President Obama's Speech

I try not to bring many personal opinions or emotions into this blog, but I must say that I find the uproar surrounding President Obama's speech to our nation's youth pretty ridiculous. Our school districts are requiring signed parent permission slips in order to watch his speech, and if a parent is against it, that child is required to sit it out in the campus's library. One district is even pre-screening the speech, and if they approve of it's content, it will be distributed via tape.

This morning, a local radio station invited callers to voice their opinion, and I was appalled to hear what some people had to say. Do they honestly think that our President is capable of brainwashing children? Half of the kids in school these days are never even told by their parents that an education is important. Granted, not everyone will be an astronaut, not everyone will be a football star, but to hear encouragement from a person that has made something of himself does not strike me as cause for concern.

I've never really been big on politics, so whether this was George Washington or George Bush, I'd say the same thing. I just find it a waste of time to be so cautious about something so trivial...I mean, hell, my grandmother grew up in Nazi Germany, and no one ever gave them the option of sitting out Hitler's speeches. What's the big deal?