A student interrupts Obama at a D.C. event and is acclaimed as a hero by some on the far right – especially members of the Tea Party, who believe the president is arrogant and is just an orator in an empty suit. While explaining that all writers sometimes have difficulties finishing a speech, President Obama was interrupted by Osman Yaya, a student from Bennett Middle School in Maryland, who felt that he had covered every angle of the topic.
A student interrupts Obama at a D.C. event, is hailed as a hero by some, and called a rude child by others. So, which one is he?
On Thursday, President Barack Obama, who is determined to be the most active lame duck president in history, visited the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C. to unveil a new initiative named ConnectED Library Challenge that will most likely get attacked by the GOP.
Mr. Obama claimed that the ConnectED Library Challenge will make it possible for students in low-income areas to get easier access to books in libraries and online.
The ConnectED Library Challenge will receive about $250 million in free e-books from major book publishers including Simon & Shuster, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. More than 30 cities and counties will take part in the initiative.
Obama launched the program in Anacostia because a recent report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that 81% of D.C. 4th graders read below grade level.
Jeff Zients, a chief economic adviser to the president, had the following to say about the initiative:
“The problem is clear, and it’s also clear that access to books is part of the solution. By expanding kids’ access to books, we can help foster a love of learning and build the reading skills needed more than ever in the 21st century.”
The president sat in front of 30 students, (hundreds of students watched the launching via Skype in their classrooms), as he was being interviewed by a young student named Osman Yaya from Bennett Middle School in Salisbury, Maryland.
Mr. Yaya asked Obama questions that were posed by other students and were submitted via Facebook and Twitter. One student wondered if Obama ever had writer’s block while writing a speech. The president replied by saying that it happens to all writers and added:
“Many writers get blocked because they worry that what they are doing is not going to be that good the first time they write it.”
As Obama was talking about first drafts and the fact that there are no perfect writers, the 12-year-old student interrupted him by saying:
“I think we’ve sort of covered everything about that question.”
Obama understood that he was talking too long and replied while laughing:
“Okay, Osman thinks I’ve been talking too long.”
The video titled “Student Interrupts Obama” has gone viral with many people applauding the young man for “shutting up this arrogant president,” or for “telling Barry stop wasting tax payers money.”
The truth is that the student was asking the president to wrap up his comments because it was lunchtime, and they were eager to go eat.
During the event, President Obama revealed that as a child, he loved “Dr. Seuss,” followed by the “Hardy Boys and later “Great Gatsby” and “Of Mice and Men.”
Obama has also encouraged young girls to be passionate about math and science and to dream big – because he is the living proof that a man with his unique background can obtain the highest office in the land – what the heck – who are we kidding – in the world.
What are your thoughts on Obama’s encounter with Osman Yaya?
I think it shows no respect for the President of the United States, kids
copy their parents and I think it is a sad thing for anyone to think what this young man done was ok because it was not ok. A person may not like or disagree with a person of authority but you must respect the office that’s held, I think we are sending our children a horrible message because believe me just like he showed disrespect to the President one day he will show that same disrespect to another adult , anyone that’s dislikes the President for whatever reason should be ashamed of themselves for cheering this child on.
You are so right……just because you don’t like him respect the office….what that child did was rude…..apple don’t fall too far from a tree…..No respect for anything today. What a shame…that child should be taught better.
A total non-event. The young man was moderator and he did what any responsible person in that position should have done, remind the speaker, no matter what exalted post he holds, that time was limited.
As for teabaggers glee, if this pleases them it distracts them from attacking gay rights, abortion rights and the Social safety net.
The student was not rude he was the one in charge as such it was his job to move it along. Politician’s tend to be long winded and with kids they should known better. The same happens with debates the person in charge has to move it along. I applaud the young man
I think this student was very rude. Being polite shows respect and maturity. The words he chose “I think you’ve covered that option” and “the students were hungry” even further disrespect the office of the President. He was chosen from out of the district why? it seems to be in Anacostia in DC was a first for the student. Hopefully next time he should not attend since he was hungry and wanted lunch. The adults whom doesn’t like President Obama are the most immature grownups of all.
No other president that I know of has been so disrespected by any and every member of this moronic country and it is because 99.9% of all white people in the United States are Racist Pigs. While it is true that the child is obviously not, strictly speaking, “white.” But his fat face and piggish, overindulged looks accurately mark him as a conservative member of the not-deserving-to-be privileged class and therefore a greedy, self-absorbed cow. Better off in a slaughterhouse than polluting the culture still further than it already has been by generations of disgusting, gluttonous, self-absorbed pigs exactly like him.
Further evidence of his worthlessness as a human being is demonstrated by the fact that it was not ideological concerns that drove the little pig to be needlessly and pointlessly rude to the most powerful and important person in the world. No it was simply the same over-indulged piggish greed driving the fat and already over-stuffed piece of human garbage to such depths of idiocy: The little ghoul was worried about being late for his next feeding! This is America at its slimiest, most racist,greed-driven worst.
As noted recently by select members of the national media – on both sides now – he is indeed the worst POTUS of all my 60 years as a citizen of the U.S.A.!
Totally agree!
I haven’t wasted my data on watching the video, but from the appearance of the “still” picture it looks to me like this kid was part of the process, perhaps introducing Obama. I think it shows that this child has no respecter of persons and treated him as he would have treated another. This is done all the time in the adult world, when your time is up the person handling the lecture or the topic will cut you off. I don’t see why we think Obama should be any different. He has marketed himself on SNL and talk shows galore as an “ordinary” person so why should he be treated in any other way than one would treat an “ordinary” citizen?
No matter how you feel about the president, you don’t disrespect head of state. Yes, its freedom of speech but kids need to be taught how to conduct themselves in front of the public, elderly,peers inclusive head of state. By looking at this boy, he appears to be intelligent enough to know when to behave. If he was selected to represent others, there must be something in him that tells me he knows. Well if it was planned to remind the president then should have been done in a proper way. It’s not too late Osman, you can always do better next time, learn from your peers. I don’t know others, he must have been comfortable sitting next to president Obama.