I am going to write this post very carefully because our conservative friends here at bako.com have let me know that my bullying ways are getting out of control. Not being sarcastic; I want to see if it is possible, in their eyes, to be critical and not hateful at the same time. The kid gloves are ON.

I have noticed, in blog posts, in Friend updates, in the media and around town, that there seems to be a general feeling that the video showing some elementary school children singing a song praising President Obama is really over the top. I have read comparisons of this to Stalinist   Russia (from Michael Steele, Chairman of the GOP) as well as Nazi and Maoist propaganda machines.

Others, notably here at bako.com, have noted that Bush 43 (the junior Bush, hence the number as a reminder) had songs sang for him by elementary school children, and the event was clearly set up (during the traditional Easter Day festivities on the White House lawn) to polish Bush's post-Katrina image: 

"To the tune of Hey Look Me Over, about 100 young children from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sang:

Our country’s stood beside us

People have sent us aid.

Katrina could not stop us, our hopes will never fade.

Congress, Bush and FEMA

People across our land

Together have come to rebuild us and we join them hand-in-hand!"

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwi...

On the other hand, Bush's image was used (and recorded in the film Jesus Camp) to indoctrinate children into a religio/politico confluence here:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

where the children are seen praising Bush, touching his feet (or the feet, rather, of a cutout of him), reminding him "One country under God!" while adults direct and hold a large American flag up behind him.

But this isn't meant to be a finger pointing "they do it too!!" affair. I start with the comparison only to hopefully calm some of the uproar over using children to sing the praises of Presidents. The meme being held up today as anathema today has happened before. Simple as that.

For the rest of this piece, I hope to contextualize the Obama song videotaped in New Jersey and the cause of all the recent uproar. In fact, I think the Obama song doesn't hold up well as an example of indoctrination or brainwashing, not nearly as well as the Bush incidents. Of course, I would think so. But consider the following:

According to the AP, who interviewed the principal of the school, the children were videotaped during February, the Black History Month, and the children had been celebrating different famous American Blacks throughout the month. Obama was just one of many. Neither of the Bush incidents had this kind of context. It was Bush, Bush, Bush. Not a celebration of famous Texans. Not a listing of all religious/political leaders. They were both singular in purpose and had a distinct subject. 

Furthermore, the lyrics to the Obama song were sent home to parents before the children were taught it. No video was made of the initial performance, but when Charisse Carney-Nunes, author of the children's book "I am Barack Obama" visited the school, the children performed for her. Her assistant videotaped it and posted it on the author's web page. It was the assistant's bad judgement that started the whole thing. She didn't bother to get parental permission before posting it, and took it down when informed of that necessity. By then, however, others had copied it and posted it on YouTube, where it remains in various forms, mostly derisive ones.

""There was no intention to make any political statement or promote a political agenda at all," Superintendent Christopher Manno said in the statement." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/...

So today, October 12, about 70, known Tea Party Anti-Tax protesters, showed up at the school - during school hours - and sang various political songs like "God Bless America", "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and chanted slogans like "No indoctrination" and "Free children, Free minds", and "Shame on You". Another, smaller group of counter-protesters showed up to heckle the first group. 

http://www.ledger-enquirer....

http://www.dailyrecord.com/...

One can only wonder what these same people would say about conservative indoctrination. Importantly, however, I think it should be noted that the school being picketed, the Bernice B. Young Elementary School,  is populated by children between kindergarten and second grade. 

Before the rally, protesters released a statement which said, in part, "Consider this a protest to squelch this trend to politicize our youth," organizers said in a prepared statement. "We are supporting the constitutional rights of our children and protest against the progressive social agenda promoted by the New Jersey Education Association and the National Education Association."

http://www.northjersey.com/...

So, in their statement at least, they seem clear that it is the progressive nature of the suspected indoctrination they object to, perhaps not indoctrination generally. Maybe this is where conservatives who have sympathies with the protesters can hang their hats. It does, however, take some of the zing out of the "OMG!" reactions on the web, and the Stalin/Hitler/Mao comparisons that have populated the commentary of Beck, Limbaugh and others.

Finally, a discussion of "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm". Those three syllables keep popping up in very derogatory fashion, as if the chanters/critics thought the repetition of "Mmm" signalled some kind of brainwashing mantra or worse.

Perhaps a little history would help. In southern spirituals, the crowd is expected to be quite active and respond to the musicians with exclamations and encouragement. Typical of these is "Mm-hmm", "Tell it!", and "Whoa Oooh".

The folks who would repeat this phrase with the intent to deride it should know, if they don't already, that such derision has the flavor, if not the actual substance, of some kind of rabid racism.

Here, for your elucidation, is an example of these exclamations in context:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I sincerely hope that this piece hurt no one and yet still made clear the point: not only was the Obama song not the indoctrination episode it was made out to be, but also that the most recent examples of such episodes exist back in the days of the Bush presidency. At that time there was appropriate criticism of the events. Not widespread and news-grabbing, but muted by comparison and relegated to second pages around the country.

Thanks for reading.