Once upon a time in America, after a presidential election was over, the country stood behind its newly elected leader, regardless of the political party he represented. Once upon a time, whoever held that office was accorded a great deal of respect because, well—he was the president. Once upon a time, people with a chance to see the president of the United States in person, or to hear him speak, jumped at the chance.

Flash forward to 2009: Media outlets report weekly on the president’s approval rating, and if it goes down, that becomes the news, with analysts from every corner weighing in on why it dropped and speculating about whether it might drop farther.

The out-of-power political party demands equal time to rebut presidential addresses.

The president wants to address high school students, emphasizing the importance of education, and the importance of their role in the country’s future—and a high-ranking official in the opposition party says he is “appalled” that school children around the country would be “forced” to watch the president spread his “socialist ideology.”

What happened? What are we teaching our children?