Obama: Students should serve
He calls on young people to help in their communities
David Monteroand Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News
Published July 3, 2008 at 2:34 a.m.
Updated July 3, 2008 at 1:06 p.m.
Photo by Jae C. Hong / Associated Press
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama waves to supporters Wednesday at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Cindy Stevenson liked what Barack Obama had to say Wednesday about students getting engaged in community service.
But the Jefferson County School District superintendent worried about differing definitions of community service. Does a school food drive count? What about work in a church? Or involvement in the Boy Scouts?
"The difficulty is, when you start making it a graduation requirement," she said. "That's when individual value systems among parents and different groups in the community . . . you can get an awful lot of conflict."
The plan Obama outlined in Colorado Springs called for getting middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of community service a year and 100 hours a year for college students.
He said the goals would be achieved by making federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs.
But Obama also said he believed young people would rise to the occasion - challenging what he said were "cynics."
"These are the voices that will tell you - not just what you can't do - but what you won't do," Obama said. "Young Americans won't serve their country - they're too selfish, too apathetic or too lazy. This is the soft sell of the status quo. The voice that tells you to settle because settling isn't that bad."
But Stevenson worried it sounded like a federal mandate.
"Somehow I have a hard time imagining the federal government withholding funds from poverty-stricken 8-year-olds based on high schools not doing community service," she said.
Obama's speech before about 400 in the gym at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was warmly received. But critics complained that was because the event was invitation-only and featured only people friendly to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Colorado Republican Chairman Dick Wadhams and state Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, launched a pre-emptive strike against the visit by hosting a conference call where they kept alive the controversy stirred up when Gen. Wesley Clark - an Obama supporter - questioned whether Sen. John McCain's military service alone made him qualified to be president.
The Obama campaign has been distancing itself from those comments and, in fact, praised those who served in the military - particularly those at Fort Carson. Obama also toured the U.S. Air Force Academy, NORAD and Peterson Air Force Base later in the day before attending a $1,000-a-person fundraiser at the Broadmoor Hotel.
The McCain campaign played nice as well after Obama gave his speech.
"It was refreshing to hear Barack Obama laud military service in his speech today," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement. "We hope this will be the tone we hear from him, his campaign and his surrogates from now on."
Obama's speech touched on big themes of giving and service, invoking the names of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
He also took a shot at President Bush.
"Instead of a call to service, we were asked to go shopping. Instead of a call for shared sacrifice, we gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in a time of war for the first time in our history," Obama said.
"Instead of leadership that called us to come together, we got patriotism defined as the property of one party and used as a political wedge to take us into a war that should never have been authorized and never been waged."
Some questioned why Obama visited El Paso County, which hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater in a landslide. But El Paso County barely sided with Johnson even then - 27,844 to 23,882 votes.
It is also home to James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family. Dobson also took shots at Obama for his "distorted" interpretation of the Bible.
But Dobson's name didn't come up. Instead, the crowd heard Obama quote King and say he was running for president because of "the fierce urgency of now."
"That is why I'm determined to reach out - not just to Democrats, but to independents and Republicans who want to move in a new direction," Obama said. "And that is why I won't just ask for your vote as a candidate - I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States."
Indeed, Obama will need to curry favor with independents if he wants to win Colorado's nine electoral votes in November.
Unaffiliated voters make up the second- largest block of voters in the state, accounting for 34.4 percent of registered voters.
Republicans are at 34.6 percent.
It was Obama's first visit to Colorado since the end of May, when he visited a school in Thornton.
Service proposals
* Asking people to join the military, with goals of adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.
* Increase AmeriCorps ranks from 75,000 to 250,000.
* Double the size of the Peace Corps.
* Expand USA Freedom Corps to create online network where people can browse volunteer opportunities.
* Launch new Social Investment Fund Network to include faith-based groups, private sector and government.
* Goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle and high school students and 100 hours of service for college students.
* Launch training for military veterans in "green" jobs.
* Expand YouthBuild Program, which puts young Americans to work building affordable housing.
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July 3, 2008
6:06 a.m.
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Mike846 writes:
I find it interesting that Obama denigrates the service of our current young people serving in many volunteer organizations, from the Peace Corps to the Armed Forces, when he himself NEVER VOLUNTEERED FOR ANY OF THEM. I guess when you're being educated at private schools growing up and the Ivy League for post-grad, like all the Liberal Elite, you call others to serve, but not YOU. This guy is a fascist; he believes the STATE should provide for us all, financed by the redistribution of wealth. Look it up: all dictatorships, ALL, come from the Left, not the Right. Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and on and on, ALL were Socialists FIRST. Vote for Obama and the Dems at your peril. They've already outlawed a lot of personal property freedoms in the interest of "The common good." They tell you what words you can use, what you can and can't do with your children's education, tax you on everything from gasoline to food, PLUS your hard-earned income, and now they want MORE. Wake up people. Vote against Obama. Mike
July 3, 2008
6:24 a.m.
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Mike_In_Hartsel writes:
He also wants a $4,000 education credit for 100 hours of community service. That's $40.00 an hour for unskilled labor? Whoa, Nellie. Bend over because here come the taxes, here come the taxes.
July 3, 2008
6:32 a.m.
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freethinker07 writes:
Mike846,
I have been described as somewhere to the right of Ghenghis Khan, and I will probably vote for McCain, but Obama's proposal makes sense. The courts have used community service for decades to reform convicts. The fact that he didn't volunteer means that he learned from the experience of not volunteering that he was missing something.
I am all for requiring candidates to be consistent in their current world view and proposals. But requiring that candidates have held their current views for their entire life ignores the possibility that they have changed and grown.
The fact that Obama is open to personal growth is a mark in his favor, not a mark against him.
We are raising a generation of self-centered brats. Years ago, when someone was carrying a large box and was having trouble with it, young men felt obligated to stop what they were doing and help. Young people felt obligated to give their seat to an elder on the bus. We don't see that kind of thing nearly enough these days. Kids are taught to "be number one" rather than taught to be kind. It's not their fault, it's ours.
July 3, 2008
7:15 a.m.
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BillK writes:
Yep, another round of "do as I SAY, not as I DO" from Obama.
Please show me the hundreds of hours of community service the Obamas have performed.
Nope, according to Michelle, working for high wages is wrong - never mind her seven figure salary.
Youth will "rise to the occasion" - especially when they won't be issued a high school diploma or college degree without performing whatever the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT will define as "community service."
Because remember, all help comes from the GOVERNMENT - and we'll use federal monies to ENFORCE that.
July 3, 2008
7:42 a.m.
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brylynloz writes:
If you voted for Bush (twice), rein yourself in. Think of the candidate that really grates on you, hold your nose and vote for that candidate. I know it's going to be hard; but remember, you were wrong before (twice). Get it right this time.
July 3, 2008
8:05 a.m.
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Lwayfan writes:
This is a terrible plan, but typical liberal policy with no thought of the consequences. Forcing volunteerism doesn't help anyone. To give, you have to want to give.
What are the economic costs (opportunity costs) for imposing such a program? Would these students who are "serving" otherwise be engaged in productive jobs earning money for themselves and contributing to the economy? Would these students otherwise be involved in more schooling or learning on the job which would make them more productive citizens in the future?
July 3, 2008
9:15 a.m.
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YourNeilness writes:
I don't know what you all read, but I'm seeing words like "ask", "should" and "goal" and not "must", "mandate" , "increase taxes" or "withhold funding". Asking young folks to contribute to their community makes much more sense than the me-first attitude the republicans espouse.
July 3, 2008
10:22 a.m.
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ColoIndy writes:
I'd say the fact that Obama sought out work with churches as a community organizer after college shows his bona fides with respect to community service. Sure, it was a paid position, but the pay was only barely enough to get by, and considerably less money than would have been available to him in the business sector.
As for the rest... heaven forbid that we actually ask young men and women to give a few hours of service back to their country in return for taxpayer help paying for college.
July 3, 2008
11:19 a.m.
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dst writes:
For those questioning Obama's service to the community: Obama worked as a community organizer for three years (1985 to 1988) as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP) on Chicago's far South Side. As director, he helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute. And serving as a senator is nothing else but community service. He's also running for president. The role of the president is to serve the larger community, is it not?
Also, he is not a fascist. Anyone who suggests that he is is selling something.
July 3, 2008
11:25 a.m.
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squeakywheel writes:
I don't need to be lectured on the merits of community service. Just another attempt to make us all feel guilty because we are all pathetic, greedy pigs (in his eyes). Sounds like a "thousand points of light" to me. More political positioning to the center from a radical liberal who has no intention of actually moving to the center as long as he remains in political office.
This is not new, nothing is new, nothing is change. Just more of the same old business as usual.
July 3, 2008
4:32 p.m.
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charlesmartel writes:
Obama said he would force a full year of government service for a $4,000 a year college grant. Thats $7.67 an hour.
What college graduate will work for a year for $7.67 an hour and actually get anything done? The one benefit of this is that anyone in this program would wind up hating the Obama and the government long before their forced year of Obama servitude is over
July 4, 2008
11:19 a.m.
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jbronson writes:
It is alarming that Obama would threaten to withhold public school funding for not complying with his ideas for how our nation's children "should be." Does this sound like ransom to anyone else? And who is Barack Obama (or the federal government for that matter) to force our children into public service?
I always thought that in the United States, we had the moral right to live our own lives. Obama apparently wants this to "change."
July 6, 2008
8:28 a.m.
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Sankhara50 writes:
Finaly, a real hint of what he means by this "change" he keeps talking about. So far it's been more military, more money to health insurance, more intervention but with more diplomacy.
I have concerns with the federal government making their approval of such programs mandatory for funding entire school districts. We pay taxes for schools. Plus, making kids serve nationally guided programs, to promote allegiance and unity sounds a little fascist. Can we question and challenge him about what we do or don't want about thes before election? I'd be cool with optional college credit work, as long as it's not way to close existing doors and force this as the option.
His reverse psychology telling kids that cynics will say they don't have enough unity or allegence to do something like this is pretty clever though.
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