WASHINGTON - — WASHINGTON - - Conservative activists blasted it as socialist. Worried parents called for boycotts. School administrators struggled over whether to let students hear it.
But in the "back to school" speech President Barack Obama plans to give today, he will do what American presidents have done before - urge students to work hard, stay in school and follow their dreams.
"If you quit on school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country," Obama will say in the speech, which is loaded with similar exhortations. The White House released a transcript of the president's remarks Monday afternoon in hopes of neutralizing those who have charged he was promoting a political agenda.
The address, intended as an innocuous back-to-school missive, has proven to be a another late-summer distraction for the White House in what is emerging as a critical period for Obama. With his poll numbers sagging, the president had hoped to focus on winning public support for his top priority: overhauling the health care system. But other controversies, small and large, have gotten in the way.
Over the weekend, for example, a top Obama environmental adviser resigned amid a dust-up over remarks he made about Republicans and the fact that he had signed a petition questioning whether the U.S. government had played a role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In the transcript released Monday, Obama cited the importance of education as an equalizer, the power of social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, and the importance of working hard and taking personal responsibility.
He plans to talk of the challenges faced by young people in a media culture that seems to offer opportunities to get rich quick.
"I know that sometimes you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work - that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star when, chances are, you're not going to be any of those things," the president will say.
"But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try."
Obama's speech draws on his own experiences - and those of his wife, Michelle - to argue that education is the key to personal success and to the success of the nation.
