As Amy noted, the upcoming White House speech to America's students has caused quite a furor. ????Two of the harder hitting (but still reasonable) criticisms can be found here and here.
Personally, I think the basic arguments of both sides were legitimate. Taken at its word, the administration is merely intending to use the bully pulpit to encourage kids to stay in school and view their education as a responsibility. Critics, however, rightfully pointed out that there is something unsettling about a head of state delivering a speech to a captive audience of the nation's children. These concerns were heightened when the Department of Education crafted lesson plans encouraging children to think of how they can help the president. ????(These plans have since been changed.)
Yesterday, the White House held a conference call to further explain the speech and defuse the building tension. The call was headed up by the WH office of "public engagement" and was supported by the domestic policy council and the "new media" office. After providing the requisite logistical details, they explained that the purpose of the speech is to????stress the importance of staying in school, setting goals, and working hard (I'm all for that).
The call was not about policy; no advocacy for the Race to the Top or NCLB reauthorization. In fact, no ED staffers participated (actively) in the call. Some of the questions from listeners at the end tried to push the WH into making the speech about pet issues (health programs, reading initiatives, etc.), but the WH officials demurred.
So it looks like the administration appreciates the concerns out there. The interesting question, however, is how this appreciation influences the actual text of the speech. Are the WH speechwriters fully attuned to the controversy? Will senior WH officials carefully scrub the speech before it's finalized? Will ED try to add some references to ongoing initiatives?
Don't underestimate the human element here. We have a long weekend ahead of us, and lots of administration folks will be mentally checking out for a while (not a criticism). Accordingly, this speech may not get the attention required. Handled properly, the speech will be sober, encouraging, and completely apolitical; the furor will come to a halt. ????Handled poorly, it will give more ammunition to critics and add to the growing narrative--captured here and here--that the Obama team lacks humility, which leads to overreaching and melting wings.
Intern Janie Scull contributed to this post.