Another musical tribute raises eyebrows

A few weeks ago, there arose a considerable hubbub over the President’s plan to address the nation’s schoolchildren. I believe that the reaction in some conservative quarters was overblown, as he is the President, and there is nothing wrong with having him deliver a rather stolid message of perseverance to the children. I also believe it to be fine for children to send pictures or letters to the President. It is a proper teaching device to instill respect for the office and the person of the President in those children.

That would extend, of course, to letting students know that just because the ACLU litigates to let them wear Bush=Hitler t-shirts or similar anti-Bush insults to school does not mean that this is appropriate behavior. Nor is it for a teacher to do so. Presumably teaching students respect for the President does not depend on whether it is a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. On the other hand, the different treatment given (by the same school district) to anti-Obama and anti-Bush expression does not give one much confidence in that regard.

But what bothered some people at the time was the likely reaction of the schools, who, given the predominant political views among the teachers and administrators, might use the opportunity to proselytize in favor of Obama and his policies. While a single speech would not cause me worry about some sort of “cult of personality,” repeated addresses or the schools’ inappropriate reactions would be more troublesome.

Those concerns are not entirely overblown. The political reaction caused the Department of Education to modify its proposed lesson plans for the occasion. Moreover, the concern about teachers has solid basis in fact. There is, of course, this video of little children paying homage to the person of Obama and to his policies in a quasi-religious manner reminiscent of Kim Jong-Il. Now, I am not saying Obama is Kim Jong-Il; I am saying the teachers are playing the role that such functionaries play in totalitarian regimes. Then, there is this campaign classic. The latter is less of a concern to me because they were private families training their kids to be O-bots; the former is a public school with kids who are collateral damage in this effort. For another example of school indoctrination, there is this quiz on the Obama health care speech given to a high school anatomy (!) class.

Here are some other videos with similar tone. As a German, I find I find this paean to ObamaCare particularly disturbing. Then there is this gem. As a reminder of just how far gone the adult Obama supporters can be, there is the video from the campaign where Obama gets applause for—blowing his nose.