Obama Speech Didn't Turn My Kids Into Commies

Despite the worst fears of some right-wingers, President Obama's back-to-school speech yesterday didn't turn Mary Elizabeth Williams' two daughters into "commie zombies," she writes in Salon. Her 5-year-old decided the speech was boring and left the room in a huff, while the 9-year-old decided to "work extra hard now because the president said it’s good to do that, and I trust him," she quotes her daughter as saying.

The girls are starting a fresh school year today at a much-loved New York public school ravaged by funding cuts, and have been asked to help provide supplies as basic as mops and soap, Williams notes. With that in mind, Obama's promise that he's "working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn" struck a much greater chord than any fears of "leftist indoctrination," she adds.
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