Let the President Have His Say

Friday, September 11, 2009

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Let the President Have His Say

By J’AMY PACHECO

Is it just me, or was that whole hoopla over the president’s recent speech to schoolchildren a perfect example of parental mass hysteria?

I still can’t believe some of the comments I read in the days leading up to the speech. I don’t even want to repeat them here, lest I somehow end up paraphrased somewhere else in a way that gives the impression I share those crazy sentiments.

I don’t.

The president and I don’t share a political party. I don’t agree with everything he’s done or plans to do. But never would I attempt to deny my child the opportunity to hear a speech made by the leader of the greatest nation in the free world.

My daughter’s class is going to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York next year. The trip will take place the week before school ends for the summer; the week before she leaves middle school forever.

The reason the trip has been planned for that week is so that the children will have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear the president speak, live, in Washington, on Memorial Day. Even I think that would be a pretty cool thing to get to do.

When I read about some of the reactions from parents, I shook my head. What the heck did they think the president was going to say?

I think the administration could have done a few things differently. One of the things that critics focused on was a suggested exercise in which children were to write a letter to themselves about how they can help the president.

Critics seized upon that as giving the appearance of “creating a cult of personality,” as one lawmaker said. You know, sort of like Hitler. It would have gone much more smoothly if the words, “the president” had been replaced with, “your country.” (If I were to write one of those letters, I’d help the president by advising him to choose his words more carefully.)

I understand it was meant to be an encouraging back-to-school speech. My daughter has been back in school since mid-August, but I think a “stay in school” speech is always a good thing, whether delivered by the president, an astronaut, a teacher, a postal worker or a kid who works at a fast-food restaurant.

But some districts refused to air the speech, while others sent home notes asking parental permission before allowing students to listen. This is the same kind of note I got last year when my daughter’s science teacher wanted to talk about sex in class.

Call me trusting, but I never thought the president wanted to talk about sex. Yeesh.

As it turned out, my thoughts about the speech being broadcast to American schools mattered not at all, because the school wasn’t able to show it anyway. But if they had, I would have encouraged my child to listen.

I think what bothers me the most about the whole situation is the sense that it boils down to a lack of respect.

Perhaps it’s our national collective sitcom mentality – we want everything wrapped up in a neat package as quickly as possible. President Obama hasn’t been in office for long, but we’re already turning on him for not resolving all of our perceived ills in a short enough amount of time.

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that our political leaders have created a climate that has, over the decades, eroded our respect for those who hold public office. Each side has slung enough mud to bury a nation of optimists.

Each side points fingers and calls for investigation over every little thing – as long as it’s the other side committing it. If a similar act takes place within their own party, they’re offended at the mere suggestion.

But you can’t have it both ways, and now, our leaders are paying the price.

The fires of criticism are fueled by a hungry media that wants to be first, loudest, and most controversial. I suspect the speech would have passed unnoticed by many in the nation if not for the comments of a few being spread across the nation on television, radio and the Internet.

Frankly, I’m tired of everybody trying to make everybody else look bad – or at least, worse. I wish all that energy would be put into working together to find ways to make our nation greater, stronger, prouder and more supportive of the man we elected to hold the most powerful office in the world.

Maybe President Obama’s next speech will be about that. The question is, would anybody listen?