Obama: your parent, guidance counselor, principal, etc., etc.

September 9th, 2009 | by Brian |

Gene Healy of the Cato Institute says it quite well:

The president isn’t a benevolent father-protector, charged with the welfare of all creatures great and small — and educators do kids a great disservice if they help promote such a childish notion. Still less was he supposed to be the educator in chief, presiding over a centralized education bureaucracy, handing out Title X grants (with strings attached) and falsely promising that no child will be left behind. The framers thought of the president as a mere constitutional officer, whose main job is taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. Students — and presidents — could stand to learn a lot more about how far we’ve drifted from that ideal.

Read his whole op-ed, Hey, Mr. President, Leave Those Kids Alone, and check out more criticism side-by-side with Obama’s speech to kids in school.

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  1. View Comments to “Obama: your parent, guidance counselor, principal, etc., etc.”

  2. By nub on Sep 10, 2009 | Reply

    i prefer kathleen parker’s take: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090802961.html

    (she’s conservative, btw.)

    Brian replies: Well, conservatives can be statists, too, and not recognize when a politician has over-stepped his job description. See, she’s right on with:

    Compared to previous presidential addresses, Obama’s was strictly apolitical. It was also quintessential Obama — aimed at healing, at soothing the afflicted and making things all better.

    Surely that’s what presidents swear to do in their Oath of Office.

    (Sorry for the delay…I thought your comments went up automatically)

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