1 of 9 | U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a national address directed to students across the nation, at a back to school event at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, on September 8, 2009. President Obama encouraged students to study hard and take responsibility for their own education on the first day of the school year for many children across America. UPI/Michael Reynolds/POOL |
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Reaction to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to U.S. students Tuesday was muted or positive, school and government officials said.
Obama addressed students at a Virginia high school, and his bland comments on working hard to succeed were broadcast on the Internet and cable television. Before they viewed the speech or read the transcript, some conservatives objected to what they said was an attempt by Obama to turn schoolchildren into "foot soldiers" for his "socialist agenda," The Christian Science Monitor reported.
Principal Jonathan Pizzi of Needham (Mass.) High School said he left it up to each teacher whether to show the president's speech in class, but he did not know how many chose to do so, The Boston Globe reported.
But the Globe said no parents or teachers expressed any concerns to Pizzi.
The Monitor said a more controversial aspect of the speech, an assignment for students to write letters to themselves on how to help Obama, was changed to a letter to themselves on how to reach their own goals. That was downplayed in the media, so "when the president delivered the speech, a typical reaction was: What was all the fuss about?" the online newspaper said.
The Monitor said after the speech conservative reaction was subdued, even positive. The newspaper cited former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., former head of the conservative Club for Growth, who is running for Senate, who called it "an inspiring and moving speech for students across America."
The GOP chairman in Florida, Jim Greer, last week said he was "appalled" that tax money was being used to spread Obama's "socialist ideology." But he decided to let his kids watch after all, the Monitor said.
Even former first lady Laura Bush, in an interview Monday on CNN before the speech but after the White House released a transcript, criticized the partisan atmosphere in Washington, and said, "I think there is a place for the president … to talk to schoolchildren."
