PRESIDENT Barack Obama has triggered controversy across the US by announcing he will give a live TV address to children today to mark their first day back at school.
Conservative Republicans have accused him of bringing politics into the classroom and school boards across the nation have been inundated with calls from parents planning to keep their children at home.
“Thinking about my kids in school, having to listen to that, just really upsets me,” said Colorado mother Shanneen Barron. “I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now.”
Chairman of the Florida Republican Party Jim Greer accused Obama of “bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power”.
Mr Obama will make his address, to be streamed on the internet, at noon today at a high school in Arlington Virginia. Virginia’s education department spokeswoman Julie Grimes said: “The phones are ringing off the hook.”
7 Rare Copies Left
Boards in almost every state have announced they will either not show the broadcast or not compel children to watch it. “It is a good idea gone astray,” said Arizona school district superintendent Kevin Kapp.
The White House insists the 18-minute speech is apolitical, focussing on encouraging children to work hard.
“No matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it,” Mr Obama will say, according to a script released to parents yesterday.
“This isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.”
White House sources point out that similar speeches have been given by other presidents.
Some of the controversy focused on a package to accompany the broadcast, from the education department, which originally asked students to tell the White House “what they can do to help the president”.
After criticism, this was rephrased, and children are now asked to tell Mr Obama how they will “achieve their short-term and long-term educational goals.”
This has drawn the ire of many leading Republicans, among them Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, whom many consider a front-runner for the next presidential election. “I don’t think he needs to force it upon the nation’s school children,” he said. “At a minimum it’s disruptive. Number two, it’s uninvited.”
But others are supportive. Governor of Texas Rick Perry, a Republican, said he was “certainly not going to advise anybody not to send their kids to school that day. Hearing the president speak is always a memorable moment.”
New York parent Lenore Michaels said she would have “no problem” with her 15-year-old son watching. “He’s elected as the head of our country, the fact that they would not want him broadcasting is ridiculous.”
President George H Bush, made a similar speech in 1991 after which Democrats accused him of bringing politics into the classroom.
Chris Stephen
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