kids only learn from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. You are, and always will be, their first teachers.
That wasn't Barack Obama speaking in the library at Wakefield High School in Virginia this week. It was George H.W. Bush, speaking in the gym at Lewiston Comprehensive High School in Maine in the fall of 1991, 18 years ago.
Both presidents gave great speeches to high school kids. (Newt Gingrich made a point of saying that every student in America should read or watch President Obama's remarks on the White House Web site. I agree.) But that's where the similarity ends.
The difference between the two speeches is that 18 years ago, my former boss couldn't make the speech available on the White House Web site, and those who were upset by it—and there were some—couldn't stir up the opposition on Twitter and Facebook. The Internet, E-mail, and cell phones did not exist then as we know them now. There was no texting. I guess they could have spread the word by using a fax machine, but no one did. (The only other option would have been a direct snail-mail campaign to voters.) It was a kinder, gentler time in American politics. Before Monica Lewinsky, before Michael Moore.
This week's speech came at the end of a long, hot summer of partisanship. When I began my leave of absence from the blogosphere at the beginning of June to work on a client's writing project, the tone in politics was ugly. It's even worse now.
The president has one big speech this week done, one to go. It wasn't too difficult to speak to well-behaved school students yesterday, but look at the ruckus it caused. At the Capitol tonight, he's facing a bitterly divided, very partisan Congress and a wider audience of very agitated Americans, the vast majority of whom are understandably confused and worried about a massively expanding government.
The stakes are much higher tonight than they were yesterday.
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Tags: students | Barack Obama | George H.W. Bush
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Reader Comments
Partisanship rose
When Bush 1 and Reagan made their speeches to students.
The truth, not the re-writing of history is unforgiving.
speech
This speech is a ok because its like he's sayin anybody with any color or race can be whom ever they want to be. In this speech its says that ms.cary dont like black president an i guess she's upset that obama which is an African American is the President of the united states of america
Rise of Partisanship.
I'm with Ms. Johnson of Ohio and I'm as white as the newly driven snow. Carmen said it all. Besides the GOP and conservatives didn't worry about expanding government when Bush decided to rescind Habeus Corpus or put into place the "Big Brother Patriot Act". The Republicans and Conservatives are just NOW complaining about the deficit. It was alright for Bush to lie to us to get into and illegal war that drive an inherited surplus to a trillion dollar deficit but to spend money to improve the health system and health of our nation they treat as though it's treason. We all know the GOP (even Steele who doesn't even realize he's black) is populated with hypocrites and racists, can you imagine someone showing up at a Republican event with an AK-47 strapped to their hip? There should also be more outrage from the GOP about the way Wilson heckled the president. They don't even show the respect to our president that they would to a Saudi shiek. Thank GOD, really thank GOD that the GOP didn't win the last presidential election. The GOP wants to do everything to bring us back to the 1950s and a possible run for the White House by Strom Thurmond and further back to take away any financial security for its citizens in the form of Medicare or Social Security and to hold on to the biggest tax cuts for the wealthiest of their friends. Never, never will I EVER vote for a Republican and as a major political party they should be engaging in civil political discourse not the belly-aching, criticizing and now heckling that they are prone to do. Furthermore I was appalled by those so called parents so upset that Obama was going to speak to their children and why, because Obama is black. The ones who cried and kvetched on TV were whiter than I am, if that's possible. We need a new political party, one that will work for us not against us.
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