Obama's Student Address

Let’s face it: whether you like his politics or not, our president is very well spoken. His delivery in the address to students was, as usual, impeccable. Unfortunately, I was less captivated by the content. I know the speech had to be a little vanilla to please all those fuming parents, but come on. You can do better than those tired, overused I-understand-the-little-people anecdotes. Compel us. Tell us why we need to do better. Certainly the varied age range contributed to these choices, but the subject matter was too advanced for the littler ones anyway. The speech was directed at older children, because our behavior has more consequences as we age. The one part I did like was how he shared some of his background: that is relatable. Life is tough for most people, and it’s good to know that he has struggled too. But even more that his struggles didn’t defeat him.