We have been discussing the propriety of public schools putting on worshipful performances about President Barack Obama. While I voted for him and support many of his policies, it does concern me to see children enlisted in such performances, which are not the norm in American education or politics. While some extreme conservatives have been campaigning on this issue, I do believe that there is a legitimate objection to the use of children to sing the praises of political leaders.
There are the lyrics of one of the videos published from these schools:
We believe in Barack Obama
He loves you and he loves your mama
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
With all the change he’s building
Gonna bring hope to the children
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
Change
That we can believe in
Change
That we can believe in
Change
That we can believe in
We believe in Barack Obama
He loves you and he loves your mama
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
With all the change he’s building
Gonna bring hope to the children
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
Change
That we can believe in
Change
That we can believe in
Change
That we can believe in
Yeah, haha, haha.
Alright, come on now, here we go;
You know we gotta get Barack and all of his crew
In the White House so they can prove that
In their hearts they know what to do
And that includes Michelle and the kiddies too
[kids chanting] “There is not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.”
We believe in Barack Obama
He loves you and he loves your mama
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
With all the change he’s building
Gonna bring hope to the children
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
[Chant at end of song – unintelligible
Another song includes such lyrics as:
Barack Obama there is none higher
Other politicians should call me sire
To burn my kingdom you must use fire
I create change till I retire!Democratic Party come correct
Our cuts are on time our rhymes connect
Got the right to vote and will elect
Others can’t feel us but give us respect
That strikes me as significantly over-the-top. I expect that, if such a song was performed about George Bush (defending us and our families), liberals would be equally upset over the use of children to lionize a conservative leader.
I have long objected to how this country is increasingly deifying our presidents through elaborate inaugurations and unquestioned loyalty. I spend a lot of time pushing civics in schools, particularly elementary schools. This is not a valuable civics lesson. These songs advance the same type of cult of personality. It is not the civics lesson that I would want kids to learn. Indeed, it is precisely the opposite lesson. Kids should view a president as a citizen leader who carries out the will of the people — not our divine protector and national father. Citizens, not the President, protect our rights and our future.
The hard-right voices who denounced Obama’s speech to the nation’s children were clearly alarmist and unhinged, here. Moreover, Obama is legitimately a figure for discussion and inspiration in the schools. However, we should recognize that some of these videos cross the line and tend to politicize our public schools. Putting aside the fact that conservatives and Republicans send their kids to public schools too, school administrators should not make adoration of a leader part of the curriculum.
For the story, click here.
For what it is worth I agree with Gyges, Randy and Mike Appleton.
IMHO this is old news being served up as raciest backlash.
These songs were not indoctrination, and they did not take place in civics class. Most of the songs cited were singular examples from performances/recitals celebrating Martin Luther King Day during Black History Month 2009. Given the historic election and President Obama’s grand Inaugural on January 20, 2009 (and especially if you were a child of “color” or “poor”) this was definitely something to sing about!
JT’s post links to the Big Hollywood site whose title post is “Elementary Epidemic: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama.” Please read the whole post there and all the crazy comments. This was an “uncovered” expose? These videos have been around for months!
Eleven is an “Epidemic”?
They (you know who they are) have been combing the internet and begging for submissions for any evidence that will fit their indoctrination meme! (I’m still revolted about how they twisted the NJ school children’s video.)
Many of the 11 videos referenced do not even mention President Obama by name, but are generic songs about “change” for the better, “hope” for the future, and that “Yes, you can” accomplish something and help others, no matter how humble your beginnings; not really anything to get your panties in a twist about!
IMHO the big news story this week involving our nation’s school children is that 50% of American children and 90% of African-American children will need at some time in their formative years to rely on Food Stamps. That to me is big news; school lunch for too many poor children today is their only reliable meal! Yet we, who believe in providing this necessity, have to fight the same fight each year for a “nutritious meal” to be budgeted and funded.
PS: The song the children performed “We Believe In Barack Obama” (that seems to be drawing the most attention) was by the group The Hush Sound; and here is a video of them live at the University of Illinois from October 2008.
Buddha,
You missed a central part of my argument. People are actively looking for anything to make Obama look bad. Look at the reaction to his stay in school speech, or that program that encouraged people to volunteer via popular media (which was in the works long before Obama was elected), or his trip to get the Olympics in Chicago.
It’s not just a matter of getting it to the Pro-Obama teachers, it’s a matter of getting it to the pro-Obama teachers without the rabid anti-Obama crowd finding out.
Strike that, it’s a matter of getting it to that pro-Obama teachers without the anti-Obama crowd, the starved for their 15 min. of fame crowd, the starved for cash crowd, the whistle-blower crowd, and the just plain gossips crowd from finding out.
If there was ANY hint of this coming from the administration don’t you think we’d have heard about it by now? We heard about that stupid phone call from a mid level NEA official. And that wasn’t even this blatantly pro-Obama, just pro things Obama (and the majority of people) is pro.
Plus as Mike said, that song isn’t the work of some mastermind, it’s a hack of a music teacher got together with a hack of a civics teacher to write a song.
The first issue here is that the lyrics of these songs are highly inappropriate and would be embarassing in any context. Putting them in an educational setting goes way beyond the pale of inappropriateness. However, given the sheer stupidity of the lyrics I can’t believe they were initiated onhigh by this Administration. Forget whether you approve of them or not and just look at the fact that they are just not that stupid a group of people and these songs are unbelievably ridiculous. Certainly anyone planning a propaganda campaign would use much more subtlety, even the Fundamentalists Wingnuts. I’m sure these were put together by someone in State or local government who had a serious case of kiss-ass and a more serious case of dumb.
Mike A.,
I disagree with you (almost never happens!). As a women had Hillary Clinton become president and these types of songs had been made about her, my first reaction would have been to get the barf bag and secondly, I would come out strongly against them. It certainly would be amazing to have a woman president in the same way it is amazing to have a black president. To me, these songs do not show pride in the election of a black man as president, they show the indoctrination of children to “love” a leader, pure and simple. In a way you are also assuming that every black person likes and voted for Obama and does not currently question his actions. If Ms. Clinton had been elected, this woman would be wommaning the barricades to oppose her policies. It was a real accomplishment for this nation to step out of racial hatred and elect a black president. That fact means a lot to me. But another fact remains, the policies of this particular black man are destroying our Constitution. The last thing we need is cult songs to anyone, black, white, male or female who engages in this.
I have a number of problems with the lyrics. First, they are cult songs. Second, they mischaracterize the role of the president. Third, the grammar and rhyming are terrible. That being said, I believe that the semi-idolatrous nature of the songs is attributable in large part to the overwhelming sense of exhilaration that must have been felt by the black community at large over the election of Pres. Obama. After all, it was an event that most of us did not believe would take place in our lifetimes. For many blacks, it may be considered the most significant milestone since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. If one seeks some historical perspective, one need only read some of the literature published following the death of George Washington. I anticipate that the excitement will gradually fade. In the meantime, the songs will provide fodder to the wingnuts who were outraged that the president would have the temerity to even visit with school children.
Randy Macon, after reading the lyrics here, I say they cross the line into indoctrination. Naming a school after a president or other political figure doesn’t have the same effect on the minds of the young.
I was taught to respect the President and the Presidency. I have no problem with kids singing a song expressing the thought that they wish Obama well. I have even fewer problems with minority kids admiring the first black president. The real problem is all the American idiots who refuse to accept Obama as a President we should respect. They need to get over it, and stop the endless cycle of cynical, disrespectful anti-Obama rhetoric.
I lived with George Bush as president for eight years, and never worried about a school being named after him (Stockton, CA). Where was the uproar about George W. Bush elementary school? Lost in the hypocrisy of the right wing. If you actually made similar comments about this school, Mr. Turley, I will withdraw my comment.
Gyges,
You misunderstand the way bureaucracy operates. What you describe is a criminal cover up with Nixon – an inherently unstable enterprise that only grows more unstable over time. This is a propaganda operation, effectively pysops being run on citizens. Because it is not a crime proper, it 1) doesn’t attract as much attention and 2) doesn’t require as much scrutiny or effort to push through. All that would need to be done would be to circulate the song and hope there would be enough adopters (blind Obama-nauts) to make it effective. It’s an active crime versus a passive conditioning technique. As far as ease of execution and complexity goes, it’s apples and oranges. Even if only 20% of the teachers choose to use it, that equates to (based on the 2002 number of 28,450,000 million enrolled primary school students in the US), that’s still 5,690,000 students indoctrinated. At 5% it’s 1,422,500.
So look at the numbers and back away from the butter knife. 😀
Buddha,
So President Obama is aware enough of the lesson plans of every single teacher in the country that he could encourage or prevent a handful (by my count 3 famous examples, so let’s say 100 or so, which given the number of teachers in the country is a SMALL percentage) of teachers to do songs in his honor?
That means that the administration would have to send their wishes down through layers of bureaucracy (Federal, state, county, and city governments, as well as the local school districts down through the principals) WITHOUT someone that opposed his wishes getting a hold of the message to report to the press. Nixon couldn’t even get his trusted high level folks to keep mum about Water-gate, and he didn’t have people like Murdock’s employees pouring over every word\memo\etc. looking for anything to hype up.
We don’t even need Occam’s razor for this one, his butter knife would do.
Gyges,
I am going to look into this question. I tend to agree with Buddha. Obama has been adept at using propaganda. Remember JT’s post on “the ask” in exchange for getting an arts grant? The Pentagon is still planting their experts to speak on “news” programs even thought this is illegal. It bears research and I’ll try to get a good answer to this question and hope others will also look into it.
Gyges,
Perhaps.
But if you think this kind of think is done without knowledge, you must trust pols more than I. Do I think he gave the order proper? Probably not. Do I think he has hirelings under his control that did? Most certainly. Did they do so without his approval? I doubt it. Didn’t someone have to write the song? Who placed the order and penned it? Would a media savvy President like Obama allow a song about him to be sung in government operated schools without his direct approval or the approval of a proxy? I think not.
Although I see your point philosophically, this didn’t happen in a vacuum. It couldn’t have by the nature of the scope and the subject matter.
Buddha,
This is bad, very bad, but unless there’s any reason to believe that Obama encouraged this, blaming him is just an extension of the deifying him that JT was talking about. (Loki’s still a god after all). The corollary to credit where credit is due needs to be blame where blame is due.
And the blame falls squarely in the past. When the teachers received their education. In my opinion the current crop of President as King is the the natural result of the indoctrination of the idea of Founding Fathers as Saints and Heroes. Let’s not forget about the Pledge of allegiance, the general white washing of U.S. history, etc.
The question isn’t who does President Obama think he is, but who do WE think he is.
Wow.
That’s as much a Nazi a behavioral tool as anything the Neocons have ever used. Who the #$%& does Obama think he is?
Except for referencing them as required to teach civics and history, there should be no partisan political speech allowed in schools as promulgated by the staff. Period.
One party is the party of greed and war criminals. One party is the party of greed and using health care as weapon against our own populace to keep their corporate masters happy.
I say screw ’em all at this point. It’s time to throw out the bathwater, baby and all.
Yeah. It’s time for a third party. And a fourth and a fifth and a sixth . . .
Or maybe it’s time to just start busting heads?
Because that’s how this all ends.
This combined with his earlier capitulation to the drug companies shows Obama is Bush with a different guy holding his leash, but both want to Emperor. And both have been actively subverting our GUARANTEED Constitutional Rights.
Screw them and screw that.
Either the two party system goes away and accountability and the Rule of Law restored or it will all go away in a bloody anarchic mess in which anyone stupid enough to proudly proclaim they are from either party and they are here to help us will be eaten alive along with the corporate and lobbyist douche bags pulling their strings.
On live television.
Most people forget that after the French hit this wall, it wasn’t over when the beheadings ended. France remained in anarchy for several years after Marie was given the cake she earned. But unlike then, we have broadcast media. Just think of the ratings! Rupert is drooling right now like a vampire in a blood bank just waiting for Washington to finish killing itself.
And these are the kinds of songs they’ll be singing in the background while Rome burns. Jingoistic, devotional, semi-worshipful horse shit.
For a democracy to function we require informed citizens who are able to discern fact from fiction. I agree with Mike S. that one of our most precious rights is to speak truth to power. We cannot do this if we don’t know how to discern truth because we have been propagandized to blind belief in our leaders as both children and adults.
“We believe in Barack Obama
He loves you and he loves your mama
We believe in Barack Obama, yeah
With all the change he’s building
Gonna bring hope to the children”
What does it mean to “believe” in Rarack Obama? Belief is often used in religious context but what part does a nebulous belief play when assessing a political leader. In this context, unquestioning belief is a disaster.
Does Obama love every child and their mother? Again, this is an attribute often ascribed to God, but does it make sense of a politician? I submit that sending young people to die in a bogus, unwinnable war is not proof of love of children or their mother. I also submit that opposing attempts to get these same children and their mother’s adequate health care, housing and a living wage has nothing to do with love.
I must question the “change” he is building. If by change we mean solidyfying and expanding the antiConstitutional policies of GWB, then sure, there’s been change but it’s been for the worse.
Instead of signing these words, students should be studying whether they are accurate.
The second song clearly draws from the apocolyptic christian tradition of burning down the world to “save” it. This song also portrays Obama as a biblical king. As such it runs smack into separation of church and state. By also forcing children to pretend everyone is a Democrat, this does violence to reality and to those children whose family have made other political choices. Certainly, the favortism of one party over the other many political options cannot be acceptable in a school.
These actions run counter to any good educational philosophy. I hope someone will talk with the people who decided this was a good idea and that there is a chance for children and adults alike to debate both the content or these songs and their use on children.
All oaths of allegiance, including the infamous pledge of allegiance (because of which as a child I repeatedly declared my attachment to God and country) should be banned in public schools.
These songs are inappropriate for schoolchildren to be singing. what were their creators and perpetrators thinking. Teaching Civics is about helping students understand the working s of their government, its history and their future role as citizens. It should never be hagiography of those in power, but teach that it is our right to speak truth to power.
AY:
In the tone of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the NAZI’s had a sign outside one or more of their concentration camps that said “Work Makes Freedom”
Prof. Turley:
“Kids should view a president as a citizen leader who carries out the will of the people — not our divine protector and national father. Citizens, not the President, protect our rights and our future.”
You are absolutely right. As a conservative, I would have been very upset if children were singing the praises of Ronald Reagan and I knew about such songs.
It is totally against the principles of this country to have children singing praises to the president.
Sig Heil, Sig Heil, Off to Concentration Camps we go.