mgpcpastor's blog

The US people have a particular relationship to the office of their President and with those individuals who hold that office.
In Australia the functional head of our Government is a member of the House of Representatives. The party that individual leads holds a majority of seats in that chamber. On the other side of the House the minority leader is the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister is answerable to the Parliament.
In the US the office of the President is distinct from the Houses of Parilament. There is not an individual that stands as an opposition counterpart to the President. The President is the Head of State and the Head of the Goverment. These two offices mean that while the office holder governs the country’s national affairs they are also the figurehead of the nation. There is really a conflict of interest that this union produces. How do you oppose and criticise the President without disrespecting the nation.
This is odd to Australians who regularly lampoon those in authority, usually in escalating degree proportionate with their level of authority.
These comments are a precursor in attempting to understand, as an outsider, the latest controversy surrounding President Obama.
To mark the commencement of the school year the President has addressed US school attenders in a video linkup across the nation.
There was a strong reaction by some who basically did not want their children to listen to their own Head of State because they believed that the President would use the opportunity to influence young people to support what they believed to be his left-wing politics. In addition concern included the desire not to have someone with Barack Obama’s attitude to abortion talk to their children.
Basically the speech told the kids of the USA to work hard, make the most of their opportunities and give themselves the best opportunities in life by getting educated. Not really that subversive. To be  truthful any skillful politician (and President Obama is certainly that) would not be stupid enough to do anything else.
I can’t believe that any similar action in Australia would draw similar objection. Australians always keenly look out for anyone taking themselves too seriously. We generally aren’t into adulation of politicians. (Our politicians generally aren’t cool either.) Look at the reaction to the situation with the signs that have to be placed in schools noting the Government’s funding for building projects or the requirement that the Deputy Prime Minister be invited to the openings. There’s heaps of criticism but people aren’t identifying this as some sort of threat to our liberty and lifestyle. They just recognise someone taking advantage of the system and getting too self-important.
I mentioned a little while ago that US folk hold achievers and entrepreneurs in high regard, often supporting them uncritically. The Global Financial Crisis is Exhibit A of this. The esteem in which the Office of President is held holds the nation together, while at the same time making it susceptible of being taken advantage of. Those who don’t want Barack Obama to talk to their children recognise this possibility, but don’t really object to it so much as they object to it being exercised by the present incumbent. (There are those in the US who are actually opposed to centralised government and authority, and while that is a factor here among some it is not the dominant concern.)

In any case here is the youtube of the President’s address. It runs eighteen minutes. Judge for yourself. The text is easy to search up on the internet.

In addition you can go to the website of Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Seminary and read his evaluation of the situation from a US perspective. Mohler raises a number of points about how the Obama Administration had not managed the situation as well as they might.