Newt Gingrich defended Barack Obama's back-to-school speech, saying every child should hear it. Newt: 'Every child' should read speech

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended President Barack Obama’s speech to school children Tuesday, urging “every child” to read the remarks.

Some conservative critics have accused the president of trying to “indoctrinate” school children with a speech Tuesday welcoming students back to school, but Gingrich said during an interview on NBC’s “Today Show” that the attacks are without merit.


“President Reagan did it, President George H.W. Bush did it,” he said. “I read the speech yesterday when it was posted and I think the White House was smart to post it.”

“It’s a good speech,” Gingrich added. “I recommend it to everybody if you have any doubts. I would love to have every child in America read it, think about it, and learn that they should stay in school and they should study.”

While Gingrich had praise for Obama’s school speech, he criticized the president for delivering a “very partisan” speech on Sunday that hit conservatives for not offering credible alternatives to Democratic attempts to overhaul health care.

“What’s your solution?” Obama asked of his critics Sunday during remarks to the AFL-CIO in Cincinnati. “You know what? They don’t have one. Their answer is to do nothing.”

Gingrich disputed the president’s characterization of the conservative position.

“Yesterday’s speech was fine if you’re a candidate, it was a terrible speech if you’re president,” he said. “For the president to suggest that his critics do not have alternative solutions is simply factually false.”

Looking toward the president’s speech Wednesday to a joint session of Congress, the former Republican House Speaker urged Obama to decide if he is “walking in as the President of the United States trying to calmly bring us all together, or is he walking in as a partisan left winger trying to rouse his side to run over everybody else?”

“If he can give a speech tomorrow night in the tone of his speech to the students, this country would be much better off,” Gingrich said.