Should the president of the United States be delivering a speech directed to America’s schoolchildren? There is, it seems, a passionate cohort that believes he should not, that Barack Obama is going to deliver such a speech as a propaganda measure, promoting his own liberal agenda, essentially to shore up his declining support by getting to parents through the ministrations of their offspring. An unfortunate action plan issued and then made to disappear by the Department of Education seemed to validate this concern—it was to be distributed by teachers throughout the country, and it included a section on how the kids could help the president, not the country but the president himself, achieve his goals.

Doubtless, the notion of Obama giving a speech to kids must have seemed like a political masterstroke inside the White House; his appeal to youth is undeniable and seems much deeper than, say, Bill Clinton’s or Jimmy Carter’s, both of whom were around the same age as Obama when they served in the White House and had daughters living there with them. But I wonder: Are kids going to enjoy being made to watch a speech? Watching a speech was considered entertainment in the 19th century, when there was no other entertainment, but it hardly has that effect on people today. If it did, White Houses wouldn’t have to beg networks to give them airtime. Even as alluring a speaker as Obama is, he’ll still be a guy in a chair, and a guy in a chair is neither Hannah Montana nor a Wii Sports game. He will seem, instead, like a . . . teacher.

So maybe those on the Right who fear Obama will hypnotize American youth through his speechifying magic should think again.

Still, this is madness, and it is madness being indulged in by some Republican political types for whom the traditional dunce cap might be appropriate attire. My somewhat overexcitable friend Rod Dreher quotes the following:

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement condemning President Obama’s use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.

“While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda. The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President’s agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President’s initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.” …

Oh, for goodness’ sake. Goody-two-shoes kids who rise from their seats at the end of the Obama address determined to march in lockstep with orders from above will be the ones subject to ostracism. This is ludicrous in any case. Obama won the presidency fair and square, he is the president, and if he wants to speak to schoolkids, he can speak to schoolkids. Getting to do things like that is one of the side benefits of receiving nearly 70 million votes. If, in his speech, he tells kids to do their homework and listen to their teachers, he will be doing something good, especially for African-American kids, who are, all sources and studies report, desperately in need of hearing that performing well in school isn’t some kind of betrayal of their race.

If he does use the speech to do some politicking on his agenda, there’s going to be trouble in the schoolhouse. As the nation learned in June and July, it turns out there are few things more boring than listening to Barack Obama discuss health care; school-age children by the millions will be shifting in their seats, rolling their eyes, and beginning to think seditious thoughts if they are forced to sit through such a thing.