What’s wrong with helping the president?

When I was in the fifth grade in 1963, I remember my teacher, Viola Smith, assigned our class to write a paper. The topic was “How I can help President Kennedy.” It was considered patriotic. My, how times have changed.

Now, right-wing talk show hosts are livid that President Obama was speaking to school children on Tuesday.

The topic was to study hard and stay in school, yet schools all over the country received calls from parents threatening to keep them home.

Why? Because lesson plans sent to the schools suggested students write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. In this hyper-politicized era, it's no longer considered patriotic to want to help the president.

Remember, say, four years ago, if you said even the tiniest bad thing about the president, the right-wingers said it meant you were a person who hated America? How quickly the worm turns.

Robert Linwins

Solon