Video: Outrage over Obama school speech was missing during Bush and Reagan school addresses

September 4, 2:36 AMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

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Obama is held to a different standard on school speeches. AP Photo Alex Brandon

In my deep memories of elementary school and junior high I had remembered listening to Presidents Reagan and Papa Bush speak to all of us on television.  I had recently doubted those faint memories as I told myself that surely those two Presidents must not have spoken to school children. After all if they had attempted to speak to school children their conservative base must have decried the "indoctrination" of school children and threatened to pull their kids out of school in response.  It turns out I was wrong on both fronts.  Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush did in fact speak to school children in national addresses, and conservatives at the time did not react the same way they are reacting to the Obama school address.

In the video below Fox News (known for their liberalism) reports that both Reagan and Bush addressed the nation's schoolchildren.  Now conservatives may claim that the situation was different in that the Reagan and Bush addresses were non-partisan.  First, most of the objections I have seen about the Obama address are not about the content of his message but rather the whole idea of students being "forced" to listen to the President.  Second, President Obama's address much like that of Reagan and Bush is being previewed as a politically neutral message about hard work, setting educational goals, and staying in school.  For anyone who doubts the truthfulness of that claim they can check the White House website on Monday where they have promised to pre-release a copy of the speech for parents to see.

Others might say that whether the practice of school addresses were done in the past does not matter.  It is wrong either way.  I would disagree.  The reality is while some Democrats (wrongly) made a fuss about the cost of the Bush address in general their was not the same fury over the Republican President school addresses.  There were certainly no claims of "indoctrination" of school children.  Most correctly saw these addresses as the President simply trying to give a positive, politically neutral message to the nation's children.  It was right for President Bush and Reagan to address school children and it should likewise be seen as acceptable for President Obama to do so.