Posted on 11/22/2010 5:08:09 AM PST by Paladins Prayer
When discussing a new study about liberals’ and conservatives’ favorite television shows recently, pundit Bill O’Reilly and his guests mentioned that liberals like works about “flawed people.” If this is so, they will certainly appreciate Barack Obama’s just published children’s book, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters.
Much like Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” (which the author wrote for his 12-year-old son), Obama’s book was penned for his children Malia and Sasha — hence the subtitle A Letter to My Daughters. Unlike Kipling’s poem, however, I very much doubt his kids will be the better for reading it.
The book features 13 American “heroes” whose traits the president sees in his daughters. And it does include traditional figures such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein (I guess a bone had to be thrown to the dead-white-male set) and Neil Armstrong. Yet it also includes the troubled jazz great Billie Holiday; artist Georgia O’Keefe, who sometimes posed nude for photographs; and socialist Jane Addams, who, quite fittingly, was a community organizer.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
“Of Thee I Sing” ???
a musical satire on politics by Gershwin ???
You know...on second thought, perhaps he'll do less damage if he keeps busy writing books rather than to address the pressing problems this country faces.
G-d help us.
Hip-Hop and Rap music for the last 20 years has been a black mark on the Black community and society at large. It isn’t music at all, just a bunch of bad ideas and foul language tossed together. When I think of Black music, I think of The Four Tops, Temptations, Archie Bell & the Drells, Tower of Power, Barry White, The Sound of Philadelphia and going back further, the 1950’s era “doo-wop” music and many others. Now that is class. To borrow from the old cartoon “Fat Albert,” hip-hop/rap is “like school during a teacher’s strike” (both my district and my cousin’s district are on strike now), i.e. “no class.”
This is OUTRAGEOUS! He is the sitting President of the United States and he's "penning" childrens' books to his daughters? What a total joke. When did he do this act, between the meeting on Korea's new nuclear enrichment plant and meeting on Iran's latest call to Muslims to kill us all? Must have been just a nice little "downtime" there between the security briefings so he could "pen and pine for his daughters." This is utter BS!
In Bennett's book Washington was a courageous man even when everything in the world was not going his way. And a prayerful man, who trusted God despite all of it. And Bennett's list of heroes we can all agree with is a better list than Obama’s. Bennett has Lincoln and Washington, but also includes Father Flanagan” of Boys Town, Mother Teresa, Jackie Robinson (hey a black hero that Obama left out), and a young boy (just like any boy who may be reading the book, in a chapter called Hero of Indian Cliffs)
I got this for my son, and he loves it.
http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Book-Heroes-William-Bennett/dp/0684834456
Thanks for that Link.
I thought of buying my grandkids (9&5) 'children's books' from the Reagan Presidential Library. Maybe I'll add Bennet's book(s) to the list. They sell his books there too.
There’s something inherently creepy about someone — raised by an atheist mother and a “tranny nanny;” influenced by muslims and communists at a young age; and harboring a seething anger against traditional America — writing a children’s book.
I’m glad that with the country on the edge of economic collapse, the weakening of the dollar, burgeoning inflation, a global war on terror, extremely high unemployment levels, a saber-rattling China, and a nuclear Iran, that the President of the United States has time to write a children’s book.
Of course, THIS president doesn’t see any of these immense problems as neccessarily being bad things. The fact that he took the time to write a book during these times gives us crystal-clear insight into his vision for America.
Some anti-abortion Web sites say Audrey Geisel supports Planned Parenthood. ZoBell says he's never discussed such matters with her or her late husband, and that the Geisels never wanted Dr. Seuss characters used to advance any political purpose. But it happens more often than you might think.
Bullstalin. Dr. Seuss did a lot of editorial cartooning in his day. She is putting the blinders on.
“Of Thee I Sing” ???
a musical satire on politics by Gershwin ???
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In this article, there are links to sources when the book was first announced in Sept. 2010. (Obama apparently wrote the book before the election in 2008 as part of a book deal.)
“Of Thee I Sing” – The Historical Connection
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2628717/posts
http://noisyroom.net/blog/2010/09/15/%E2%80%9Cof-thee-i-sing%E2%80%9D-the-historical-connection/
Excerpt:
“The original Broadway production, directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441 performances, receiving critical and box office success. It has been revived several times in the U.S. and in London. Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in 1932.”
Apparently, the musical was so popular that it became the “longest running musical of its decade.” A synopsis by Brian D. Sweeney includes this description:
http://www.savoyardlightopera.org/otis_article.html
“The play mocks the ineffective politicians with their empty campaign slogans, but even more so it points the finger at the American populace that is willing to accept them and even elect them to office. Wintergreen’s road to success is a tribute to surface politics; he excites the voters out of apathy with his “love” campaign; he avoids impeachment by appealing to his appending fatherhood; and in singing his ballad-anthem “Of Thee I Sing, Baby” he woos both Mary and the nation, as the ambiguous lyric suggests.”
As I uncovered more of the story of this musical, the more interesting it became to the current political climate.
From the Of thee I sing [song collection]:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000013/default.html
“It was one of the first Broadway productions to deal with the serious subject of the American political scene, satirizing inept politicians with limited vision and the voters who elected them.
Snip
“Recovery, Recovery, Of Thee I Sing”
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sings “Recovery, recovery, of thee I sing,” a reference to the popular “Of Thee I Sing” in this cartoon. His sheet music credits him as author of the “words and music.” Dame Democracy plays the piano while an old opponent for the Democratic nomination, Al Smith, sits glumly aside. By midsummer 1933, the first year of Roosevelt’s presidency, Congress had passed a record amount of New Deal legislation.”
My how history repeats….
The claim is being made that he wrote it before entering the White House. Possibly to exempt himself from ethics charges in accepting money like Hillary did when she took $8million from Viacom to write her memoirs before she was sworn in as a Senator.
Obviously, he’s very busy as president, tackling the hardest problems first, the ones that match his skill level.
Obviously, he’s very busy as president, tackling the hardest problems first, the ones that match his skill level.
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