There's a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to run afoul of the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.
For those who don't remember, the 13th Amendment says: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime ... shall exist within the United States."
I guess in Obama's mind it must be a crime to be born or to go to college.
In his speech on national service Wednesday at the University of Colorado, Obama promised that as president he would "set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year."
He would see that these goals are met by, among other things, attaching strings to federal education dollars. If you don't make the kids report for duty, he's essentially telling schools and college kids, you'll lose money you can't afford to lose. In short, he'll make service compulsory by merely compelling schools to make it compulsory.
Is he kidding? Does he really not know (or care) that many schools already require some form of community service as a graduation requirement, or that the No Child Left Behind act similarly threatens to withhold federal funding from schools?
Or does it count as "slavery" only when a black Democrat suggests it?
For that matter, students are required to do all sorts of things like, um, show up for class and, er, take exams. Does that mean all students are slaves, or that all children who are told to clean up their rooms and take out the garbage are slaves?
And while many children (or those who are just childish) may scream "slavery!" at being told to do anything at all, grownups know better. Goldberg really should as well.
Perhaps he should have paid more attention in school.
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