[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21042]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RESPECTING THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, earlier today the President of the United 
States went back to school. He went to a local high school in the DC 
area to give a speech. It turned out that this speech became 
controversial.
  I thought about that over the weekend because my wife and I went down 
to Mount Vernon, in Virginia, to the home of George Washington. It was 
a trip I promised my wife because the first time we went down there 
when I was a college student and drove down there in my little VW bug 
back in the 1960s, I got there to find out I did not have enough money 
for admission so we had to turn around and leave. I always told her: 
Loretta, we are going to get back down here someday. It took a few 
years, but we made it.
  Touring the grounds there as well as the education and learning 
center, learning a little bit more about our first President, you 
realize what an opportunity he had to define the institution of the 
Presidency. One of the first things they asked of George Washington, 
the first President, was: What do we call you? Your Excellency? Your 
Highness? He said: Just call me Mr. President.
  His decision at that moment created a tradition, not just a formal 
tradition of how we address the President of the United States, but, 
more importantly, a tradition of how we view the President of the 
United States. He is not royalty nor is he to be treated as royalty. He 
is to be treated as another American, but one who at this moment in 
time, by the will of the American people, serves in the highest office 
in the land. So George Washington established a standard, a standard of 
respect but not awe, when it comes to the office of President.
  I thought of that over the years. In my lifetime there have been 
Presidents I genuinely admired, their politics and personalities, and 
others I was more critical of, but I always believed the office 
deserved respect whoever occupies that office. If you believe in this 
form of government and you believe in this Nation, the election to that 
office at the least--at the least--should gather the respect that each 
American owes to the office.
  This President announced he wanted to speak to the schoolchildren of 
America today on what is roughly the first day of school across our 
Nation. He was not the first President to make that suggestion. 
President Ronald Reagan offered a speech to the schoolchildren of 
America; President George Herbert Walker Bush the same. I can't recall 
any controversy associated with the addresses by either of those 
previous Presidents, but for reasons I cannot understand, critics came 
forward criticizing President Obama for wanting to speak to our 
schoolchildren. Even in my home State of Illinois, the President's home 
State, some school districts made a conscious decision that they would 
not broadcast or make available the President's speech. Others allowed 
children to opt out if their parents didn't want them to hear the 
President's speech.
  I think that is unfortunate. It is unfortunate and I am happy to say 
there are those of both political parties who said that. Senator Lamar 
Alexander, from Tennessee, a Republican, was just on the floor--a 
former Secretary of Education, former Presidential candidate. He spoke 
out and said of course the President should be allowed to speak to 
schoolchildren across America. Laura Bush, the former First Lady, said 
that this morning. Others have said the same.
  I think they understand two things: first, respect for the 
institution of the Presidency, and, second, the fact that the President 
speaking may have some impact on young people across America. The 
President gave his speech. I hope his critics have been silenced 
because, as a parent and now as a grandparent, as I read his speech I 
would like every kid in America to hear it. He explained his own 
background and the tough times he went through growing up, the 
sacrifices made by his single mom, the fact that his father left at an 
early age, the fact that education became an important part of their 
lives even as they traveled around the world.
  Barack, now President Obama, used to tell the story here in the 
Senate of his mother waking him up early in the morning when he lived 
overseas and saying: Let's get ready for school. When he would whine 
and cry about 5:30 in the morning and he is doing homework, his mom 
would say: It's no picnic for me either, buddy. She was a parent who 
cared, a mother who cared, and he a son who profited and benefited from 
her caring.
  When I read his speech and elements of it today, I am glad the 
President spoke these words to the students of Virginia, and those 
school districts that decided their children should not hear this ought 
to stop and reflect on whether that was the right decision. When the 
President says:

       But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life--
     what you look like, where you come from, how much money you 
     have, what you've got going on at home--that's no excuse for 
     neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no 
     excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or 
     dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying. 
     Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where 
     you'll end up.

  The President said:

       No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you 
     write your own destiny. You make your own future.

  He talked to these students not only about doing their homework and 
reading, getting involved in extracurricular activities, volunteering 
in their community, deciding to

     . . . stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied 
     because of who they are or how they look, because you 
     believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment 
     to study and learn.

  The President went on to say:

       No one is born being good at things. You become good at 
     things through hard work.

  And then he said:

       And even when you're struggling, even when you're 
     discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on 
     you--don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up 
     on yourself, you give up on your country.
       The story of America isn't about people who quit when 
     things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried 
     harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less 
     than their best.

  That speech by President Obama to the schoolchildren of America was a 
positive thing. It was a good thing. Some said it was a way to promote 
his socialist agenda, it was political propaganda. I find nothing 
political about these comments. This is good advice to any child, any 
student across this country, and I am glad the President took this 
opportunity to use whatever influence he has over these young people to 
guide them in the right path as they start out in their school year.

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