Bush Sr. was subject to similar controversy over school speech

Democrats and liberals who accuse Republicans and conservatives of going overboard in response to President Obama's address to the nation's school children may find they dealt themselves the hypocrite card.

President Obama is not the first president to address the United States' children in an effort to promote a healthy outlook on education. Similar tactics have been employed by other Presidents, including Ronald Reagan in 1988 and George H. W. Bush in 1991. President Bush Sr. was also subject to similar scrutiny and controversy by congressional Democrats. The only difference between Bush and Obama is the time frame of the scrutiny. President Obama is set to address the nation's school children from K-12 at 12 pm EST. His speech will encourage children to have a positive and healthy outlook at school and impress upon them the importance of education. The text of the speech was published on the White House website last night in response to the controversy surrounding the suggested lesson plans which were optional for school teachers to help reinforce the speech. The controversy stemmed from fears President Obama would use the speech in an attempt to influence or indoctrinate school children into accepting parts of his platform which are contested by the opposition. In 1991, President Bush gave a speech encouraging kids to stay in school and do well. Controversy in his case started after he gave the speech; a Democrat-run congress called upon the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the legality of using Department of Education funds to pay for what some hailed as a political maneuver. The Washington Examiner Reports:

Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

The GAO found the President acted legally, but the legality did not assuage the moralistic undertones which opposition still held as an issue. The National Education Association (NEA) publicly denounced the President spending $26,000 on the public announcement but cutting funds to a school lunch program. The articles today in the blogosphere are rehashing the political back and forth of the 1990s to highlight what they feel is hypocritical actions by the Democrats. However they have also said that the President's speech is benign in nature and are not calling for a GAO inquiry.