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I want to start out with something that is dear to my heart. I am an American. I was born in America. I will die in America. Being an American is more than just where you spend your life, it’s where your heart is, where your ideas and values are formed. Being an American is being a truly unique person from a culture that holds freedom to be the most dearest of things we have. We have always fought to preserve that freedom for ourselves and even bring it to other peoples who wish to have it.

The president is an office, not a man. It’s called, “The office of the President of the United States” . Mr. Obama is our office holder, the man we elected through a democratic process to be the president that presides over that office. Make no mistake. President Obama is the president of the United states and I will always respect any man we elect president regardless of the extent to which I may, or may not, agree with his ideologies and policies. In America, the firm voice of the American people in the running of our government is a freedom we guard fiercely. This is part of what makes America great.

I needed to make that clear. I support the president. But I do not support many of his actions. I find them alarming.

Since being elected, he has been pushing every agenda possible on congress and the American people as fast as humanly possible even demanding deadlines at times. He seems to be in such a hurry, that discussion or regard for whether it’s in the best interest of the country take a back seat to his initiatives.  Congress was taking a breath to talk more about health care as he abruptly turned his attention toward our children.

On Tuesday, he addressed our kids directly, in a speech that was officially supposed to be a pep talk about the importance of education. That’s good. That’s why we have schools to begin with. What was not at all acceptable; It was suggested to school boards that they broadcast the C span live feed of the speech to our kids during class time.

Why this doesn’t outrage people across the board regardless of demographics or political affiliation is a mystery to me.

I find this development seriously unnerving, with a serious potential for widespread harm. This address to the schools and it’s format removes choice out of curriculum and turns schools into political battlefields where ideology, not the education of our children, is suddenly the issue. The school board no longer has the ability to decide whether they should broadcast the speech in classrooms, because the president suggested that they do. When a president makes a suggestion in the White House, it’s an order. When he makes it to the public, it becomes political correctness.

The real power of this maneuver is simple. It makes little difference what he actually says in his speech. What does matter is how effective the whole thing is at forcing the values and emotions of the parents to the surface. The perceived danger to their children sets the parents at odds with each other and the administration of the school boards, which in most cases are elected positions. Whether the school board broadcasts the speech or not becomes irrelevant. It’s a no win situation for the school board. The damage is done.

But the parents will be divided and that’s the beauty of it. The school board can be replaced or modified in the elections because of the new attitudes of the parents, and there’s a chance to influence our education system. A powerful strategy indeed.

There is one final thought about this. Distraction is a powerful tool. It’s useful for taking people’s focus off of important current issues. If my analysis is correct, this school speech relies on distraction to be effective, and has little to do with it’s declared audience. The more effective the results of this speech are, the more likely it is that distraction will be used in future political initiatives.

I hope I’m wrong. I don’t have any problem admitting that I tend to think worst-case. I hope this is one of those times.

With respect to the President of the United States, and my fellow Americans,

Denigris

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