Obama’s not the first president to address nation’s schoolchildren on live television

The article points out (click on link in title above) that there is precedent set for presidents addressing school children: FDR brought it to the modern era with Marconi's radio and "fireside chats." President Obama is the first to use all forms of media: cable, radio, Internet and social networks to effectively communicate, and that method will likely be imitated by political operatives of majority and third parties in the near and distant future of this country.

For those that are concerned: the text of the presentation will be released Monday, yet schools in various states (sadly, Texas being one) are either not going to allow the broadcast, or parents in those states are going to keep their children from school.

It reminds me of the lessons our kids are supposed to learn from playing organized sports: "you can't win them all"; "be a good sport." Sadly, the only persons not following that advice are the parents that voted McCain/Palin.

If this were John McCain, I doubt you'd see parents that voted for Obama complaining or holding their children absent from school. That by the way is an unexcused absence that counts against the student and proves/solves nothing. The homework assigned that day will still be due, so to miss a day when the leader of the free world wishes to address "education" is a bit oxymoron.

"We are a country of laws, and not men," is paraphrased from "Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies," written by John Adams during the spring of 1776, where he fully states: "there is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; because the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'"

The presidency is an office we as citizens SHOULD respect, regardless of the occupant in the office. Who, if you're keeping statistics, he represents 1/44 or 2.27% of the total population of presidents, 97.72% of the time; it's been white males from Washington to Bush. It is highly likely to revert back to that established paradigm in 2012 or 2016.

I will admit, the president is an effective politician and persuasive speaker, but I have no evidence of his expertise at hypnotism. To paraphrase Charles Barkley "you ARE your child's role models," and the most important persons in shaping their maturity and character.