My deepest feelings is that if you aren’t happy here in AMERICA… go and move to someplece else.. quit soiling our soil !

This is our President (I didn’t vote for him), but he is OUR President. And as such, I’m behind him… OH I’M WATCHING HIM… but I’m behind him!

Could it possibly be… because he’s a black man… and you are afraid it’ll rub off on your precious kiddos??? You would not have thought a second time if the newly elected president Bush or Carter or Reagan were giving a speech to the kids… MANY of our presidents did… and nothing was said about it…

So many just want to fight and argue and complain… they are the ones that would complain if they got hung with a new rope!

ENOUGH fighting… where’s the love?!

There is a woman who made a stink about it at my girls school. She pulled her kids that day. This week though, I guess she told a friend of mine, that she’d never even paid attention to what the speech was about. She just doesn’t like Obama. I just hope next time she thinks before she acts. Following what others say and do, without questioning why, is never a great thing, no matter what you believe. I voted for the man and I’ve let my children hear many speeches of his on TV. I never would have signed that form. However, I also read the speech before hand. I told my girls what it was about and why people might not be there that day.

Second: My kids’ school showed it live — though they did send a slip home stating that they were showing it and said that they did understand that there may be some parents who didn’t want their children to see it, and if this was the case to please put it in writing and send it to school with your child. I was so offended that they even sent the note home, I circled the line stating that they understood that there were parents who didn’t want their children to see it and wrote “only the lunatics”, signed my name and sent it back.

I watched Ronald Reagan address the children of the nation when I was in school and nobody shit their pants about it — even though my family respectfully disagreed with him on MANY issues. He was the President! But, like many other commenters, my family believed in being informed and cultivating critical thinking skills in their children.

I asked both my kids if they saw the speech when they got off the bus that afternoon. They both said that they did. When I asked what they learned from it, they both said “To be responsible and work hard.” Ooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! The Horror!!!!!!!!

Third: I might love “Lindsay”.

My kids watched it as well. When I asked Eric about it, he said it was great. I asked what he liked about it, he said when his teacher wasn’t looking he could read!

I am glad that Obama went ahead with the speech and it’s my hope (probably in vain) that some of these paranoid parents read or saw the speech and perhaps realized how absurd their initial reactions were. I am extremely disappointed that the media and school districts around the country fed into this “controversy” because it helped lend an air of credence to something completely without merit.

I have four children ages 15 to 21 and teaching them to think for themselves has been my all-consuming goal as a parent. The only responsible way to encourage that is to be sure they have access to a wide variety of information.

Speech would be saying why they disagree with what was said.

This is more like censorship with a blatant disrespect for the office of the President.

Perhaps this perception of a high degree of respect was always a facade and only now is revealed to be so given the media enviro we live in where info is everywhere. Or, maybe the respect has been slowly eroding ever since 98 with the Clinton Lewinsky thing, and then with W how everyone acted like he was as smart as a 5 yr old. At any rate, I wonder if the lack of respect shown to the office Obama holds will erode the power of the US president’s opinion around the world on issues that actually matter.

There is a sentiment – espoused by Americans, and agreed with by many around the world – that there is something special about America, that is like a shining city on a hill, that it’s been commissioned by history to be a model to the world.

This complete lack of respect for the office of the president is so beneath you, and it fails kids not just in that they don’t get to hear a message about school from their president.

By all means, hold Obama accountable on his healthcare plan – force the man to come up with some real numbers and explanations. But the comparisons of him to Nazism, and sending home permission slips before letting kids hear him speak just seems really unpatriotic and unAmerican – and not at all in the best interest of the country.

Then again, what do I know: after all, I have to keep in mind that the fact that every single person in my country has guaranted health care makes me some batshit Socialist.