... they are published BEFORE the President's death. Even BEFORE he is out of office. Probably BEFORE he even entered the White House.This is the kind of thing that we are accustomed to reading about George Washington or Abe Lincoln. Is it not?
It seems to me that it is OK to engage in a certain amount of "hero worship" where *former* presidents are concerned. We expect eulogies to be glowing for the most. But, to take this unaccomplished neophyte, while he has been in office less than a year, and write about him this way.... It's premature to say the least.
Requiring American school children to read such premature "biographies" is creepy.
I mean, what if Barack Obama is NOT who the biographers think he is? What if he has sex with an intern next week? Or starts an unnecessary war?? What if he lies under oath and is impeached???
There are good reasons why these types of glowing "biographies" are written post-humously.
Think about it!
SYD
Posts
I agree 100%, and I suspect that Obama will not wear too well in the annals of history. All of this premature hero worship will look rather silly.
ReplyDeleteBlackcommentator,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
I'd just hate to be one of those teachers.... indoctrinating my students about the president one day ... and explaining away his shortcomings the next.
The younger the student, the harder that would be.For a five year old who has been indoctrinated... it will look worse than silly. It will look like a betrayal. As in "all adults lie."
Is this book part of the president's "stay in school" speech? I have not seen that it was.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have been solidly against the cultish aura surrounding Obama, the one thing that separates him from the presidents you mentioned is that he is the "first black" president. Granted, that is more symbolic than anything else, but a lot of these kids books are based on holding out a person from the past as a symbol of something bigger than they actually were.....Nonetheless, outside of the historical fact, I would save the hero stuff until he finishes his term.
Thanks for commenting, Dr. Hutchinson.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what the DE suggested was to have students read "about The President beforehand." That is what i am calling them out on.
I do believe that the President ... be he GWB or BO or JFK *should* address the nation's schoolchildren. What makes me uncomfortable in this situation is the overt focus on who BO *personally* is, and what he wants kids to do.
I hope the speech goes well. For the sake of all involved.
SYD
Yes it was part if the "illegal" materials the White House sent across the nation (using our tax dollars). All educational materials are to be cleared with the school district administrators first. This was no mistake? Obama's Head of Education is an educator.
ReplyDeleteMark Steyn did a searing editorial about the Obama School Brain-washing Push this week.
"The Omnipresent Leader has traditionally been a characteristic feature of Third World basket-case dumps: The conflation of the man and the state is explicit, and ubiquitous. In 2003, motoring around western Iraq a few weeks after the regime’s fall, when the schoolhouses were hastily taking down the huge portraits of Saddam that had hung on every classroom wall, I visited an elementary-school principal with a huge stack of suddenly empty picture frames piled up on his desk, and nothing to put in them. The education system’s standard first-grade reader featured a couple of kids called Hassan and Amal — a kind of Iraqi Dick and Jane — proudly holding up their portraits of the great man and explaining the benefits of an Iraqi education:
“O come, Hassan,” says Amal. “Let us chant for the homeland and use our pens to write, ‘Our beloved Saddam.’”
“I come, Amal,” says Hassan. “I come in a hurry to chant, ‘O, Saddam, our courageous president, we are all soldiers defending the borders for you, carrying weapons and marching to success.’”
On Friday, August 28, the principal of Eagle Bay Elementary School in Farmington, Utah — in the name of “education” — showed her young charges the “Obama Pledge” video released at the time of the inauguration, in which Ashton Kutcher and various other bigtime celebrities, two or three of whom you might even recognize, “pledge to be a servant to our president and to all mankind because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek.”
Here are some choice tidbits from the mind warping Obama's children's books that the illegal literature encouraged teachers to make students read.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.puma08.com/2009/09/02/sept-8th-here-are-two-of-the-books-on-obama-your-kids-are-expected-to-read/
Sept 8th… Here are two of the books on Obama your kids are expected to read…
“There, swept up in the waves of their singing, with tears on his cheeks, he knew why he was there. He knew who he was and he knew where he belonged….
“On the horizon, at the dawn of a new age, there appeared a man who would be the embodiment of King’s dream — a presidential candidate whose very being was a bridge that joined nations….
“One sun-drenched day, as his wife Michelle stood by, Barack smiled on a sea of faces from Wichita to Waikiki. He saw whites and blacks, rich and poor, Christians and Muslims and Jews; he saw the ghosts of his parents, of Gramps and Toot, of Martin Luther King, Jr. and JFK. And on that special day Barack was the bridge that held them all together. “I want to be your president,” he said. “Can we make America better? Can we work together, as one?” With a single voice the crowd called out, “Yes! We can!”…
“His mama, white as whipped cream; his daddy, black as ink…
“Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn’t quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.
Does Fuhrer-Worship get any Purer?
N O P E !
Two of the books on the reading list were out even before Obama was elected.
ReplyDelete"Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Library Binding edition (August 26, 2008)
The most helpful critical review
3.0 out of 5 stars
A little much, even for a fervent Obama fan"
The most helpful favorable review
5.0 out of 5 stars "Funniest book I've read in a long time. I'm giving this 5 stars simply because this is the most hilarious laugh out loud book I have read in a very long time. First you must realize that this is a work of pure science fiction.."
Barack, by Jonah Winter
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (September 30, 2008) The most helpful critical review
"Written before Barack was elected President, this book showcases how Barack has become a great human being and leader because he was able to pull together the many disparate pieces of his life into a healthy whole. The vibrant illustrations glow with color and drama. It is very hard to depict real people..."
A cult-like status not unlike Hitler's, December 8, 2008 "This book is well written and beautifully illustrated, atleast, for propaganda it is. Seriously, I understand partisanship bias, but even the most staunch liberal will find this book eerily similar to the cult-like propaganda that surrounded Hitler during the Third Reich...."
"Textbook example of propaganda," October 26, 2008
You're kidding... right?, October 8, 2008
"For somehow his journey had led him to Trinity Church, surrounded by the people from his neighborhood including many he had helped. And there, swept up in the waves of their singing with tears on his cheeks he knew why he was there. He knew who he was, and where he belonged."
Perfect... if your aim is early indoctrination of children. ..."
"Never thought I'd see something like this in America. There's a picture in this book of BAM crying in Rev. Wright's church. The book talks about how great Trinity is..."
Excellent take on the situation from Anna Belle:
ReplyDeletehttp://peacocksandlilies.com/2009/09/06/intellectual-consistency-and-the-left/