Talk is cheap

These kids today don't know how lucky they have it. They're about to have a "when I was your age" moment to share with their grandchildren:

President Barack Obama will tell the nation's schoolchildren today he expects "great things from each of you."

"We can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world, and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities," Obama will say, according to a transcript posted Monday on the White House Web site.

My contemporaries and I ignored our parents' advice about buckling down and perparing for the future. We ignored our well-meaning relatives and older friends of the family. We ignored our teachers and principals and our churches (those of us who even attended). But I think the highest-ranking political guest who oever came to our school to enable us to ignore his advice was the mayor. Can you imagine the thrill of being able to ignore the president of the United States? Only in America, folks.