Altered or not, conservatives are the ones who will end up with shoeprints on their d**ks over this one. And it's our own fault ... again ... as usual.
Apolitical folks (i.e., the vast majority of Americans) will judge the controversy by the speech actually given.
If it's unobjectionable -- and it will be -- all that noise will simply have provided Obama's team with ammunition to characterize conservatives as hysterical; and he'll use that perception to marginalize us on other issues: ones that actually matter.
The proper approach would have been to raise a stink after Obama's speech. He can't un-say what he's already said; but he can certainly not say things when he's been given advance warning.
Stop the quislingism.
No, the goal was to prevent a propaganda speech to schoolchildren. That was accomplished. Conservatives win. Obama losses.
Good work.
Wow. That's a misread of the situation.
Of course the speech was changed, with one intent being the ability of the left to say "See! Conservatives went crazy over nothing!" But, present company excepted, I haven't seen anybody fall for that lame spin.
In reality, if unaltered, the speech he gave today probably wouldn't have been too controversial. It was intended merely to establish a new channel, whereby Dear Leader could speak directly to children 5-18 without the bothersome interference from meddling parents acting as media gatekeepers.
That was the mission and it was a colossal failure, specifically because conservatives, rightwing media, and internet buzz raised a stink. We don't have footprints on our dicks over this, but Obama's got a little sand in his vagina.
You seem to be forgetting that millions of schoolchildren would then have heard the speech. They are young and impressionable—K through high school. As it is, they have heard Obama paint school as something to be avoided. Every parent of every smart kid knows you never do that.
The problem for me was that he had planned a one hour speech and a curriculum to the teachers for a working session.
I and their parents clearly object to an hour working session with Obama where he tries to agrandise himself. The man is an arabic/muslim, a liar, a mafioso, a crook, a communist, and totally dangerous and their heads don’t need to be filled with flowery words with an undertone of socialism. It always sounds soooooo good, but his words and his ACTIONS just don’t mesh into someone I would want my children to trust.
Socialists all promise all this wonderful ‘for the good of the people’ stuff, they hand down gobs of taxpayer dollars that look so wonderful. But unless you’ve ever seen exactly how they write the selection criteria for using it, and how much of they suck up into the black hole of government that never gets used for the purpose it was legislated for.