Cartoon by Samara Fantie

Since President Barack Obama’s election in November of last year, it seems that he has been under constant scrutiny, mostly from the opposing right wing. Their issues range from the church he previously attended, taking one too many breaks to play golf to his decision to appoint Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice and reforming health care.

The latest controversial decision that Obama has made is delivering a “nonpartisan Back-to-School” speech from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.

Is the president of the United States not allowed to talk to the students of the country in order to encourage them to try their best in school?

Once news broke of this speech, many schools, WJ included, prepared to show his address to students during the school day. Surprisingly, many parents expressed resentment and even threatened to take their kids out of school to prevent them from seeing the speech. Others were ecstatic that the president was taking time out of his day to talk to their child.

When the president first planned to have this speech, I doubt he ever imagined he would receive the reaction he did from parents and the media. Last time I checked, Obama’s decision to speak to students wasn’t a new idea. Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both gave speeches to the children of the country during their terms. So why is there a problem when the current president of the United States desires to do the same thing?

The criticism varies from his allegedly secret plans to push various democratic policies, like the Health Care bill, along to our children or that he should be focusing on other, more important issues rather than talking to students who decide, as Obama stated, “the future of this country.” Ensuring that the children of today’s society work hard and stay on the path to becoming the future politicians, doctors, lawyers and responsible, working adults of this country is important, right?

Although many presumed Obama’s speech would be filled with information regarding his policies, it actually was a very bland and straightforward motivational speech. The irony in this situation is that when Reagan gave his speech to kids around the country in 1986, he actually did ramble on about some of his policies. In fact, his speech had practically nothing to do with students’ work in school. The theme was centered around everything that his administration had accomplished from “taking an economy that was in bad shape and [getting] it moving and growing again,” to decreasing inflation and interest rates and even to assisting the poor who are “increasingly able to dig themselves out of poverty.” Absolutely none of these issues were mentioned, referred to, or even implied in Obama’s speech.

Reagan’s address to students shows that the right wing typically accuses others of doing something that they have already done in the past. In this case, many accused Obama of attempting to change the opinions of children on various policies even though Reagan obviously focused on swaying the minds of students, specifically high school students, with his address.

All of the criticism surrounding the president and everything he does points to the real problem in today’s society: people will continue to spout lies regarding his policies and actions regardless of the truth.