The President will address most of the nation’s schools today at 12 pm. So what is all the fuss about? If you have seen any news at all the past several days, you know that there is a big discussion taking place right now over the legitimacy of the President’s speech to school kids. This is not the first time a president has addressed the schools, but it is the first time for such a backlash. Why?

To be completely fair, if you are conservative, you can’t help but be a little suspicious, because thus far, in his presidency, Barack Obama has given us plenty of reasons to be suspicious. From appointing an unheard of number of czars, to the questionable beliefs of those who surround him, to the continued skirting of the issues by reverting back to crafted rhetoric, to the driving of a health care reform that , in its present form, will inevitably lead to governmental control of the system - just to name a few. Given his ideology and associations, there is legitimate concern for conservatives whenever our President does anything! Couple all of this with a strange YouTube video of celebrities pledging to do “good” things and ending with a pledge “to be a servant to our President,” an initial draft of today’s speech including a follow-up assignment for the children to write about how they can help the President reach his goals, and that tomorrow he is addressing Congress to gain favor for his health care reform, all of this adds up to a very questionable and/or untimely series of events.

HOWEVER - the speech, in its final form, is actually a great speech with sound advice and encouragement for the children of our public schools. Laying all the conspiracy theories aside, I think it a good, profitable event for the President of the United States to encourage children to work hard, stay in school, and to not let their circumstances stop them! That’s a good message, and many children will benefit from hearing their President tell them such today! If the very same speech came from our former President, I don’t think there would have been such an uproar of suspicions, at least from conservatives.

Take these three sentences from the President Obama’s speech for example.

1. “If you don’t do that (that is, stay in school and try hard) - if you quit on school - you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.” (That is a great lesson - one must learn that his bad choices not only impact his life, but the lives of those around him!)
2. “Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up.” (Sounds like great encouragement to me for a lot of kids who come from less than healthy homes and situations.)
3. “You can’t let your failures define you, you have to let them teach you.” (My favorite sentence of the entire speech! Quality counsel for anyone!)