US: Obama recalls restless youth in kids address
By Stephen CollinsonWed Sep 9 05:19:39 EST 2009
Tue Sep 8 19:19:39 UTC 2009
WASHINGTON, Sept 8 AFP - Barack Obama on Tuesday held up his personal journey from wayward youth to the presidency to challenge US children to excel, in a back-to-school speech that sparked conservative fury.
"If you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country," Obama said, after getting a euphoric welcome at a suburban high school in Virginia for a speech beamed countrywide on television.
Obama's moderate work-hard, stay-in-school message followed days of fierce political combat over his speech, fuelled by some conservatives who charged he wanted to indoctrinate defenceless schoolchildren with a leftist agenda.
Others accused Democrat Obama of trying to foster a personality cult, and of seeking to win hearts and minds of children away from conservative parents.
Some school districts refused to show the address, while others offered parents the option of keeping their kids away. The White House posted the text 24 hours in advance on its website to ward off complaints.
The furor reflected the radioactive political climate in US politics, as Obama seeks to push through a sweeping domestic agenda, including a healthcare reform drive which is the focus of his major address to Congress on Wednesday.
The president did win support from the Republican side of the aisle, as former first lady Laura Bush backed his right, as head of state, to deliver a pro-education message to US children.
"I think there is a place for the president of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren," she said in a CNN interview.
"I think there are a lot of people that should do the same, and that is, encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have," she said.
Obama, whose Kenyan father left home when he was two and who was brought up by his mother and grandmother, admitted that at times he had erred as a youth, but told the children a deprived background should not mean failure.
"That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.
"Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future," he said.
A handful of protesters picketed Wakefield High School in Arlington, a few miles from the White House, where Obama was giving his speech.
"Mr President, Stay Away From Our Kids" said one sign, while another read "Children Serve God, Not Obama".
Inside, Obama argued to schoolchildren that he had been lucky after a series of second chances enabled him to graduate from high school, attend Harvard, and reach the pinnacle of politics.
"Now, I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork," Obama said.
"I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old," said Obama, who wrote a deeply personal book "Dreams from My Father", describing his fractured upbringing.
"There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in, so I wasn't always as focused as I should have been.
"I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse."
Some conservative critics complained that the Department of Education had initially sent schools suggestions about classroom activities linked to the speech, suggesting children write about "how they could help the president".
"That's Obama-centric. It's not focused on education but on the worship of Barack Obama," Michael Leahy, spokesman for the conservative grassroots Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, told AFP.
"This is indoctrination, pure and simple, into the cult of Barack Obama, and we are opposed to that," he said.
Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, raged that "Pied Piper Obama" was going "into the American classroom" to spread socialist ideology.
"President Obama has a vision for America which is government in our lives in every aspect. That's not the vision that I and many parents across this country want," he told CNN.
