Talk of the town.

Man, two nationally televised presidential speeches in just one week. Obama is keeping busy. I watched a repeat of the back to school speech and saw the speech yesterday live on TV. I like the idea of addressing the kids directly like that, as they most certainly deserve to be shown that kind of respect. I didn't like the speech itself very much, though. The message was good and positive over all, of course, but nothing new that attempted to rattle a jaded teenager. Not that a single speech could achieve that.

My main criticism consists of two things: Firstly, he mentioned no blue collar jobs, disregarding the important contributions that every person in the workforce is making. Secondly, because of this emphasis on the small percentage of people that rise to the very top, he puts additional pressure on kids, and makes those that end up as the school janitor, and somebody in our society will have to do that job, most definitely feel like losers. Of course every student should try to take their talents as far as they can and realize their full potential (Lyndon B. Johnson had some great things to say about wasting resources and potential), but Obama painted an outdated romantic picture of children that want to be lawyers and doctors one day. I, for one, never had that dream. I imagine being a lawyer is mostly boring and I feel a lot of them lack a sense of moral wrong and right, focusing only on the legality of things. And what about all those accident lawyers? Did they really achieve something great? Judging from the ridiculous lawsuits we hear about all the time, I beg to differ. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a truck driver, or operate some other kind of heavy machinery. Then, for the longest time, I had no idea what the heck I wanted to do. Fact is, people fixing drains, picking up trash, repairing roofs, selling books or programming databases all contribute an equal part to making sure that our society is functional and prosperous. To suggest otherwise is an affront to any hard-working person out there. What I think is great about an good education, is that it offers you a choice. It allows you to try different things, until you find the right fit. If you quit high school without graduating, your choices are severely diminished. That, I think, is the message we should teach our kids.

Oh, yeah, parents that had their kids miss the speech for fear of indoctrination are obviously fanatical paranoids.

The health care speech was really great I thought. I felt his attempt to show that he is willing to consider objections and new ideas was genuine, while he made clear how much reform is needed, and how much of a moral obligation it is to provide better health care. I guess that is what I don't get. It is plain to see that health care in the US is not distributed according to need (I got a whole 'nother post in the pipe on supply and demand in markets) and that this is a huge moral challenge. Now why would anyone in their right mind oppose giving people access to the care they desperately need, but simply let them die (and that is actually what is at stake here) in pain and poverty instead? You'd have to be a paranoid fanatic.