What's wrong with Obama talking to kids?

Let’s start by stating the obvious: There was nothing remotely inappropriate about what Barack Obama told the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday.

On the contrary, it was the kind of pep talk and kick-in-the-pants challenge most kids could use a lot more of. Key point:

“But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers, listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”

And: “We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.”

And: “No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.”

It would be tough to scare up many human beings who wouldn’t want schoolchildren to take that message to heart. The reason this broadcast was controversial, of course, was the messenger, not the message.

Obama has suffered a dramatic loss in popularity in the last couple months, in part because he’s had to make tough and unpopular decisions, in part because of his own stumbles, in part because he’s been demonized by legions of people who apparently simply hate him.

His chief political blunder to date has been giving congressional Democrats a free hand to craft health care reform legislation and try to rush it toward passage before the public – and many lawmakers, it seems – knew much about what was in it. In the resulting backlash, every curiosity and unvetted notion in the various legislative proposals got lumped together as “Obamacare.”

There’s also smaller stuff – such as needlessly inserting himself into the dispute over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. It’s all had a cumulative drag on his standing.

Obama-bashers have seized on any opportunity to magnify his mistakes and misrepresent his positions. Some have aped the idiot rhetoric of the left, casually flinging accusations of “racism,” “fascism” and “Nazism.” Some depict him as a socialist – which must startle the genuine (and scarce) Marxists who still think a government-owned economy is a great idea.

This is not a fun time to be Barack Obama. His enemies have been yelling so loudly that even many reasonable conservatives got alarmed by what turned out to be an unobjectionable effort to keep kids connected to school.

In the military, you salute the rank, not the man. On occasion, the nation’s best interests call for doing the same with a president, separating the office from politician who holds it. You shouldn’t have to be an Obama fan to stand back at times and simply let him do his job, which includes the kind of moral leadership he showed Tuesday.