This is another one of those topics in which making a comment can be readily misunderstood as going on the partisan offensive. I don't mean it that way....I really don't:
Our President wants to speak to our nation's schoolchildren about staying in school and working hard. He wants to encourage them not to drop out. In his life, he has not only talked the education talk. He has walked the education walk. He worked hard. He valued education. He has credibility on the subject.
While there are policy differences in this nation, there are also core American values, one of which is the importance of education. Another has to do with the Presidency.
A long standing tradition in America's public schools has been that the President's picture would be posted in individual classrooms. That act was never intended to promote Republican or Democratic policies. Instead it was to encourage respect for the office of the Presidency.
In my honest view, legitimate differences of opinion on current issues has clouded much of the reaction to the President's speech:
When President George W. Bush addressed the nation on the night of 9/11, he did so in his role as our leader. It was not a night for Democrats to attack his policies. It was a night for this nation to seek unity around common values.
Be we Democrat, Independent or Republican.......education is a value and the freely elected American Presidency is a value.......For such free elections, we declared independence.....
I honestly think that if we don't like a President's policies, well, we vote him or her out of office.......but during his/her term, we need to find common ground...
If governing is nothing more than pure political campaigning.....how can we ever come together as a nation? Seems to me that this really crosses over from a political discussion to an ethical one....
PB
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