Video: Bush and Reagan school addresses were very partisan compared to Obama school speech

Video: Bush and Reagan school addresses were very partisan compared to Obama school speech

www.examiner.com

In my earlier writings discussing the nationwide school addresses of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan it turns out I was wrong on one point. It turns out in watchings some clips of the two addresses they were actually very partisan. This new fact makes the conservative hypocrisy toward the neutral Obama school speech even more glaring.

(visit the link for the full news article)

You see, there is ZERO intellectual honesty to the complaints about the President of the United States giving a speech to school children.


So many folks are up in arms, yet as it turns out... Not only has the great Ronald Reagan done the same thing, but his speech was "very partisan compared to the Obama school speech".


George Bush Senior did the exact same thing... and yet some people allow the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh to define reality even when it is intellectually dishonest.


www.examiner.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


UPDATE:

What papers wrote about Bush's Speech in 1991

volokh.com...

10/1/91 USA TODAY

President Bush takes to the airwaves today to promote his education goals, a day after the Education Department released a bleak report on students' achievement. Bush is scheduled to make a noontime speech to be carried live by CNN, PBS and Mutual Radio. He'll speak from Alice Deal Junior High School, in Washington's affluent suburb of Chevy Chase, Md.

10/2/91 Cincinnati Post

Bush told students to write him to let him know how they were doing in school and to suggest ways to help achieve his national education goals — to increase the graduation rate, improve student competency and better prepare students for entering school.

10/4/91 Washington Times

Majority Leader Richard Gephardt said Wednesday the Education Department was financing "paid political advertising" by paying technical costs of broadcasting the president's 12-minute speech from Alice Deal Junior High School. . . .

Public Broadcasting Service and Cable News Network televised the speech live and Mutual Radio carried it on its network. Educators had been alerted by mail to encourage classroom viewing.

10/2/91 Baltimore Sun

Yesterday was one of those occasions White House image-makers love.

They gave their boss the hated task of reading a prepared speech from TelePrompTers but put him into one of his favorite places to do it — a small classroom.

Walking casually around the room as he spoke, President Bush gently exhorted 27 rapt eighth-graders — and pupils watching his televised performance throughout the nation — to take control of their own destinies by making sure they get the most out of school.

The effect was part bully pulpit, part campaign ad. Mr. Bush was simultaneously employing the power of his office in the drive to improve American education and making another bid to focus voter attention on what he considers the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.

"I'm asking you to put two and two together," Mr. Bush told Cynthia Mosteller's history class at Alice Deal Junior High School in Northwest Washington. "Make the connection between the homework you do tonight, the tests you take tomorrow, and where you'll be five, 15, even 50 years from now. . . . You're in control." . . .

In one of the few ad-libbed lines of his 10-minute appearance, the president added: "I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid."

Mr. Bush's speech was part of a broader effort to promote the goals of America 2000, a program that calls for vast improvements in student learning levels by the end of the century. With little new money to put toward the cause, the Bush administration has focused on encouraging students, parents and communities to pressure their schools to meet higher standards.

[edit on 6-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Oh great Gypsie fortune teller!

Earth to Hunka, Obama hasn't made the speech yet.

After Obama makes the actual speech making it past tense as in these examples are past tense then you can actually debate what was in said speach because said speach whill actually then have been spoken.

These propoganda wars are so silly.

Stupid ideas are always justified because some one just as stupid already did it.

There for they claim the inherent right to be as stupid if not more so.

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Everyone is going to end up with ulcers at this rate!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


This is about the intellectual dishonesty of the likes of Glenn Beck, Hannity and the rest of the Obama Haters in America.

On another thread someone just said that no Pres has ever done this... that the last national leader to address the youth was Adolf Hitler....


This isn't about what he is going to say, this is about the knee-jerk hypocritical attacks from the right, from those who obviously don't have any memory...

Perhaps it's because *they* weren't in school listening to this stuff back then, and there was no outrage back then....

Amazing.. simply amazing...

I was in grade school during the regan administration. No teacher ever rolled out the TV to put it on a specific channel so that we could all watch Regan speak to us.

We did have to watch Channel ONE in in the 7th and 8th grade and still NO president ever addressed the youth nation in school.

Obama will be the first that I know of to do this. And it is not right. Address the nation not the nations youth!

[edit on 5-9-2009 by titorite]

Originally posted by titorite
I was in grade school during the regan administration. No teacher ever rolled out the TV to put it on a specific channel so that we could all watch Regan speak to us.

So was I... and they did in mine. Just like every time the shuttle launched.

We did have to watch Channel ONE in in the 7th and 8th grade and still NO president ever addressed the nation.

This was in 1991 when Bush Sr did it. And in 1988 we watched Reagans...

Obama will be the first that I know of to do this. And it is not right. Address the nation not the nations youth!

Well your memory is off then, or your school didn't do it.

Obama is NOT the first to do this, it was done at least twice before by Republican Presidents.

So much for the credibility of Hannity, Glenn Beck and their parrots.



[edit on 5-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]

reply to post by HunkaHunka


He said, she said, blah, blah, blah.

It has nothing to do with whether it's an appropriate expenditure of time for a President facing crisis on mulitple fronts and getting little results.

I woulnd't have wanted my kids hearing Regan talking about 'winning one for the Gipper' and I wouldn't have wanted for them to hear how they could be a 'one of a thousand points of light in a kinder gentler nation' either.

Who knows what retarded meaningless slogan Obama will come up with.

Having the President talk to kids who can't vote, can't work and can't pay taxes is just an utter waste of time, especially for kids at the three R's stage of their education.

They guy is just in love with the TV and being on the TV, he needs to spend some more time on the job, the nations a mess and talking to six year olds isn't going to straighten it out.

Personally I have never heard him speak, I don't own a TV or watch TV.

It drives people to knee jerk reactions on both sides of the aisle and frankly Hunka righteous indignation is ugly no matter what indignant side of the coin you are on.

The nation is this screwed up because all you guys are ever worried about is vanity and ego, vanity and ego, vanity and ego.

How about creating some jobs, unfreezing the credit markets, and getting key government posts filled up, or COULD IT BE OBAMA IS SO CLUELESS THAT'S WHAT HE NEEDS THE SIX YEAR OLDS TO HELP HIM ON?

reply to post by HunkaHunka


I Don't know what kind of progressive school you went to but we did not watch every shuttle launch. We were busy learning math.

We DID watch some speechs during Operation desert storm. These were rebrodcasts of Bushs address to THE NATION about going to war and they were cliped highlights formatted to fit the half hour of channel one . NOT something that was hyped up for weeks in advance that culminated in us as students writing the president about what WE could do to help him. Not a speech that was specifically written for the youth.

So you seem to LOVE obama. SO what big deal. I disliked Bush, and I dislike Obama. All I see is more of the same, No change no hope. Just one more puppet furthering the agenda.

AND this time the children are being targeted.

[edit on 5-9-2009 by titorite]

The stench of hypocrisy coming from the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, and Beck is enough to make a grown man cry. They are doing and saying anything to get back at the party that defeated them in the elections. Like Skeptic Overlord said: damn the union, the GOP have their long knives out. So now the President of the United States can't even address the students of the United States without being attacked for it. These men do NOT represent the news in any way, shape, or form. They are propagandists pure and simple.

Originally posted by titorite
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

I Don't know what kind of progressive school you went to but we did not watch every shuttle launch. We were busy learning math.

HAHAH... Progressive.... that's funny. So funny because my public school in the dairy/corn fields of Ohio was one of the smallest and poorest communities around. Yet extremely conservative, still to this day.

Progressive? I went to school in a building that was built in the late 1800's. We didn't even have a football team.

Maybe that's why we watched shuttle launches on TV. I'll never forget seeing the Challenger explode...

We DID watch some speechs during Operation desert storm. These were rebrodcasts of Bushs address to THE NATION about going to war and they were cliped highlights formatted to fit the half hour of channel one . NOT something that was hyped up for weeks in advance that culminated in us as students writing the president about what WE could do to help him. Not a speech that was specifically written for the youth.

Well George Bush did ask us to do just that at the end of his speech. Not that any of us did... I mean we were Seniors for goodness sake... but he did. Foxnews actually reported correctly on that one.

So you seem to LOVE obama.

What? I don't think you see my point. What I love is intellectual honesty. And when people are outraged over this without condemning Bush and Reagan at the same time it reeks of partisan hypocrisy.

SO what big deal. I disliked Bush, and I dislike Obama. All I see is more of the same, No change no hope. Just one more puppet furthering the agenda.

AND this time the children are being targeted.

[edit on 5-9-2009 by titorite]

They were targeted in 1988 and 1991 as well.... But by Regan and Bush respectively.

Do you take umbrage with them as well? If not why?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Propagandists they are. I do not watch Hannity, or Limbaugh, or Beck. In fact I try to avoid Fuax news all together... Hell I try to avoid TV news and trust ATS above anything I see on TV.

This does not change the fact that Obama should address the nation and not the nations youth in school as a mandatory thing with a follow up assignment to write to him.

THAT IS WAY TO FAR!

So I don't care what some super democrats might think of me for my unbiased opinion. I myself am against party politics as outlines in the federalist letters. It has been the damnation of our country EXACTLY AS IT WAS SPOKEN OF IN THE FEDERALIST LETTERS!

YOu want to deny ignorance? Read those letters.

And as for the kids? We are all gonna hear about it as I said before. Some teacher is gonna post the speech online and it will be reposted here too. WE can talk about the speech then... I for one am just against the target audience.


We should all be addressed equally or not at all!

Originally posted by titorite

This does not change the fact that Obama should address the nation and not the nations youth in school as a mandatory thing with a follow up assignment to write to him.

THAT IS WAY TO FAR!

My son's school in Georgia had him write to Gov Purdue to give him ideas on how to do his job better.

I think that's a pretty important lesson to teach a child.. that they can write letters and tell the politicians how to do their job.

But maybe Civics is just going too far

And Bush Sr had them do the same thing in 91

And as for the kids? We are all gonna hear about it as I said before. Some teacher is gonna post the speech online and it will be reposted here too. WE can talk about the speech then... I for one am just against the target audience.

Well as reported it looks like it's pretty some of the same schpeal that Bush Sr gave us in 1991... minus policy points.

Obama intends to "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning," Duncan wrote. Obama will also call for a "shared responsibility" among students, parents and educators to maximize learning potential.

[edit on 6-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 6-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
The stench of hypocrisy coming from the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, and Beck is enough to make a grown man cry. They are doing and saying anything to get back at the party that defeated them in the elections. Like Skeptic Overlord said: damn the union, the GOP have their long knives out. So now the President of the United States can't even address the students of the United States without being attacked for it. These men do NOT represent the news in any way, shape, or form. They are propagandists pure and simple.

Indeed it is.

I wish there was less a push for partisan ideology and more one for simple intellectual honesty.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


I'd say all the media isn't honest. With the right effects and commentary these people could make a baseball game look like kids bullying others by hitting a ball towards them.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Ok HunkaHunaka OK

Let me ask this of you.

You think I am some kind of Hannity lead Neacon who only hates obama for being a democrat. That is the impression I get from you. It is not how I believe but I think it is what you believe of me.

So to put an end to it I ask you to give me a link to Regan or Bushs address to the nations youth on Channel one.

Find it on youtube or meta cafe or live link or any other media sharing portal and I shall watch.

Show me the videos you watched of the president addressing the nations youth.

NOT a closed conference shown to the nation but any speech that was to be shown ONLY to children in school on school time.

Originally posted by titorite
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

Ok HunkaHunaka OK

Let me ask this of you.

You think I am some kind of Hannity lead Neacon who only hates obama for being a democrat. That is the impression I get from you.

Not at all... I don't think that of you. I think you are just responding to the current mass hysteria. If Hannity and Glenn Beck weren't making this part of the conversation, it would be like nothing else. But because it is now part of the conversation, people are responding to it in extreme ways that our parents never would have.

It is not how I believe but I think it is what you believe of me.

So to put an end to it I ask you to give me a link to Regan or Bushs address to the nations youth on Channel one.

Find it on youtube or meta cafe or live link or any other media sharing portal and I shall watch.

Show me the videos you watched of the president addressing the nations youth.

NOT a closed conference shown to the nation but any speech that was to be shown ONLY to children in school on school time.

I already did at the top of this thread! Didn't you read the article? Watch the videos? Follow those links and watch those videos as well?

Now I don't have the entire videos, but here is a clip ran by Fox News.

Fox News Video Clip of Bush speaking to class

And, not only do I remember this, but Fox News actually explains that it was in all the classrooms.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Ahhh I was hoping that your intellectual honesty would not have you repeating your posting direction of your original link. I was hoping you could show me original channel one footage.

Hannity and fox have nothing to do with this conversation. You introduce them as debate points but to me this is not a matter of debate as they are immaterial to my protest of the action.

You attempt to point us too BROADCAST footage shown to all and not select footage shown to a captive audience.

That is the big difference.

This footage one the examiner is not channel one footage. It is open footage. The folks that watched it had the opportunity to change the channel.

The kids in school watching Obamas speech do not have that opportunity.

THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE!

[edit on 6-9-2009 by titorite]

That video of George H.W. Bush asking the school children how they can help him do his job better is POINT, SET, MATCH. Game Over.

People freaking out over Obama. Gee, now why would that be....hmm.... I can't see why they are so concerned....

It's as if people are freaking out over Obama because in some obscure way he might be different from all these other Presidents. But how!?? He's a man just like they were, but I can't quite figure out what is so DIFFERENT about Obama.

Oh, I know....no.

Can someone help me out here? What's the ONE difference between President Obama and all previous Presidents that could explain why so many people are upset that he wants to get some positive P.R. by interacting with school children of America?

Anyone?

DUP

[edit on 6-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]

reply to post by titorite


Uhm... I don't think you actually watched that video which Foxnews said was broadcast to schools from coast to coast.

I didn't have a choice.

So there is NO DIFFERENCE.

Raise your font at me will ya

Ok so here is your intellectual honesty.


Democrats did say that Bush was simply campaigning... but there was not an outcry from parents...

volokh.com...

Keep in mind as you read this... my school had just got Channel 1, it was brand new. And so we had to watch this on CNN.

On WESTLAW, I looked up other news stories about the speech. It was reported as 10 minutes in some reports and 12 minutes in others. It was carried live on CNN, PBS, and [the NBC] and Mutual radio [networks]. The Secretary of Education sent a letter urging schools to have their students watch, but I didn’t find any evidence of how many schools followed that recommendation. And most striking: Bush laid out goals — to increase the graduation rate, improve student competency and better prepare students for entering school — and said, "Let me know how you're doing. Write me a letter. I'm serious about this one. Write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals."

Here are some excerpts:

10/1/91 USA TODAY

President Bush takes to the airwaves today to promote his education goals, a day after the Education Department released a bleak report on students' achievement. Bush is scheduled to make a noontime speech to be carried live by CNN, PBS and Mutual Radio. He'll speak from Alice Deal Junior High School, in Washington's affluent suburb of Chevy Chase, Md.

10/2/91 Cincinnati Post

Bush told students to write him to let him know how they were doing in school and to suggest ways to help achieve his national education goals — to increase the graduation rate, improve student competency and better prepare students for entering school.

10/4/91 Washington Times

Majority Leader Richard Gephardt said Wednesday the Education Department was financing "paid political advertising" by paying technical costs of broadcasting the president's 12-minute speech from Alice Deal Junior High School. . . .

Public Broadcasting Service and Cable News Network televised the speech live and Mutual Radio carried it on its network. Educators had been alerted by mail to encourage classroom viewing.

10/2/91 Baltimore Sun

Yesterday was one of those occasions White House image-makers love.

They gave their boss the hated task of reading a prepared speech from TelePrompTers but put him into one of his favorite places to do it — a small classroom.

Walking casually around the room as he spoke, President Bush gently exhorted 27 rapt eighth-graders — and pupils watching his televised performance throughout the nation — to take control of their own destinies by making sure they get the most out of school.

The effect was part bully pulpit, part campaign ad. Mr. Bush was simultaneously employing the power of his office in the drive to improve American education and making another bid to focus voter attention on what he considers the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.

"I'm asking you to put two and two together," Mr. Bush told Cynthia Mosteller's history class at Alice Deal Junior High School in Northwest Washington. "Make the connection between the homework you do tonight, the tests you take tomorrow, and where you'll be five, 15, even 50 years from now. . . . You're in control." . . .

In one of the few ad-libbed lines of his 10-minute appearance, the president added: "I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid."

Mr. Bush's speech was part of a broader effort to promote the goals of America 2000, a program that calls for vast improvements in student learning levels by the end of the century. With little new money to put toward the cause, the Bush administration has focused on encouraging students, parents and communities to pressure their schools to meet higher standards.

[edit on 6-9-2009 by HunkaHunka]