WRITTING ASSIGNMENT #1

When America became aware of President Obama’s plan to address the nation’s children, controversy over the event made headlines across the nation. According to USA Today the controversy was started by Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer warning the nation that Obama was going to use his speech to the children to spread his “socialist ideology” and “liberal lies.” The issue was then exaggerated even more by conservative bloggers, radio commentators and Fox News to add to the “fear mongering” started by Greer as stated by USA Today. The controversy started by Jim Greer did not stop there. The Department of Education had suggested to the Obama administration to include a lesson plan along with the speech urging the students to write letters to themselves about, how they would help the president. This did not sit well with many parents and therefore the suggested lesson plan was taken out of the speech format. The change in the format along with the White House posting the transcript of the speech on its’ website helped alleviate the concerns of many, even Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer. According to The News- Gazette.com “After they got a look at the text many critics, including Greer, backed off, and some schools agreed to show the speech after all.”
Even though the release of the transcript proved that the speech did not have political undertones to the message there were still parents that did not want their kids to listen to the discourse. One father argued that “they (the children) don’t need to be told by the president what their responsibilities are. It’s the parents’ responsibility to teach them that, not the governments,” said Ryan Christensen who kept his 10 year old daughter from watching the speech, as reported by The News-Gazette.com. In my opinion Mr. Christensen’s has a nice idea and in a perfect world he would be right, but in the world that we live in it is just not realistic. Unfortunately many people who have children do not live up to their responsibilities as parents and it’s those kids that need to know that they are not given up on and no matter how they have been raised they can chose to make their education a priority and be in charge of their own future, which is what President Obama was trying to convey in his speech. To appease all parties involved, whether opposed or in favor the solution was to have the speech aired at the schools but to give the parents the option of having their kids participate in an alternative activity instead of viewing Barack Obama’s speech
With many parents still in favor of the presidents inspiring speech to the children, those caught up in the politics surrounding the speech complained to school officials and threatened to keep their children home from school on the day of the oration. But the truth of the matter turned out to be that the presidents’ speech had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with inspiring kids to learn. After the speech was actually delivered on Tuesday September 8th 2009 it seemed however that all the uproar was for nothing and even those who were skeptical enjoyed the speech and found it inspiring. For example The News Gazette.com reports of Karen Miller, a former PTA official and a longtime education activist in the Houston area sad she initially had concerns about the speech and the accompanying lesson plans. “Whenever a political figure goes to a public school, one has to be very cautious,” she said. After hearing the speech, however, Miller said she found it inspiring. “The message he gave to children was so appropriate, that you shape your destiny no matter the hand you’re dealt,” she said, “The message was absolutely on target. I had chills.” Her quote about being very cautious when a political figure visits a school really struck a chord with me. Barak Obama is not just any political figure he is the elected president of the United States. He is no longer campaigning, he won the presidency and like it or not he is the “leader of our nation” for the next four years. The majority vote wanted him as our president and both sides of the fence should give him the benefit of the doubt and then if by the end of the four years we are not pleased with the way he preformed his presidential duties then we will elect someone else.
USA Today’s proposed “antidote” to this controversy is simple “It’s called leadership, and a few prominent conservatives exercised it this weekend, arguing for reason on the school speech. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Se. Lamar Alexandar R-Tenn., told Fox News on Sunday that the speech was a fine idea.
That should happen more often on both sides of the aisle, lest kids be taught that the way to resolve differences is to call people names and shout them down with lies if necessary,” says USA Today And it does make one wonder just what we are teaching children when protestors that met President Obama at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., the actual site of the school speech, had a sign stating “Mr. President stay away from our kids, “ according to The News-Gazette.com. Why any parent would discourage the president of the United States from trying to inspire and encourage today’s youth is beyond me. No matter where we place ourselves on the political spectrum or what political aspirations we have as Americans it is simply un-American to put down such a valiant effort made by any member of society to reach out to the future of our country. We the American people should be leaders ourselves. Whether we are on the conservative side of the spectrum and want less government involvement in our live or if we are on the more libral side cheering on more government involvement, we are what it comes down to. We make the decisions that affect our daily lives for our families and communities and t is our votes that put the people in the so called leadership positons to voice our opions and desires for us while we take our of ourselves and our families. So I add to the thought of USA Today by saying we need responsible leadership from each of us Americans.
Now lest anyone think that I am choosing to write about the controversy surrounding this speech just to comment on my point of view on the subject, what I hope stands out is how political party representatives used politics to get the reaction that they wanted. This is a great example of how politics is keeping our nation divided and fighting against each other instead of coming to together for the common good, like inspiring children to take pride in their education.

Upon analyzing the two news media sources I believed that the USA Today article was much more biased. It did tell parts of both sides of the story however when reporting on the side that the author did not agree with he referred to them as “irresponsible zealots that managed to turn this into a fight.” As true as that statement may be it is not an unbiased and fair report of the facts which is what the news is supposed to deliver. The news gives an account of the facts and then we as readers can form our own opinions and conclusions from the facts that we are given. It was also very interesting that the writer of the article is name calling with such labels as “irresponsible zealots” and “fear-mongerer,” but then goes on to criticize name-calling at the end of the article. Even though personally I agree with much of what the author writes I am less inclined to think of him as a credible news source when he contradicts himself like that. Also the article did not have much detail and depth to it. The author chose to report on the bits and pieces that he liked best and that fit how he wanted to report said facts. It did not have many quotes from actual people and parents and their stance on the issue. It chose to stick with big conservative names such as Jim Greer, Newt Gingrich and Lamar Alexander without giving any views from democratic or liberal affiliations. Such lack of depth and detail also adds to the discrediting of the author who has good points but doesn’t back them up.
I did like that the USA Today article included a copy of the President’s speech which The News-Gazette.com article did not. If a reader did not have the opportunity to see the speech live themselves, like myself, then it would be harder for him or her to relate to and fully understand the meaning of the article. Being that The News Gazette.com is an internet source it would be very simple for them to attach the speech to the article even as a separate link and I was surprised that was not made available to the readers. But overall I felt that The News-Gazette.com internet source on the subject of the president’s school speech was not biased and reported very fairly on both views with good depth. It had good support from each viewpoint with quotes from parents, kids, and political figures in the community that were affected by the controversy. For example Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, a Republican, had originally criticized the speech and its suggested lesson plans, “steps never before seen by any presidency in the realm of government intervention.” But he said his concerns eased after some of the lesson plans changed. And then Tuesday after the speech was delivered he was quoted by The News-Gazette.com as saying “It was perfectly innocuous and a praiseworthy message. Another source interviewed and quoted by The News-Gazette.com was fifteen year-old Ariana Steele of Auburn, Washington, she said “When you see someone of such power saying what your parents say or what your teachers have said, like all your life, it really makes it more powerful to you and it really makes you want to try more.” The News-Gazette.com also reported on a fifth-grader from San Francisco named William Geist, who told the Gazette he likes to sleep late and listened closely to Obama’s story of studying with his mother at 4:30 a.m. “Now since I heard this speech, I’m like, Man, I’ve got to get up early in the morning. I’ve got to get ready for school. I’ve got to do this,” said William Geist. The News-Gazette.com had quotes from people of many different walks of life giving diversity to the article. Students, parents, teachers, democrats and republicans alike all had a chance to weigh in on the issue and give their personal opinion or experience giving more depth the article.
After all was said and done it turned out that the speech was completely harmless. It did not contain “socialist ideology and liberal lies” as proposed by Jim Greer. It was regarded as very inspirational and a positive heartfelt message to the youth of America. But it just goes to show how something that is not intended to be political and supposed to be a positive message to America’s youth, can be twisted and construed by politics into something completely different. Even those Americans who do not keep up with current political trends and who do not consider themselves very politically inclined, can easily get caught up in politically motivated drama. It might also help if the media and news reporters would report fair unbiased facts so that we the people could make up our own minds on the subject.

Works Cited
The Associated Press. "Obama's back to school speech inspires some kids." The News-Gazette.com. 09 Sept. 09. Web. 09 Sept. 09. <http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/09/09/obamas_back-to-school_speech_inspires_some_kids>.
Stevens, Carol, ed. "Fight Over Obama's school talk teaches sorry lesson." USA Today [San Diego] 08 Sept. 2009. Print.