The parent of a first-grader was disturbed when s/he read the lyrics for an "Obama song" that the students had been "instructed to sing".
Here they are (as presented by the school's assistant principal):
Obama,Hm.
President Obama,
President Obama,
President Obama,
President Obama--He says
Yes we can!
President Obama--We say
Yes we can!
President Obama--I say
Yes I can!
President Obama--He says
Yes we can!
President Obama-- Oh yes he rates,
The first Black President in the United States!
He's smart and he's--so so good!
He'll lead this country as he should!
He wants us all to work together,
To make this country even better!
Prez' Obama says--"Yes We Can!"
Make the US batter--hand in hand!
Obama,
President Obama,
President Obama,
President Obama
President!
Everything else aside, who wrote that thing? Is that really the best they could come up with? "Oh yes he rates"? And is it the songwriter or the asst. principal who has such a poor grasp of the rules of capitalization ("Yes We Can!", for instance) and punctuation (comma, comma, who's got the comma?!)? I mean, I know this is "poetry" and some poets seem to think the rules don't apply to them, but... These are supposed to be educators, and, well, I'm just not impressed.
If you're going to indoctrinate the nation's school-children to mindlessly worship an elected official, you should at least do it with some style! Make an effort to maintain a balanced meter. (In other words, don't cram too many syllables in one line, if the others are shorter. It's basic poet know-how. It's gotta flow, man!) Try to work in a nice "mm mm mm", at the bare minimum.
