the land of the free and the home of the terribly segregated into boxes of thought so tall we can each barely see over the boxflaps to our neighbors.

the story du jour on the conservative talk show circuit is obama's planned speech to the school kids. well, more the planned follow-up than the planned speech.

in case you had not heard - and i had not until today - next week, the pres will be making a speech to schoolchildren. it will be broadcast to classrooms across the country, live & in color, disrupting the schoolday with a little exciting video action. he'll probably say innocuous stuff like "be nice" and "eat your vegetables" and "do your homework". the kids'll be excited that the president is talking to them. they'll probably be inspired to be good & eat their vegetables & do their homework. it's not like he's going to say "without my medical plan, you'll die of the flu". i mean, c'mon, you know he's not going to do that. he's going to do a little rah-rah stay in school, be good to your mom speil.

from all accounts, no one on the liberal or conservative side has a problem with his making a speech to the kiddos. what it appears the conservative side has a problem with is the lesson plan developed by the dept of education. the dept of ed put together a document that teachers can use in the classroom to get a lesson out of the speech. the specific questions the conservatives have a problem with is one that asks the kids to think about "what can you do to support the president".

i have to admit, i just don't get it. i mean, what's the problem here? i listened to the chatter, and they say that "a child should not be encouraged to have a relationship with the president. a child has a relationship with parents, teachers, but not the president." um... what? i mean... what? a relationship?? i really don't think asking a kid to think about what he can do to support the president is encouraging that kid to have a personal relationship with the man. criminy crickets, folks, that is just stretching it to the limit.

here's what it sounds like to me - retro. a bit throwback to the victory garden era. a wee tidge quaint. but not subversive or inappropriate. these chatterers went so far as to call it "creepy". sheezle, folks... creepy? the leader of the free world wishes for children of the strongest country in the world - his country - to consider what they might do to support their leader. i really cannot imagine what is wrong with that.

i am convinced if this had happened during the bush administration, the liberals would have been just as concerned, not wanting their kids to be encouraged to support someone they don't support. but, here's the thing - the president deserves our support. period. you agree or don't agree with his policies but you support the man, the office. you can support your president without agreeing with his every thought & move.

so, i am simply not comprehending what is the matter with asking a kid what he would do to support the president. gets him thinking about the big picture, considering the world outside himself, and perhaps even contemplating the possibility that one day, he could be president, too.