Once again, Byron York steps in where the rest of the media have fallen short:

The controversy over President Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush’s speech — they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.
Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president’s school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president’s political benefit. “The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props,” the Post reported.

I don’t think Obama’s speech to schoolkids should be much of a controversy, especially since they revised the questionable “[have students] write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president” lesson plans. The speech is well-done and heaven knows that we could use more talk about personal responsibility in schools (as well as with regard to the rest of Obama’s policy agenda, but I digress).

But it’s amazing how many reporters simply reported the simple fact that Bush 41 and Reagan gave speeches to school kids, and they did so in a context where it was obvious they were just trying to mollify the current controversy. They certainly didn’t provide any of the details Byron does.

UPDATE — Keep Byron’s piece in mind as you watch this NBC report. Not only do they downplay the school controversy, but they helpfully announce “a lot of the parents complaining aren’t smart enough to raise them effectively.”