About That Bush I Education Speech

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About That Bush I Education Speech

Written By : Melissa Clouthier

Byron York points out that the Democrats investigated George HW Bush’s speech. This is delicious:

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president’s school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president’s political benefit. “The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props,” the Post reported.

With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. “The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students,” said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. “And the president should be doing more about education than saying, ‘Lights, camera, action.’”

And as Lorie Byrd pointed out President Obama invoked God. He said “God Bless America” at the end of the speech. Um hello, atheists. That’s just wrong, right? That blending of church and state. It’s almost like church IN school. /sarcasm

Democrats didn’t like using the Presidential platform to reach into the classroom, but now, it’s a-ok.

whats_up

Funny how Repubs and Conservatives were okay with the President reaching out to kids in 1991 but somehow now arent.
smelvertising

the President reaching out to kids in 1991 but somehow now arent.

Cult of personality =/= reaching out to kids. Once again, your haste to throw words back at your political enemies cuts you and no one else.
D-Vega

I bet all the right-wingers feel kind of silly now.

For all the faux outrage, the speech came and went.
D-Vega

Heh. And that's the best line from 1991 you could get?

The Dems weren't telling their communities to keep their kids home from school. Or that the President's speech should be "screened" before being shown. Or that the President was attempting to "indoctrinate" students to his idealogy.

This story actually makes the right look foolish for their immature and reactionary behavior over Obama's speech.

What did Newt Gingrich say in 1991 about it?

Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education? It was done at a nonpolitical site and was beamed to a nonpolitical audience. . . . They wanted to reach the maximum audience with the maximum effect to improve education.

Kudos to Mr. Gingrich for being consistent and praising Obama's speech.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

I bet all the right-wingers feel kind of silly now.

For what? Pointing out your hypocrisy?

You don't even know why the right objected to Obama's speech. Probably because you don't want to know.
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

I bet all the left wingers who threw a fit in 1991 feel kind of silly now.

Oh wait, no they don't.
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

Oh and it was a pretty good speech if a bit at odds with the president's stated principles and policy decisions.
Ralph_Gizzip

Obviously D-Vega and What's Up His Ass didn't read the entire article. There are two glaring differences between Bush 41's speech and President Pantywaist's speech.

First, the Democrat-controlled House ordered up ex post facto hearings about the money spent for the trip claiming it was "campaigning." (Funny, since that's all Obama seems to be able to do) Yes, Rep. William Ford ordered the GAO to engage in a "witch hunt" to try to pin something, anything on GHW Bush. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it. the GAO found everything above board and legal.

Second, the speech Obama delivered was significantly different than the speech originally laid out. It wasn't inside the Beltway Republicans sounding the alarms, it was the right side of the blogosphere. Bush 41's speech, very similar to the one given by Obama, was deliviered as intended.
Ralph_Gizzip

Try this link:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/09/o…

Dammit John bring back "Preview"!
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

Well the speech apparently was unchanged (no way of knowing that really) but the accompanying school work was significantly changed and that was in direct response to concerns voiced by the right in America.
rmiller

So…

does it matter at all to you, that the President has responded to you concerns? I don't know either whether the speech was altered in response to political pressure.

But if it was it was altered to your Pov. Not mine.

Care to give credit for that?
aharris

It wasn't the speech; it was the original lesson plan. Did Bush 41 have that with his speech? Were kids asked to write letters about how they could help the President achieve his goals?

If not, then my objections still stand.
D-Vega

Spin it you want, guys.

The left's reaction to Bush's speech was no where near the hyper-vapors of the right.

The right, including political officials, were practically accusing Obama of treason, of indoctrinating the youth into "socialist policies". Telling people to keep their kids home, likening a President addressing students to the propaganda of Kim Jong Il and Castro. That is waaaay over the line as compared to the political blustering of the Dems in 1991.

I didn't see anything regarding the Dems doing something so disrespectful & immature to Bush 1. They at most called it a political ad. Still respecting the man as our President, just saying there were political spoils they were sore about.

They didn't accuse the man of undermining our way of life.

The right has been made to look incredibly foolish on this.

I think this could have been a rope-a-dope as well. Obama makes an innocent speech, the right hyperventilates, lies, accuses him of indoctrination. The right is discredited in future arguments because they are now seen as opposing anything Obama, rather than making objective calls accordingly.
D-Vega

It wasn't the speech; it was the original lesson plan. Did Bush 41 have that with his speech? Were kids asked to write letters about how they could help the President achieve his goals?

Blah, if you read the entire lesson plan, you would see that that "line" was in the context of improving student achievement. "How can you help the President achieve this?"

It wasn't about Obama asking kids how to achieve 100% socialism. This was unbelievably reactionary and irrational.
CoolCzech

For all the faux outrage, the speech came and went.

Posted by D-Vega

2009-09-08 17:07:14

Yes, like a bad case of diarhea.

Originally, of course, the speech was intended to promote Obama's Cubancare healthcare proposal – but all that supposedly "silly" conservative outrage made that untenable.

The best thing that can be said about Obama's endless celebration of himself, School Version, is that it did no more than waste a few hours of productive school time for millions of kids.
whats_up

Of course the criticism was overblown, that is all the Repubs and conservatives have left is to scare people. They are hoping if they scare enough people they might get back into power. The speech was harmless and actually should be something that conservatives rally around, personally responsibility, getting an education, joining the workforce. Politics certainly makes interesting bedfellows, first conservatives support no cuts to Medicare, then they crticize a speech about personal responsibility. Pretty crazy, next Kingfisher is going to come on and tell us that the speech was altered and that wasnt originally what Obama was going to say.
D-Vega

Yes, like a bad case of diarhea.

It was a very good, nonpartisan speech. Probably one of his best.

Originally, of course, the speech was intended to promote Obama's Cubancare healthcare proposal – but all that supposedly "silly" conservative outrage made that untenable.

You are providing more examples of such silliness.

Of course this wasn't about healthcare. Anyone who bothered to read the lesson plan, which didn't change, knew that.

Why the hell would Obama be addressing students about public healthcare, something even most adults don't understand?

Silly, silly, silly.

The best thing that can be said about Obama's endless celebration of himself, School Version, is that it did no more than waste a few hours of productive school time for millions of kids.

Their time listening to the President talk about you can acheive anything if you take your future by the reins was much more productive than cutting a frog open for the 10th time or texting your friends.

Listening to a Presidential address is not a waste of time.

Your irrational behavior proves the point again. Even now, you can't just let it go as something positive.
CoolCzech

D-Vega, you bloody well know that Obama was all set to push his policies with his little indoctrination speech, but changed the speech drastically after public outrage grew.

Don't pretend you have ANY idea what the speech would have been like if people had just quietly acquiesced to his plans.
whats_up

D-Vega, you bloody well know that Obama was all set to push his policies with his little indoctrination speech, but changed the speech drastically after public outrage grew.

Posted by CoolCzech

2009-09-09 13:38:54

Really CC, then point us in the direction of his original speech so we can compare. We will wait patiently.
D-Vega

Czech,

- the speech followed the lesson plan exactly

- the lesson plan was released way before the kerfuffle

- if the lesson plan didn't change, and the speech followed the plan exactly, then that means the speech didn't change.

- healthcare is not a part of this. Not directly, anyways.
http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

The left's reaction to Bush's speech was no where near the hyper-vapors of the right.

Congress held hearings, Vega. That's far beyond anything the right did this time.

By the way, President Obama gave a speech before the speech to a single school and it was all about health care reform activism. We haven't seen the original lesson plans nor the president's original speech so who knows what it was like before people reacted so poorly to it all?

Certainly trying to pretend "how may I help the president" tests and school work for kids is not disturbing from a historical and republic point of view is laughable and pathetic spin.
whats_up

Posted by Christopher_Taylor

2009-09-09 18:13:43

CT,

What school was that at? When did this speech take place?
D-Vega

I saw the original lesson plan on one of those education document exchange sites in PDF format.

The lesson plan didn't change.

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