Gibbs on Obama's school speech: Mellow out

They’re planning to release a copy of the speech on Monday so that parents can decide in advance whether listening to The One might turn their kids into children of the corn. I assume it’ll be perfectly palatable pap, although you never know: This is, after all, an administration staffed by Truthers, whose core health-care message during the critical August recess was “You’re a mob.”Pour it on, Gibbsy:

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“I think we’ve reached a little bit of the silly season when the President of the United States can’t tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school,” Gibbs said at a gaggle with reporters, according to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller…

Gibbs pointed out to reporters Friday morning that two Republican presidents have given speeches to students: Ronald Reagan in 1988 and George H.W. Bush in 1991. Democrats were critical of those speeches, just as Republicans have been critical of Mr. Obama’s.

Some schools are electing not to show the president’s speech, though for many the reasons are logistical, not ideological, as the address coincides in many districts with the first day of school.

Asked about the fact that some schools are not planning to show the speech, Gibbs evoked school districts that “won’t let you read Huckleberry Finn.”

Via Tapper, here’s the transcript of Bush’s 1991 speech that was evidently carried live on CNN and PBS. Flag it now, as it’ll make for a handy yardstick against which to measure Obama’s. Meanwhile, for your amusement, here’s video from Greg Hengler of professional Obama shill Roland Martin endearing himself to conservative parents wary of The One’s message. Exit question: The boss makes a good point that parents have every reason to be suspicious of Obama given how radical some of his associates in the education arena are. Is that really what’s driving the fear among most conservatives, though? My hunch is that it has less to do with radicalism than with Hopenchange’s statist ambitions now potentially seeping into their kids’ classrooms.

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