Legal Niches

Once Again, Obama Refers to Video Games As Something to Set Aside for a Greater Good

By gamepolitics

While President Obama has never expressed a specific anti-video game sentiment that we're aware of, he does often refer to games as something to put aside in order to do something more worthy.

To wit; on Father's Day Obama urged dads to swap their kids' video games for books. In a recent speech to the American Medical Association, Obama said that children should "step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside." In early June Obama suggested that Chinese and Indian children were pulling ahead of American youth because they watch less T.V., play fewer video games and spend more time on their schoolwork.

Video games came up again yesterday as the President and Mrs. Obama spoke at a United We Serve event at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. eNews Park Forest has a transcript, including the President's comment on video games:

On Monday, we launched "United We Serve," our summer service initiative.  It's going to run all the way through our National Day of Service on September 11th.  We want to ask every American to take some time out this summer to do something for others. 

 

Parents, take your kids -- they're going to have fun, they're going to be in sports camps, they're going to be watching TV and playing video games.  Once a week, take them down -- whether it's to a soup kitchen or to volunteer on a community project -- teach them what it means to be a real citizen.  You'll find that actually the kids love it, and it's going to make a lasting impression on them. 

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on June 26, 2009 (boomark / email).