President Obama CAN read a teleprompter!

Americans can respect the Office of the President but still be on “heightened alert” over what this President may do, or what he may say.

Much controversy accompanied the announcement last week that the President wanted to speak directly to public and private schools. Schools were asked to carry his speech live along with a lesson plan was provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

As a former White House Liaison for Education in the Reagan Administration, I weighed in. My op ed KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THE CLASSROOM was posted on AFP’s website and also on FoxNews.com’s opinion forum. Read it here: (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/09/03/peggy-venable-obama-speech-school-children/)

Let’s face it, August was a rough month for this Administration and this speech is on the heels of Obama’s plea to church leaders to get involved in pushing a government take-over of our health care system, and following a controversial Hollywood video shown in some schools in which actors pledged support for Obama and service to him and his policies. This is also a President who travels outside the U.S. and apologizes for our country.

Folks, we can honor the office but have concerns about the policies espoused by individual occupying it.

It boils down to one thing: Americans who were worried about what Obama might say simply don’t trust him. This is a controversial President who has pushed controversial policies and his credibility is being challenged.

After all, thanks to the public outcry, the lesson plan accompanying the speech was modified. We don’t know what the President was planning to say, but his address was likely “toned down”. One Administration official was quoted as saying they would have promoted their health care plan in the speech, but backed off that idea. No one can convince me they didn’t consider using this forum to promote their policies!

Having said all that, I don’t have a problem with the speech. It was appropriate for the speech to be posted online. The speech, though not particularly inspiring, is relatively innocuous. It isn’t a strong speech, but is not offensive.

The President could have used this speech to be more inspiring, but instead uses the “I” word 41 times in the speech.

Having said that, President Obama has achieved much to become the most powerful man in the world. It is thanks to our freedom that the office of President of the U.S. is so powerful.

He appropriately used his time to try to encourage students to stay in school and get a good education. He highlighted some young people who have overcome challenges.

In short, the President used his teleprompter and stuck to the prepared text. The message was one of personal responsibility. A good message.

The President did keep politics out of the classroom.

But he missed one major opportunity. He didn’t embrace freedom. He should have freed students from government-run schools.

Public schools will provide a good education for some students. But not all students. In a free country, parents should have the opportunity to determine the educational environment where their children have the greatest opportunity to learn. The education dollars should follow the child, not simply go to the public school where their child is assigned.

Allowing all parents the opportunity which President Obama and Michelle have exercised – to send their children to the school of their choice, public or private.

Empowering parents and students would lower the dropout rate and improve American education.

Peggy Venable
AFP-Texas Director