George Mason University's
History News Network
HNN Teacher's Edition
Third Graders Sing about Barack Obama
David: I must confess that I am having trouble figuring out what is so bad about the Barack Obama song that those third graders sang and danced to.

Lots of silly, time-wasting things go on in the nation's public schools, and this may be one of them, but it is far from the worst.

Barack Obama is the nation's president. The song praises him, says that his election as the first black president is historic, lauds diversity, and honors Martin Luther King, Jr. What's wrong with that? You may convince me, but I need for you to spell it out.



Re: Song

Submitted by David T. Beito (not verified) on Mon, 2009-09-28 17:16.
I really don't think that the deification of JFK began until after the assassination. The word "camelot," for example, was not even used during his lifetime.

Re: Song

Submitted by khalderman on Mon, 2009-09-28 10:59.
JFK isn't he the one who almost got everyone in the world killed by screwing with the Cubans so much that they allowed the Russians to put nissiles on their island?

Song

Submitted by David T. Beito (not verified) on Sun, 2009-09-27 10:16.
It is the hero worship that bothers me and strikes me as contrary to the healthy American distrust of politicians. No president in the last century (with the possible exception of FDR)has been treated in this way.

True, the song was wrapped up in some positive values but one could potentially do the same thing for any president. Ask yourself this. How would you feel if after 911 a public principal had organized a sing-a-long using George Bush as an exemplar of patriotism, family values, and clean living?

Re: Song

Submitted by dhart on Tue, 2009-09-29 17:26.
I don't see the problem here. I was brought up in Australia singing "God save the Queen" at school. We even had her picture on the walls - but no national flags. That is a nasty American invention I'm afraid. Most of my peers thought it was a huge joke and laughed at it most of the time. We used to create parodies of it, often pornographic and always disrespectful ('long to rain over us"). It turned me into a life-long republican because I took the ideas seriously ("Scatter her enemies, And make them fall"). I just hope the kids here do the same. It might just inspire me to write a parody of my own. We could all sing it together sometime over a beer or two. This is what politicians like him deserve - a good belly laugh at their pomposity and arrogance, and the boot lickers of power who go along with it.

Re: Song

Submitted by Allan Walstad (not verified) on Sun, 2009-09-27 13:14.
Agreed. Government schools teaching captive children to praise government officials--not just long-dead presumed heroes of history (right or wrong) , but living pols--not good. You're right that this sort of praise is likely to be applied selectively, but I'd have almost as much problem with it if the same song were sung for every president with just the name changed.

Re: Song

Submitted by RL (not verified) on Sun, 2009-09-27 14:35.
Yes. I especially thought the stanza applauding his ability to walk on water was inappropriate.

:-)

BTW, David, are you sure it was only FDR? What about JFK?