Obama Song Video Prompts Protests At NJ School

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Protesters brought some different songs Monday to an elementary school where students sang in praise of President Barack Obama, bringing criticism from conservative commentators who said children were being indoctrinated.

About 70 protesters stood on a sidewalk across the street from the B. Bernice Young School waving flags and homemade placards, singing "God Bless America" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and chanting slogans such as "No indoctrination" and "Free children, free minds."

A smaller group of counter-protesters watched and occasionally heckled them.

The school is in a diverse suburb 15 miles northeast of Philadelphia and landed in an uncomfortable national spotlight last month when the video, shot last school year during an author's visit, surfaced. In it, second-graders sang a medley that began, "Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama/He said that all must lend a hand/To make this country strong again."

Some critics of the president say the song was overtly political and follows a pattern of Obama being viewed as an idol rather than a politician.

Monday's 90-minute protest, held while the school was in session and attended largely by members of anti-tax organizations from around the state, was an outgrowth of that sentiment.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/12/national/a103951D70.DTL

[FrenchieCat]

1. 70 protestors get a news story......

while when hundreds of thousands march, they are made invisible ASAP!

Sore losers of the last election strike again....and the media is there to cover them
as something other than the sore losers that they are.

[Purveyor]

2. Oh I think they are 'coming off' as the loony buffoons that they really are.

I'm OK with the coverage as it shines light on there ridiculous antics.

[hay rick]

6. Problem with the coverage is

it is a substitute for coverage of relevant events. How about a single eyewitness news report from an emergency room or a prime-time special comparing American health care costs and outcomes to those of any and every other advanced industrialized democracy?

[Mrs. Overall]

3. So, they sport signs with "God Bless America" but we can't sing about the president of America--

Battle Hymn of the Republic?

These right wing loony fuckers want a theocracy.

[hay rick]

7. It's not "God Bless Your, My and Obama's America."

It's "God Bless Their Own America."

[dennis4868]

4. you know what....

I do not recall these people or anyone else for that matter protesting when kids sang a song in praise of Bush for of all things the government's response to Katrina....I wonder where these same people were then. It did not seem to get them upset....I wonder why....hmmmmm....:-(

[krkaufman]

8. That's a dangerous path to go down ...

... 'cause the list of hypocrisies is looong.

e.g., for one, they decry Obama as a tyrant/dictator but seem blissfully unaware of the origins of the term 'unitary executive.'

Lather, rinse, repeat...

[NashVegas]

15. What Song Was That?

I don't recall hearing about that episode. Can you shed some light?

[southernyankeebelle]

5. Where do these idiots come from? They hijacked religion and now they are trying to hijack

patriotic songs sung by everyone. Am a proud democrat and come from a long line of service members who retired from the military who would think these people are coo coo for coco puffs.

[Psephos]

9. I have no truck with these loonies...that said, praising the man in the office is not patriotic.

The office itself is mildly praiseworthy, insofar as it represents the country.

But praising the officeholder is not patriotic, and counter to the American political spirit. Our constitution-writers went out of their way to ensure we wouldn't have a king, a royal mentality, or a cult of leadership. They knew that the "great leader" mindset fosters strong anti-democratic sentiments. Training schoolchildren to sing encomiums to the beneficent leader conjures all kinds of ugly images from recent history. At bare minimum it guarantees alienation of that half of the population who didn't vote for the leader. This is true regardless of who is currently in power.

Personally, if I were Obama I'd go out of my way to discourage these kinds of events.

[krkaufman]

10. Gotta agree.

Named references to an actual politician are a tad more than creepy. The song(s) could be rewritten to convey the same message, but without the identity references.

> "that half of the population who didn't vote for the leader"

Especially true in a country such as the US, where typically just over 50% of the voting age population actually turns-out to vote -- and far less than half the total US population. The US President is typically elected by the supporting votes of about one-quarter of the population, with three-quarters NOT having voted for him or her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections

[dennis4868]

12. what the hell is wrong....

with anyone singing a song for Obama or any elected leader...what the "liberal" media does not tell you is that these same kids sang songs for many people in honor of black history month....singing one damn song to Obama does not make him king.....so many people are really fucked up around here....I remember kids singing songs to Reagan and Bush II and it never bothered me or anyone else for that matter....and now a black man get sung to and there is outrage....what a joke!

[Psephos]

13. Think about it

By way of example, your argument is identical to arguments made by those who want to hang a copy of the Ten Commandments in the courthouse, or put a Nativity scene in front of the school building.

"One little framed copy of the Commandments does not turn the government into a church."

"What's wrong with a couple of statues in front of a schoolhouse we pay for with our own tax money?"

Etc.

This has nothing to do with discouraging personal admiration of Obama (or any other leader). This is about official, government-sponsored activities expressing admiration for Obama (or any other leader).

There are strong reasons to keep church and state separate. We attach emotional and irrational beliefs to religion, and while they're appropriate to religious practice, they're poison to fair and just government.

There are equally strong reasons to keep personality worship out of government. Likewise, that mindset brings emotional beliefs and irrational preferences into the administration of government, and creates powerful divisions and acrimony. In other words, it lowers the quality and inclusiveness of government.

There's something primitive and corrupting about idolizing leaders. If you think about examples from history, you'll see the evidence everywhere.

[NashVegas]

16. I Agree, It's Inappropriate

They want to have the kids sing about improving the country? Fantastic!

They want to have the kids sing about helping a specific political leader? Creepy.

And anyway, today's kids really want to help improve the country, they can start by reversing the previous generations' legacies of divorce and abusive homes.

[NecklyTyler]

11. This just shows how bankrupt the right wing is

The right wing really has nothing to protest President Obama about. They are plainly scraping the bottom of the barrel if they have to drag out a song by grade school kids to mount a protest over

[libodem]

14. Something else that bugs me about the whole deal

is it gives Pukebaugh one more tool in his chest of dirt-bag tricks to heckle Obama. He hums, mmm-mmm-mmm, Barack Husein Obama, when he speaks of him. The kids were trying to be patriotic and show pride in our President. I hate how it has been reviled and twisted into something filthy and degrading. Bastards.