Obama Missing Historic Boy Scout Jamboree for Fundraisers, 'View' Taping

This was a fact when I was in boy scouts. I guess there is a lil Ronny in all of us.

 

I aim for subtlety.

 

I was genuinely asking. I wasn't a boyscout. I don't know.

 

What did GWB choose to do instead of the Jamboree in his first term?

What did Clinton choose to do instead of the Jamboree in his first term?

If you answered "that isn't relevant," you are right, just like it isn't relevant what Obama chose to do instead of the Jamboree in his first term.

When you are reduced to criticizing a politician's choice of PR events and mustard, it is very clear that you do not have any germane criticism and are instead flailing about trying to tar him in any way you can. I guess I should expect that from you by now.

 

When conservatives are complaining that OBama isn't doing photo-ops with the BoyScouts enough (he did two of them already)....you have to conclude they have nothing else to complain about.

If this is their biggest problem with Obama, I'd say he's doing a great job.

 

I understand your sentiment here, but you know that isn't what's happening. The strategy of both parties is to win the war of attrition by complaining about EVERYTHING the other party does or doesn't do that they can twist into a negative.

 

With all due respect, you don't have a problem with the other "anti-" because you aren't one of them. I'm not an atheist or homosexual, but I can't see myself standing on the side of those who are against them.

Oh, and atheists and the non-religious are not a "small portion of the population" any more. According to a 2008 survey, 15% of the country identified themselves as "non-religious" [linky]. That's greater than the population of Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims in this country. In fact, since 1990, that number has almost doubled from 8.2% to 15%. It is roughly equal to the 15% of Hispanics or Latinos, and greater than the percentage of the African American population (12%) and the Asian American population (5%).

 

Will Obama ever give speeches at Muslim, Jewish, Christian, etc. events?

 

I'm not surprised to see the almost universal vilfication of the Scouts here. I have no "dog in this hunt" regarding the Scouts, although, like I said, my daughter really enjoys Girl Scouts for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Like many of us as adults have done when on a job with people you have to work with that are bigots, or relatives the same way, where you keep your thoughts to yourselves to "keep the family peace, " or keep your job, she blows that aspect of it off. She's highly intelligent, and it's not just Dad talking. I could crank off a list of her accomplishments as she approaches 15 years of age, but will spare everyone, but much of this criticism is purely politically based.

Scouts like my daughter keep her politics to herself and really enjoy what appeals to her, and what would appeal to millions of kids, what has appealed to millions of kids over the decades, and would be nearly universally praised were it not for those prejudices of the leadership. They do a tremendous amount of good, both to the scouts (absent those politics and religious bias) and to many outside of scouting through things like projects to help the elderly and the like. If the tenets of scouting that anger so many of us were reformed, many of you doing nothing but criticizing this would sing a different tune, but it is what it is.

My interest in saying anything that could be construed as positive about the President speaking to the scouts was driven by politics. As I said earlier, Obama could have gone on The View anytime. There was no need for an "either, or" in this instance. His visit to the Jamboree would have garnered him some positive press with people that, in the main, would lean the other way politically. To me, that would have been smart. To vilify scouting and completely discount the positives that might have come from speaking at the Jamboree in the run-up to the Fall elections is, in many ways, no different than the knee-jerk tendency of today's Right to automatically villify anything done by the Left, regardless of what it might be, what good might come from what they do. You are using no nuance and painting with just as broad a brush. The kids don't give a damn about the politics. Many of the parents don't and ignore it, liking their kids to have the opportunity to go camping, get in the outdoors, be taught many skills that parents in today's busy world frequently have no time for or, in many instances, don't take time for.

It's like saying all Catholic priests suck because a minority are sick, twisted, pathetic creatures, while ignoring the good the majority do. No, I'm not Catholic, and no, I was only a scout for a couple of months as a kid, quitting because it didn't agree with me. Not the philosophy, but being in a group activity like that. It's not for everyone, but everyone in Scouting are not deserving of some of what I've read here. There are many kinds of bigotry, folks..

 

wow....a lot of hate for the boyscouts. It's not a big deal that he doesn't attend the 100th -- the 104th is just as good, I suppose. (and by that time I'm sure those dastardly boyscouts will be a more deserving organization).

But the View, people. He's appearing on the View. This is the President of the United States on the freaking View...this shouldn't be a partisan thing here...

 

I agree, but it's not much worse than this:

Spoiler

or this:

Spoiler

 

I used to think of Obama in a mostly favorable light. But now that I see he missed the Boyscout Jamboree I know for a fact that he was born in Kenya and is working for the terrorists.

The Boy scouts would have found this out as well, and since they are always prepared Obama would have been captured. He chickened out.

What a great find Oddson. You've really dug up something very very important here. Keep up the good work.

 

Arsenio vs the View??????

If Obama shows up in hammer pants I take back ALL my criticisms.

 

I agree with many of your points, and don't discount that Scouting offers many positives to young peoples' lives. My problem with the organization is not that there are a "few bad apples", i.e. - comparisons to the Catholic priest situation. It's that the foundation, the very core beliefs of the organization are exclusion. You may argue that this doesn't occur to the children and/or the majority of parents, but that's really beside the point: it's there. It exists. It's real. It's something that they don't hide: quite the opposite, they laud like it's some (pardon the pun) badge of honor. It's not the "fine print". It's not a hidden agenda. It's the agenda, period.

As for politicizing Obama's lack of appearance at the event, I would argue that FoxNews did the "politicizing" by reporting this as if it were something to actually be angered about. If you're going to trumpet the Boy Scouts as some untouchable pure "good" to which the President should defer, then I think the truth of the organization should be known:

They don't want your son if he doesn't believe in God. According to them, you cannot grow into a good citizen without believing in God. So, I guess all atheists are morally bankrupt.

They don't want your son if he's gay (which, make no mistake, teens can determine before their 18th birthday). Gay teens, apparently, can't be leaders.

They definitely don't want YOU to be a part of the organization if YOU happen to be gay. As a gay adult, you're incapable of being "morally straight and clean in thought, word, and deed". So, just to be clear: you can be a convicted criminal and be in BSA. But if you're gay, keep walking, because they want no part of you.

If this group were truly about enriching the lives of young people, they would accept all young people, regardless of their religious beliefs or sexual nature. If this group were truly about adults helping enrich the lives of young people, they would accept all adults (barring safety risks), regardless of their religious beliefs or sexual nature. But the truth is this: this is a club where like minded kids and adults can exclude anyone who doesn't think like they do. At it's very core, the group is wrong.

 

how many women vote?

 

Nice post Deck. Agreed.

There is a huge chasm between the organization's stated goals and the implementation at the local level. The BSA's national "political/social" agenda is non-existent in our local pack. We're not there to talk politics.

While I condemn the BSA's official social agenda, my son enjoys and benefits from scouting. He neither knows, nor could care less, what their offical stance on social issues may be.

If that day comes, it is my duty as a parent to have provided the framework for him to make his own decision on the "right or wrongness."

PS No one told him he couldn't participate when we declined to state a religious preference or earn our "religion" badge.

 

Lots of them golly gee!

 

While it may not be discussed and may not enter into day-to-day workings, it can't be "non-existent" within your pack because it is part of the core beliefs of the organization with which your pack affiliates. It is part of the reason your pack exists: because the BSA allows it to be so, based on a policy of exclusion. Understand, I'm not denigrating the parents or the Scouts themselves: I know that they are, for the most part, just parents who want the best for their children and kids who want to better themselves while gaining an appreciation of nature and the outdoors (a noble and worthwhile goal). But they're doing so under the flag of an organization that treats the non-religious and homosexual community as second-class citizens. This is something I could not, in good conscience, be a part of.

I understand, but from a third-party perspective, you don't condemn it: you endorse it for both yourself and your son by being members of the organization.

Something I have no doubt he will be able to do, as you seem to be a thoughtful and supportive parent. But, again, none of these things change the stated prejudices that exist within the organization. Until they change those policies, I wouldn't be able to look my child in the eye and tell them that the group they are part of is worthy of the respect you seem to have for it.