Sometime tomorrow, there will be a broadcast in schools of a speech by President Obama. There has been a bit of an uproar about this speech by conservatives around the country. Meanwhile others are wondering what's the big deal. It isn't like this hasn't happened before, the speech or the uproar. While I would describe myself as a conservative, I don't have these problems with the speech. It could be a really nice speech about doing good in school, and the kinds of things that really should be said. At the same time, there could be partisan bits in there. There could also be bits that I might think are partisan that others might think are completely benign. It doesn't really matter to me. There is no "damage" that can be done in the speech that cannot be "undone", as if that would even be necessary. My kids are canny, and I have full faith that they will grow up to be smarter than me. They might even disagree with me politically. I don't think that they will, but I'm OK if they do. But that isn't the problem that I have.
My problem is with the little lesson plan that was distributed to go along with the speech. In the original iteration of the lesson plan there appeared a question to the effect of asking the students what they can do to help the president. That question was removed after some grumbling. I have a fundamental problem with the question. Some guy a long time ago said,
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
I think that this quote perfectly encapsulates what it means to be American. While I may not have agreed with some of Kennedy's politics if I were alive back then, I completely agree with that statement. The role of government is not to fix our problems. In regards to our problems the government for the most part needs to stand aside and allow us to fix our own problems. What can you do to help the president stands at odds with ask what you can do for your country. The two almost seem to come from opposite ends of the world. America is not a great country because the government fixes our problems. America is great because of American people who step up to the plate with solutions. If the lesson plan instead had a question about asking the kids what they can do to help America, I wouldn't have a problem with this in the least. I would hope that there wasn't any kind of partisan message in there, but I wouldn't be worried. If the outrage was still there, I would be thinking that there are plenty of conservatives that just need to take off their skirts and put their pants back on. I'm already leaning that way, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt because of that ill conceived question.
Sure there was an admission that the wording on the question was poor, but I have a hard time accepting that. I guess that is because the wording in the question demonstrates a really basic misunderstanding of what it means to be American. I don't know who put that particular question in there, or decided on the wording, but I am assuming that it isn't a first draft that only passed the original author's path. I'm assuming that this question was seen by a few people at least and met with their approval. Apparently no one had a problem, and the lesson plan went "to press". Regardless of how many people saw it, or who wrote it, I sense this basic misunderstanding of the American experience. That is my problem with the whole presidential speech to the kids. Someone "in power", whether the president, or one of his appointees, put together this question, that might be perfectly appropriate in another government, into a lesson plan to accompany the speech.
I'm not sure what the best case scenario is with this turkey. Sloppy or lazy editing? The first draft made it into the wild? I can imagine all kinds of things in regards to a worst case scenario. I'm optimistic that the worst case scenario is just a case of someone that just doesn't understand what we really are about. Someone who doesn't get a little choked up when the national anthem is played at sports events. Someone who doesn't feel a little more than just their heart beat while their hand is over their heart during the pledge. Someone who maybe sees the warts instead of the greatness. I guess I just feel like they don't really know what it means to be a patriot. But they are part of the executive office of this great country, and that makes me sad.
2 comments:
Very nice. That was a great read.
Nicely said.
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