What is Obama Up To? (Why, this speech to the schoolchildren?)

by James Simpson

Last night I read the draft of the speech Obama intends to deliver in a nationwide broadcast to our schoolchildren from Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA today, September 8, 2009. It is actually a good puff piece – a lot of stuff about personal responsibility, a lot of exhortations to be the best you can, fully develop your potential, etc., etc.

The speech starts by talking about how teachers, parents and government have a responsibility to provide a good education, however it turns on the following statement:

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Well, that is new. Up until now the dialog has been all about how the government can solve every problem and take care of your every need. The only people talking about personal responsibility are those evil, tea-party attending, town hall disrupting, domestic-terrorist, astroturfing shills for the morally bankrupt Republican Party. Shame on them!

But what is the point? This speech could be given by any speaker at a commencement ceremony, or for that matter, a good guidance counselor offering advice to a troubled student. So why bother?

Without knowing any better, after reading the speech – and I am sure after he delivers it in that rich, baritone voice – it is understandable how one would come away wondering how anyone could think ill of this guy. The speech was about as down-to-earth as they come. He comes off as a good guy, speaks well, and articulates the concerns we all have for our children. He relates to the problems he had as a child, living in a single-parent household, feeling like he didn’t quite fit in, etc, but returns to the theme of personal responsibility, describing how he overcame his problems to become what he is today. The speech elicits sympathy and offers platitudes we can all agree with.

And that is the point.

Barack Obama has been taking a beating, at least in the New Media, for his seemingly deliberate irresponsibility; his duplicity, his mindboggling, careless spending, his eye-popping appointments of the most radical lunatics this country has produced in a generation, his smug, conceited “we-know-better-than-you” attitude, his in-your-face lavish lifestyle coming on the heels of strident demands that upper income groups “pay their fair share,” (as though they don’t already,) his attempt to ram wholesale, deadly changes to healthcare down our throats, his and his surrogates vicious and disingenuous smearing of legitimately concerned and frightened Americans as “astroturfers,” “liars,” “paid Republican operatives,” and so on, ad infinitum.

Yesterday one of his choice picks, Van Jones, was forced to resign due to revelations about his radical past and present, his association with the 9-11 Truthers (who believe 9-11 was a deliberate government plot,) his admission of being a communist, and the incredibly stupid remarks he has made in public. Of course it wasn’t his fault. It was just another "vicious smear campaign against me." What was that about personal responsibility, Obama?

But most young people know little, if any of all this. Thanks to the MSM news blackout, all they know is what they get from a fawning media and popular culture. Obama is the coolest thing since sliced bread. He’s got it all figured. Join his crowd and you’ll go far. You’ll be cool too, unlike those mean Republicans.

Obama plans to grow a new civilian army in the not-too-distant future. He already has the “Kennedy Serve America Act,” passed into law while we weren’t looking, to provide the guidance and funding authority. But you can’t inspire a lot of kids to follow you into the abyss if you are perceived as a jerk or a loser. You certainly can’t inspire the confidence of the parents of those kids if you look like some kind of subversive, and everywhere around you communists are popping out from under the bed.

Millenials (people born between 1982 and 2003) are Obama’s future. Young techies built his internet campaign into what it is today: the largest online radical community organization in the world. He needs these people now and will need them more in the future.

Obama is losing ground with older Americans. We are onto him and are getting sick of his silk-tongued slop. Tea party rallies, town hall protests, and plummeting poll numbers have proven this beyond doubt.

So now he’s turning the charm campaign on our innocent, trusting and unsuspecting children.

If he can seduce enough of them, he doesn’t have to care what we older Americans think. All we do is get in the way. With the help of his youthful army he can sweep us into the dustbin of history. And the only way to recruit them is to be cool, while keeping us off balance long enough to solidify his power. And then, Zimbabwe, look out! You haven’t seen nothin’ yet!

And that is what he is up to.

So, in the interest of maintaining this new theme of personal responsibility, I will ask President Obama some pointed questions that perhaps he may finally be inclined to lead by example, and answer – questions he has been dodging since he first announced his intention to run for office.

Mr. President, in your speech you say: “I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams.”

Great! We have all been wanting to know for quite a while now, who gave you those second chances, Mr. President? How was it that you were accepted at the prestigious Columbia University after two years at Occidental College where, by your own admission, you got poor grades and spent your time doing drugs and chasing women? Who paid for Columbia? What were your grades there? What classes did you take? What was your major? What did you DO exactly? We don’t even know where you lived!

If your Columbia grades were so good, why not share them with the world? If not, then how on earth did you get into Harvard? Who paid for that? Was it Khalid al Mansoor?

Tell us more about that sweetheart deal on your house in Hyde Park that Tony Rezko arranged. Was there a quid-pro-quo? I guess the contracts he received after your election as state senator were just a coincidence? What other favors did he do? What about Michelle’s $300,000 per year, no-show job at the University of Chicago Hospital? What about ACORN, Ayers and Dohrn? What about George Soros and his wealthy friends? What about bundling illegal campaign contributions from overseas and the phony domestic ones?

What about all that, Mr. President? How does that demonstrate responsibility??

You said “The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.”

Funny, I thought America was a country to be ashamed of. Oh that’s right, Michelle said that! And of course all that magically changed when you were elected, right? You say this is a country that takes more than its fair share of the world’s resources. Of course, we pay for those resources, and make the entire world a more prosperous place as a result. You say we are a country that needs to apologize for its bad behavior? Sir, the United States of America is the most generous nation on earth, perhaps in the history of man’s time on earth. Where have you been? Or maybe I should ask: who have you been talking to??

If you want children to take responsibility, you need to lead by example. Stop with the corruption. Stop the bait and switch. Stop lying. Stop with the rampant spending. Stop undermining our military and destroying our intelligence agencies. Stop mortgaging our future and wrecking the economy with your disastrous economic policies!

In short, quit trying to destroy this country Mr. President, and keep your hands off my children!

Alternate title:
The Two Faces of Barack
or,
Lessons to Marxist Saboteurs: If You Get Spotted, Seek Cover -- Use Children as Human Shields;
Worked for that Other Hussein, for Awhile

James Simpson is the author of last September's pivotally important article, "Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis." Jim is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst. His writings have been published in the Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine, Whistleblower Magazine, American Thinker, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune, and others. His blog is Truth and Consequences.