Response to President Obama’s Address to Congress from the Purple Party

Dear Readers:  I will apologize in advance for the following 1996 words.  Although what can one expect from a passionate crusader!

On February 24, 2009, Barack Obama, the 44^th President of the United States, gave his first address to Congress.  This was followed by the Republican response given by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.  I will now give the response on behalf of our children with disabilities.  I proudly represent the Purple Party. 

Puzzled by the Purple Party, are you?  Well, you shouldn’t be.  Do you honestly believe the United States is only about Democrats and Republicans; Blue and Red America?

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Egregious Myths, Tall Tales and violations to the IDEA 2004!

When your child is identified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA 2004), he or she is then the recipient of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) that will guide their educational lives for as long as they are receiving special education programs and related services.  As a parent you want to believe that each and every special education and general education teacher; along with the social worker, school psychologist, speech and language teacher, occupational therapist, physical therapist, counselor, principal and supervisor and director of special education, is working in the best interests of your child.  Unfortunately this is not always the case.  In fact, too often this is not the reality.

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Morning Joe, Basketball and IDEA 2004

You are one of the almost 13 million parents of America’s students with a disability.  Just imagine you had the opportunity for a relatively prestigious TV gig and question and answer session with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.  You are on morning TV with millions of viewers watching, waiting and examining the merits of your every word.  In fact you are the host of a growing-in-popularity, cable news and radio show and you actually have a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome.  Would you have asked Secretary Duncan the following question?  What’s it like to guard Barack Obama in a basketball game?  I am going to take a leap of faith and guess the answer is no…or at the very least it would not have been your first or only question.  Well, I now welcome you to the cold, harsh, uncaring world of Reality TV and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where I witnessed this egregious abuse of commercially-paid television airtime. 

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President Obama, the Special Olympics and the Mother of all Gutter Balls

Leave it to a comedian to loosen-up even the most practiced and gifted of politicians, legislators and Presidents of the United States.  On March 19, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to go on Late Night TV.  And, during several minutes of a lengthy and “seriously” funny interview – at least based upon the more typically in-and-out vapid nature of Late Night TV – the following repartee´ was exchanged between Jay Leno and Mr. Obama.  Mr. Leno had assumed President Obama had “burned down the bowling alley” and our President assured him that couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, of late he had been practicing his abysmal bowling skills. 

 

President Obama – “I bowled a 129…”

Mr. Leno – “Very good….”  (with sarcasm)

President Obama – “It was like Special Olympics or something…”

 

Recognizing a political gaffe to the glee of Republican leadership and the hopefuls of 2012…Mr. Leno quickly moved the topic onto the basketball court where our President has both physical and oratorical prowess.

 

Still, through this painfully brief exchange Barack Obama bowled the mother of all gutter balls and revealed his ignorance regarding his citizens with disabilities. …

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