Do You Want This Man Talking to Your Kids? I do.

As if it weren't silly enough that the Republican Party has resorted to distorting many of the facts about healthcare reform and making up outright lies to fight against it, now they have decided to take issue with the President of the United States addressing school kids and offering a positive message about the value of education. I can only assume that their agenda includes a strident anti-anything response to anything the President chooses to do. This sounds familiar. Hmmmm. Oh yeah, the same thing happened the last time a Democrat was President. Bill Clinton created a situation for himself with the Monica Lewinsky escapade, but the Republican Party took every opportunity to try to paint him as the Devil, or at the very least, the Devil's right-hand man.

As I recall, when Mr. Clinton left office the government was running a surplus, the national debt was being paid down, and we weren't involved in two wars that were sapping the resources of the nation. When George W. Bush left office the government was running a serious deficit every year, the national debt had reached astronomical proportions, and we were fighting two wars that were sapping the resources, human and monetary of this nation. Barack Obama inherited this mess and an economy that was in the worst downward spiral since the Great Depression. Yet the very people who elected Bush twice and supported him are now demonizing a man who is doing his level best to correct the ungodly mess created over the previous eight years. Part of this is their effort to paint him and the Democratic Party in a bad light so they may win the Presidency back in four years. Part of it, I suspect, is thinly disguised racism, and a strong reaction against anything a man of color can present to America.

We're not just talking about simple opposition to liberal Democratic policies. We're talking about making up the most outrageous accusations possible about the President, even when he's obviously doing something constructive. The day after Labor Day is traditionally the kickoff of the new school year for American children. The President is taking the opportunity of that first day to speak to our nation's children about the value of education. Can anyone honestly argue that education isn't valuable?

Yet the Republican Party is accusing the President of trying to indoctrinate our children with socialist thought. Is it socialist to want children to take education seriously? What kind of silly nonsense is this? Those opposing his speech next Tuesday would have us believe that the President is taking every opportunity to brainwash the children of America. If we were to take their argument to its logical extreme, then we would have to assume that public schools are a socialist plot. We would have to assume the people arguing this would want to take their children out of these schools so as not to have them tainted by indoctrination and propaganda. Oh wait, most of them already have done so. Their kids go to private schools or are being home schooled, mostly private schools, though.

Frankly, Mr. Obama isn't even arguing against private schools or home schooling either. What he is arguing is that education is important, no matter where you get it. If you get a good education and perform well in school, doors open for you. You enjoy success in later life. If you do not get a good education, if you do not perform well in school, doors subsequently close for you. If our country is to be successful, it is important that all of our children take their education seriously. The future of our country relies on the success of our children, who by and large attend public schools. There are not enough families who are wealthy enough to send their children to private schools, there are not enough parents with sufficient knowledge and ability to give their children what they need from home to fill all the needed niches in our system.

We need to support our public schools. We need to encourage all of our children to work hard in those schools. We need to ensure that all of our children have the knowledge and skills to be successful. Otherwise the entire country is going down the tubes. Our President recognizes this. This is what he wants to impress on our children. Is this bad? I think not. I think it's time we, as a country woke up and recognized political propagandizing at the expense of the country as a whole.

President Obama did not grow up wealthy. Yet he worked hard and made it to Harvard Law School. He managed to make it to the most powerful position in the country, and possibly the world. He did this in spite of having dark skin, a decided drawback in a country that is in denial about its systemic racism. There are a great many minority children in this country, African-American, Mexican-American, and Native American who can be motivated by this man with his bully pulpit. They can see that it is possible for a man from a minority to work hard and succeed. If he could motivate these children, this could be a boon for the entire country. This could mean more adults with job skills, fewer adults with prison records, and a more productive nation. I would hope that he could also reach white children as well. They too need to hear this message. They too need the benefit of a good education. The children need this. Our nation needs this. The world needs this. Let's stop with the silly crap and allow a great man with great ideas to do his job, and along the way serve as an inspiration to a generation of America's youth.