OBAMA IS ALL ABOUT INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY, HARD WORK & DELFECTION OF POVERTY. WHAT'S WITH THE BAILOUTS AND UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 03:55PM I was pleasantly surprised by Obama's speech to K-12 students today. Maybe it was because I listened to it while standing outside of FNC's studios in NYC? (Speech here.) I don't think Obama had a secret agenda; just because a speech is given by our President, that doesn't mean it is intended to for an ulterior political effect. (And for the record, I'm quite the Obama cynic!) To me, it was simply a superb convocation speech with one purpose: to motivate our youth to become educated. (Last week, I gave a convocation speech to students at Indiana Tech University; too bad mine was not as well-written as Obama's!)
Before Obama's speech today, most kids had never been spoken to about individual responsibility, perseverance and reward. What I liked most, was that Obama gave examples - examples that our children understand - from JK Rowling to Michael Jordan. The majority probably didn't know that publishers dismissed the Harry Potter books so many times!
Obama's Theme: Work & Individual Responsibility
I studied Obama's DNC speech and wrote a detailed blog about his focus on hard work and the importance of working hard. In fact, I lost count of how many times he said the word "work!" My blog here. Obama's speech had a similar theme today: students must work hard if they want to succeed.
Another Deflection
I find it interesting that it wasn't until the end of Obama's speech where he said something like "we are doing our part to get you the resources [for an education.]" Today's speech wasn't about what Obama's going to do to provide for the opportunity for our students to have the best education...but now he's opened the door so he better follow up!
Walk into a Chicago Public School one day and you will find kids whose only meal of the day is the one served in school. Many kids don't have those books and computers. Sure, he had an example of ONE child out of Chicago Public Schools who made it against the odds. But that girl is an anomoly. Kids cannot relate to that ONE child. What is Obama going to do to bring our schools up to par?
Bailout the Rich, Not the Poor?
So as Obama talks about INDIVIDUAL responsibility, what is HIS responsibility to our future doctors, lawyers and teachers? He has chosen to bail out AIG, Chrysler, GM and the big dogs on Wall Street. Bail out the banks and the mortgage industry that contributed to their own demise but do not bail out the people who were essentially born with no resources, no food, no education? And on top of all the talk about individual responsibility, Obama wants everyone to have health care? Well, if health care is FREE, where is the individual responsibility?
Obama is totally contradicting himself. He should pick a position and stick with it. Speaking to kids about individual responsibility while he bails out Wall Street makes absolutely NO sense to me.
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Reader Comments (2)
I keep starting this response over because I agree with the point that we bailed out the rich and continue to allow those who have the most need to flounder. There was never any real controversy with the speech the President gave today on education. My belief is that it was a ploy by those who what to see him fail to distract from the real issues which are important to us all, such as health care. I have not seen our government have a rational conversation on any critical topic. The goal does not seem to be how do we resolve these issues, but how do I WIN; how do I structure events to look like I am the one who saved you therefore, I should be re-elected. All of these issues are about power and from where I sit, it is very effective to keep people fearful because then they will blindly follow those they " think" are more capable of keeping them "safe." The problem is that most of the fears are false and are created to control the minds and actions of those who vote.
The issue of personal responsibility that was the topic of the address to the students today is an area we all should look at. Although the President seems to overlook areas that affect a large portion of our country, i.e. resources for those in need, I believe he could and would be able to spend more time dealing with these issues if we all showed more of a commitment to resolving them in our own personal lives. We sit back and expect our elected officials to address the issues that are important to us when they continually demonstrate that unless we are in a position to limit their power base, they will not take us seriously. We criticize those who speak out the loudest, even if their views are unsubstantiated, but we do not come together as a people to create a platform which addresses the real needs of our society. If we would speak with one voice, rather than man or woman, black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight, democrat or republican, we could begin to take back our country and shape it into what it was meant to be when the constitution was written. The reason, from my perspective, why our government and the large financial institutions are able to get away with neglecting our needs is because we are so complacent as a people and allow ourselves to be separated by tactics of fear.
Thank you for your opinion, Vaughn. I really appreciate the time you took to think about what you wanted to say. I value your thoughts.