Disgusting infatuation article from The Washington Post. Seriously, get over it! (Via Michelle Malkin)
Sherry Jones was driving her 13-year-old son, Malcolm, to school the other morning when he mentioned something about some kid he didn’t like.
Something about the kid being a jerk.
Jones told him that wasn’t kind. When you speak of people, she said, always speak good of them.
“Look at Barack! . . . During the campaign, no matter what, Obama always took the high road,” she told him. “During the debates when John McCain would say a dig, Barack would never react. . . . He was always positive.”
Malcolm, who likes a good debate, was, for that moment, quiet.
In that silence, Jones realized that something about her spontaneous, trapped-in-the-car lecture was working. “If my son didn’t agree, he would let me know,” says Jones, an accountant who lives in Silver Spring. “He always has something else to say. . . . Usually, he will say, ‘Yeah, but . . . ‘ When I use Barack Obama as an example, I can see him. He’s quiet. He may sit up a little straighter.
Be Like Barack! What about lying about the "bad kids" he is hanging around? Will he use the Obama defense? I didn't know Reverend Wright was saying those things, I thought Bill Ayers was reformed, no idea about Tony Rezko, no idea about Blago...
Obama has become that nice man up the street you want your kid to grow up to be like.
Is this like the Arrested Development song "Mr. Wendell"?
"Yes," says Amber, 14, an eighth-grade student, "because Obama can do it. I see myself studying harder. I stay more focused. I take more notes. I am asking a lot more questions."
Obama discipline is complicated. Kids relate to him in a way that they say they have not related to other politicians. He might be the president-elect, but he's cool, he's young, he speaks a language they understand.
That's right, he's cool, he's young, he's hip. The Cool-in-Chief.
"He's different than other presidents," Malcolm Jones says. "He has kids who are young. And he was endorsed by a lot of icons."
Well, if he was endorsed by Oprah and Sean Penn...I stand corrected.
Harlan Jones, director of the New Sewell Music Conservatory in Northwest Washington (and no relation to Malcolm), is sitting in his office talking about Obama with his 12-year-old daughter, Nia, a sixth-grader whose grades have slipped from her usual straight A's.Hope and Change! Is that what the next four years are going to be like? Will the media at least pretend not to be in love with the ObamaCon?
"You have to get back on page, just like he did," he tells Nia. "We know you are better because you exemplified that through past studies. Suppose he had gotten down? With that in mind, Nia, please straighten up. Look at his strategy. He surrounded himself with people who were hardworking. . . . Who are your supporters?"
"My parents," Nia says, submitting to the lecture.
"I'm glad you said that. . . . You have a support system to do what?"
And Nia, tidy in her blue-and khaki school uniform, obediently answers, "Succeed."
Honestly, I'm not sure how anyone could turn a story about young children having a positive role model in their new president into a negative the way you have. Study hard and you can go to a great school (like Obama) -- this is bad? Keep your composure even in stressful situations (like Obama) -- that's bad?
ReplyDeleteYou really truly think this is a negative trend??? Encouraging kids to try harder, be smarter, aspire to be more than they thought they could be by example? Hmmmm... can't imagine there is anything you wouldn't complain about Obama... except Rev. Wright maybe.
Barack Obama is indeed an inspiration to children and adults alike. He is to be our President and all Presidents should be afforded the proper respect of the office.
ReplyDeleteYes, even George Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and others are in a very exclusive fraternity.
For becoming President, yes Obama is a role model.
But the "negative" here is not about Obama, it is about the media's love affair with the President-Elect and the notion that he was elected simply because of being "cooler" than John McCain, Hillary Clinton or whomever.
Don't tell me for a second that The Washington Post and NY Times aren't in bed with Obama. It's beyond obvious.
And THAT is irresponsible journalism and dangerous for readers of those papers.
There is media bias all the time in all matters, sometimes it works for you and sometimes against you. I disagred when it was against Al Gore, and many journalists have spoken out about how their slant probably jeopardized the election for him. They thought Bush was funnier, more down to earth, less stiff, the kind of guy you'd like to get a beer with -- kind of like Sarah Palin, right? The media ate him up with all his folksy phrases, and her too. (As for her, don't blame irresponsible journalism, she was unqualified and earned every criticism she got.) So plese don't tell me for a second that personality is new to politics and that the way news is reported changes peoples perception goes only one way.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that is only part of the story. The larger part is that this is a country where the current president has about a 25% approval ratings, as does congress, and John McCain ran a really poor campaign all around. Take away any hint of media 'love' and those are still facts. The notion that he was elected simply because he is 'cooler' is ridiculous! It's not possible for you to believe that people just like what they see and think he can and will do a better job? Obama won. He is putting together a fantastic cabinet, getting informed, and ready to get into office. I'll be looking forward to January 20.