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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support. FOR THE WEEK OF OCT. 31, 2005 Presidents and the second-term curse![]() ![]() Have your students track newspaper reports of the political scandals in the news including Libby's, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Ask them to explain the issues involved in each case and what the politicians are accused of doing. Lead a classroom discussion about abuse of power and examine factors that lead to corruption.
![]() Ask the students to check their newspapers for local political controversies and partisan attacks and have them write a report about how such behavior affects public confidence in government. Do they trust their local, state and federal governments. (A recent poll of 50,000 people in 67 countries found that only 13 percent trusted their governments.) If the students trust their government, ask them to explain why. And if not, why not?
![]() Ask them to invite a local politician they've read about in their newspapers to the classroom. Have them interview the politician and write a report about the challenges of public service, how raising campaign money can lead to legal difficulties and why political life is a worthy endeavor.
"Second terms are not kind to presidents," Richard Nixon told Meet the Press many years after he resigned in disgrace over Watergate, the only president to quit office. The tape was replayed Sunday on the latest edition of Meet the Press, which focused on the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, adviser to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. It was the first indictment of a major White House figure in more than 100 years. Nixon's observation about second-term curses easily could have been seconded by Bill Clinton, the second president to be impeached but who, as in the case of President Andrew Johnson, escaped conviction. In fact, the historical trend of second-term curses has plagued presidents for nearly 70 years, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt's 1937 scheme to pack the Supreme Court with additional justices who would uphold his New Deal programs. Congress slapped down the powerful FDR in his most humiliating defeat. While things look bleak for Bush now, he still has three years left in his second term to recover. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Clinton did. So did FDR and Eisenhower. They all suffered through bad weeks, and Bush has just had a terrible one. It was the week that the U.S. death toll in Iraq hit and topped 2,000, the week his Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination in the face of fierce right wing Republican opposition, the week when a public fuming over high gasoline prices learned that oil companies made record profits, when yet another hurricane reminded people once again of the Katrina response fiasco -- and finally the Libby indictment and resignation. On Sunday, a new poll showed Bush's approval rating at just 39 percent. And an array of Republicans appeared on Sunday news shows advised Bush to clean house and make dramatic new initiatives to regain the people's confidence. (A few weeks ago, half of Americans polled by Associated Press-Ipsos said they doubt his honesty.) Front Page Talking Points is written by
Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024
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