Posted on 07/18/2007 3:30:56 PM PDT by Vision
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do."
"I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using this in his campaign against me," Obama said in reference to the conservative firebrand who ran against him for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Sex education for kindergarteners had become an issue in his race against Keyes because of Obama’s work on the issue as chairman of the health committee in the Illinois state Senate.
"'Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergarteners,'" said Obama mimicking Keyes' distinctive style of speech. "Which -- I didn’t know what to tell him (laughter)."
"But it’s the right thing to do," Obama continued, "to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools."
Watch the video: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3386492
Speaking to a young woman who asked a question about sex education, Obama said, "You, as a peer, can have enormous power over your age cohort but you’ve got to have some support from the schools. You certainly should not have to be fighting each and every instance by providing accurate information outside of the classroom because inside the classroom the only thing that can be talked about is abstinence."
"Keep in mind: I honor and respect young people who choose to delay sexual activity," Obama continued. "I’ve got two daughters, and I want them to understand that sex is not something casual. That's something that we definitely want to communicate and should be part of any curriculum. But we also know that when the statistics tell us that nearly half of 15 to 19 year olds are engaging in sexual activity, that for us to leave them in ignorance is potentially consigning them to illness, pregnancy, poverty, and in some cases, death."
When Obama's campaign was asked by ABC News to explain what kind of sex education Obama considers "age appropriate" for kindergarteners, the Obama campaign pointed to an Oct. 6, 2004 story from the Daily Herald in which Obama had "moved to clarify" in his Senate campaign that he "does not support teaching explicit sex education to children in kindergarten. . . The legislation in question was a state Senate measure last year that aimed to update Illinois' sex education standards with 'medically accurate' information . . . 'Nobody's suggesting that kindergartners are going to be getting information about sex in the way that we think about it,' Obama said. 'If they ask a teacher 'where do babies come from,' that providing information that the fact is that it's not a stork is probably not an unhealthy thing. Although again, that's going to be determined on a case by case basis by local communities and local school boards.'"
In addition to local schools informing kindergarteners that babies do not come from the stork, the state legislation Obama supported in Illinois, which contained an "opt out" provision for parents, also envisioned teaching kindergarteners about "inappropriate touching," according to Obama's presidential campaign. Despite Obama's support, the legislation was not enacted.
What an utter fool.
Maybe Obama can have Jim Webb teach his kids...
Can you spell ‘liberal’? This is the kind of thing that should be used against this foolish man. And what is ‘age-appropriate’ sex education for kindergarteners? Somehow, I don’t think this man is heading for the White House.
OOHH!! That’s gonna make a GREAT bumper sticker!
My Oldest just got out of Kindergarten two months ago. It was bad enough that they were teaching about, “Mother Earth,” and all of the treehugging environMENTAList crap. This guy needs to be slapped.
This guy is a loon. He hasn’t a chance to win.
Maybe he remembers playing with himself in the bathtub, wondering what to do with it.
why do we need sex ed in Kindergarten in the first place? Even “age appropriate” sex ed, why???
Then again I wonder why schools are entrusted with sex ed at any level.
How did our parents and grandparents and previous generations figure it all out without sex education in school when they were young? Since we’re all here our parents had to have figured things out somewhere along the way.
There’s even some evidence that our ancestors learned to read and write in school too. But didn’t learn about sex.
B. Hussein Obama= The Manchurian Candidate
Hillary Clinton= Rosa Klebb
I hear that happens when you’re high on cocaine.
The biggest fools of all are those who have voted (or will vote) for this nitwit....
Obama was proceeding cautiously until recent days when he made a sharp left turn. He said something very kooky last week, can’t remember what it was ,and now this. Do internal polls show him losing the kooks to Hillary ?
He IS heading somewhere alright, and your right, its NOT the White House.
Kindergatern age kids generally figure out that boys and girls are different on their own. That’s about as age appropriate as it gets.
“as long as it is “age-appropriate,” is “the right thing to do.”
Barbee and Ken like to dance with their clothes off. Sometimes when Barbee is gone Bruce comes over and dances with Ken.
I think he’s always been saying stuff like this, but now ABC News is reporting it.
There is no such thing as age appropriate sex education for kindergartners.
Chapter One-
Boys put their wangus into a girls' thingy and if you're not lucky, a baby happens.
It's OK if you're married and you want a baby ... not so good if you're just 'doing it'.
Boy and boy ... eventually you'll die ... AIDS or suicide
Girl and girl ... More likely suicide.
Stick with boy/girl.
Chapter Two-
The End
(1/2 credit)
An old evil of limousine liberalism rears its ugly head again.
Question 2: Why do liberals get away with such obvious contradictions?
The only thing about sex that a 4 or 5 y/o should know is the difference between girls and boys.
Liberals actually believe that the problem is too little focus on sexuality in this society. Meanwhile we can’t even safely send our kids to public schools. It’s ultimately a tax on conservatives since we pay for the public schools and can’t use them.
From the liberal perspective, it must be amazing that the human race was able to reproduce itself before sex-education was put in place in the public schools, all those syphillis infected teenagers thinking the stork brought babies while they beat up lesbians for fun.
It appears to me that Obama is a terribly inexperienced person. He is in the wrooooong position. He’s in over his head. I predict that this election is going to quite painful for him. The worst is yet to come.
What purpose could this possibly serve?
Or Barney Franks, or Scott Ridder, or Bill Clinton, or Gary Studds, or Ted Kennedy or......
The two of them will split the kook vote.
I think what they try to do in schools is Sex “Re-education”
Now we know another reason he is called “The Obamination”.
Taught by Bill Clinton and Mark Foley!
We should just reject this line of debate altogether. The Federal government shouldn’t have a role in educating our kids, and a man running for president shouldn’t have a role in teaching our kids about sex.
Well shoot, all kids at that age are sexually curious. That’s what ‘playing Dr’ is about, natural curiosity about the human body and noticing that boys are different from girl etc etc. My own sons had questions that age regarding where babies come from, their own bodies. Normal and natural.
Answering those questions honestly and openly *is* sex education. It doesn’t have to be an instruction manual at that age, just correct terminology for body parts, respect for their own and others’ bodies. But I’d rather have been the one to answer their questions that at that age.
I wonder if he lets his inner white man out when no one is looking?
Despite Obama's support, the legislation was not enacted.
Uh.. yeah, like because he was a 3rd string unknown back bench state senator who didn't do shiite.
When he beat the Dem Machine Candidate Dan Hynes in the IL primary, they went apoplectic and in unison cried 'Who The 'F' is this Barak Obama?'. And not until the IL GOP totally screwed up in picking 'our' candidate (which made Barak a lock on the senate election), did the Machine openly start backing him.
What an imbecile! Maybe he wants Ms. Elders back so she can teach kids to mast..., well you know.
And you, smart man, aren’t able to teach this to your own daughters?? You are going to rely on the schools to teach them that sex isn’t something casual? And who are you going to rely on to develop a curriculum that teaches them this? Maybe they can go to the Boulder (CO) High School lecture where they will learn that group and homosexual sex and experimentation with drugs is good for them.
My little girls are too young to be sexualized by the schools. When they get to the appropriate age, they won’t be left ignorant as your children will be because you are relying on the schools to give them the proper scoop.
Exactly, they should be mature enough to handle it. My kids are innocent about those things, too, and we’re glad we were able to help them preserve that innocence.
I do think that one person’s definition of “sex education” is very different from another’s. For example, as soon as my kids started asking about the facts of life, I answered honestly about babies, how they develop, giving birth, the differences between men and women, etc. What I didn’t tell them about was sexual intercourse or sexuality (and definitely not about homosexuality). The parents should decide what information a child should be given and when.
Obama did not specify exactly what he thinks kindergarteners should know. He sidestepped the question and was purposely vague.
Baby gherkins insteads of bananas?
I have a Kindergartner right now and an 8 year old...I don’t want to fly off the handle too much on this because he did say “age appropriate”.
My biggest concern is what is “age appropriate”? What’s the curriculum? How is it presented? Who is presenting it?
I don’t mind if they’re saying things like “don’t let Mr. Clown touch your privates” but just how far are they going to go?
Obama \ Elders 2008 Ticket
IMHO, it serves to reduce sex to its most basic biological function and to remove any moral virtue associated with sex at the earliest possible age - part of the "perversion of America" thing.
Sexualizing 5-year-olds? Not too cool, Obama.
Let’s let children remain children.
Sure there is. I'd have no problem at all with a teacher who told a kindergartner, in no uncertain terms, that girls do not have cooties.
Other than that, leave it alone.
Drew Garrett
We should start a thread where FReepers can list all the contradictions and double standards that liberals put forth.
You mean, the teacher should lie? Everybody knows that girls do have cooties.
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