Saturday, July 5, 2008

Redefining words, Obama style

Apparently Mr. B. H. Obama has a different definition of the word "ask" than most people:

I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am President of the United States.


Because apparently what he means by that is:

I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you'll have done 17 weeks of service.

We'll reach this goal in several ways. At the middle and high school level, we'll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities. At the community level, we'll develop public-private partnerships so students can serve more outside the classroom.


So in Obamaland, "asking for your service" means "manipulating low-level bureaucrats [i.e., school district board members] into forcing you to serve."

No, wait, maybe it means something else:

For college students, I have proposed an annual American Opportunity Tax Credit of $4,000. To receive this credit, we'll require 100 hours of public service.


So "asking for your service" could also mean "manipulating you into serving by promising that you'll get other people's money."

Truly visionary leadership. I can't believe this hasn't been tried before. Maybe with a little more effort we'll be able to turn out model citizens!

(H/T Jonah Golberg, via Insty)

1 comment:

Earl said...

Why does this goal disturb me? I don't remember enough time to serve the country or community in my high school years - family, job, social functions, education and guns in school and in the parking lot. No time for community service - although I was a Boy Scout and in the Youth group in Church, I was such a bad (read juvenile delinquent) young man. No hope for me or my kind...