Phony Outrage

For weeks we've heard neoconservative outrage about the planned first day of school speech by President Obama. Conservative leaders such as Rush Limbaugh have argued that the planned speech would be liberal indoctrination. Others feared it would be primarily political and would be used as a trick to sway the opposition in favor of the Democratic proposal on Health Care reform.

Little was said about previous addresses to school children by former presidents. No one mentioned in most media outlets that Bush I and Regan both did addresses to school children. The last address to America's schools was 1991 by President H.W. Bush.

School Districts and principals across the country decided to ban the speech from being played in the classroom. Some parents even threatened to keep their children out of the schools for the first day. Team Obama decided to release the transcripts to cool any further animosity. Protest continued until 12pm today when the speech was finally given.

But here's the real issue: what was really the problem with the speech? What syllable from his speech would you not say to your children or mentees? Has politics in America become more important the the greater good of America itself? Is the need to be right more important than the actual debate? What good came from protesting a motivational speech from our president besides showing that our nation has a clear lack of respect for the office of president?

Our disrespect stems from our overt racist ideas about a Black leader, regardless of if he's president or not. Not only have we sunken to a new low as a political culture, but we've let fear or canned fear get in the way of actual progress. It's like the red scare all over again. Instead of getting to the real issues, we're going to let fear dictate where we will go and what problems will be solved.

Only in America