I have two observations on President Barack Obama’s address to the schools.

First, schools seemed confused until Sunday night about showing the “speech.” I called the superintendent’s office and was informed nobody knew if it would be shown. I replied that as they could not give me input, I would not send the boys in that day. The principal (very helpful) later told my wife it was not going to be shown. This was repeated twice.

Well, after the boys went to school, the principal called and told me the superintendent sent an e-mail saying the schools would show it. The older boy’s class did not show the speech, but the 6-year-old’s did. I requested he not watch the broadcast. He spent more productive time in the office doing homework.

It is not that Obama, as well as presidents Bush and Reagan, spoke. They were all wrong. It is pandering. None of them should have access to our children in school without preparation by the parents.

Saying parents are incapable of teaching the agenda is odd, as the parents are the product of the same system. The “speech” was fluff. Which leads me to my second thought.

I believe Obama knew winning over impressionable 1-6 graders meant they would go home starry-eyed. What better way to sway parents than by having children say, “The president seemed like he was talking to me.” Kids are now caught up in “Obama-mania.”

Government was meant to be minimal, not a nanny.

Russ Mathers, Wilton