Barack Obama Mentions GTA IV During Campaign Appearance

although I promise you there are kids who are playing it,

Not even the general election yet and already making promises he can't keep...

Wow, that is a welcome change, but I am not sold. Why is it that Barak Obamma can say something really lame and everyone agrees with him? I think people need to become independent instead of blindly following someone like that, sure he could possibly be president, but he sure isn't God.

I play video games all the time, and I am still a straight A student. What is the deal with this guy? What has he done to earn everyones respect?

Sorry, Obama, but you are very wrong. GTA is not raising my kids, my wife and I are.

What he's saying is correct, so go him and all that. Now if only there were some sort of people whose duty it was to look after kids and make sure they're not throwing away their academic chances to play on video games all night. Preferably while trying to teach them how to function in society. Of course, they'd have to live with them in order for the monitoring to be a success and they would have to have some sort of personal relationship with the kids to get the point across.

If only such people existed!

That sounds... seemingly reasonable. I think.

I just studied for two hours.

I'm a little surprised he didn't bash it, but then again he's said very similar things in the past to this statement.

I agree with the senator. We're getting fat and stupid. I mean, look at the Halo 3 crowd :x I kid, I kid. But seriously, parental involvement, or lack of it I should say, is the reason that TV and Games are raising these kids.

Not bad. He did say Grand Theft Auto was not for kids and that is good. The rest of his speech was ify, in my opinion. Hard to describe but not neccesaryl important.

Did you watch the video before mindlessly copying the title? There was no "calling out" GTA, there was barely a mention. Let the news media continue to hype the GTA release - let's not have it here on GP.

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt At a campaign stop in Indiana, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama referred to the frenzy of publicity surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV as he repeated one of his regular themes: kids studying more and playing video games less. (see: Obama Campaign Theme: Video Games as Metaphor for Underachievement) Here is the transcript of Obama’s remarks: I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it. Now, this isn’t intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids… [...]

As always, I don't think there's a story here. GP seems to hype stories more and more often. JT, anybody? I still love you GP, but I'm getting sick of mountains and mole-hills. If we're going to turn people to sensibilities, we can't be yelling-boys like the other media outlets. It's bad enough what people did to that poor woman who condemned music on the tv. Gamers give us a bad name with their brash tactics.

Wow....the Senator actually uses...*gasp* his brain. Then again, Obama does seem the type to study an issue before blasting at it to make sure there's not a hidden meaning (read: morals within a story). That's a mark of an educated and wise man, boys and girls.

Now, if George W. Bush were running for office, I'm sure, he'd come out, both guns blazing, making up new words every second sentence. But, we already know what kind of person GWB is. 'rational', 'thinking', 'wise', and even 'educated' are things he's often not accused of being.

But I do agree with the senator. Kids should study as well as they can. The entertainment will STILL be there after. Cus if you dont study hard, you'll end up like GWB....

Like I said before, I like his position. Inspire kids, don't force them by banning stuff.

And yes, I think my keyboard is dying...

Hmn... a politician talking about a video game, GTA IV of al games, without ticking me off?

Glad to know Obama isn't that kind of person whose ready to blame social ills on something that has nothing to do with the problem at hand.

He makes a good point. Playing video games instead of studying isn't the way to go, I guess.

Anyway, I like how he doesn't bash GT IV, and instead focuses on alternative solutions to the "problem," solutions that don't include the impossible (i.e. banning GTA IV in the U.S.).

Exactly how much IS a goo-gob?

It sounds like he's one of those most dangerous of politicians, a thinker. From what I remember reading, Clinton v1.0 (the one with the intern shagging mod) was much the same way & he seemed to do fairly good things (as well as questionable women). Its definitely good to see a moderate and reasoned statement, even if it was written by an underpaid speechwriter it's a nice change.

I wish I could be playing it instead of studying.

But finals is finals.

@Rooster

The thing is, do you consider yourself the rule or the exception?

50 years ago, kids spent too much time listening to Rock'N'Roll and not enough time studying, 30 years ago it was 'Raving', now it is 'gaming'. The message itself, I'll agree, is far from new, but then it is the sort of message that never gets old.

'Business before pleasure' is always an important thing to be concerned with, and whilst you may be a straight 'A' student, America, as a whole, has a problem with its education system. I'm not throwing stones, to quote Douglas Adams, "In the UK, 'knowing stuff" is considered some kind of freakish, anti-social behaviour", but a lot of that problem comes from the fact that both our cultures are slowly becoming 'pleasure before business'.

Now, there's nothing wrong with relaxing and enjoying yourself, but you do it as a reward for completing whatever college work you had to do, I suspect, whereas there IS a tendency to use Video Games, TV and other pastimes as a way to subconsciously avoid doing that work. That is why it is a Parents responsibility to step in and be a Parent. It doesn't always make you popular with your child, but Parenting is about raising a good person, not being 'buddies' with your child. I had a moderately strict upbringing, I wasn't beaten, but I was told I could play after I had done my homework, and no excuses. Personally, I think I benefited from that, and my parents and I have an excellent relationship now.

So yes, you are doing things right, but Barack has the truth of the matter, that for a great many people, they're doing it wrong. I'm not a fan of 'all work and no play' by a long short, but parents have to learn to prioritise for and delegate to their child, and to teach them how to do so for themselves.

Although I understand that hard work during school hours is important, the situation with homework really is getting ridiculous. Nearly ten years ago when I was at school, I got (on average) an hour of study a night.. these days it can be two, three, maybe even four hours per night. When do kids just get to relax?

People like Obama are parading around the view that our children should be studying more and more, and playing less and less.. unless your child is a straight A honour roll student who goes to a big college or university, they are a worthless waste of space. Unless you are working in big business, law, or some other high powered academic profession you are a failure. Unless you spend a huge amount of your time working, you fail at life.

The school systems in many countries, by and large, cater only to academic pursuits. Where are we teaching students to be good engineers, or trash collectors, or all those other mundane jobs that we look down on people for doing? Where are we teaching people that, you know what, its okay to not be so academically inclined?

For the most part, we do not teach people these things.. we teach them that if they don't study hard, get good grades, go to good schools, they have failed themselves, their parents, their society.. anything less than B is a terrible thing, we don't have any room for someone who isn't so good at Maths or English in our society any more.

At least he doesn't criticize GTA for its violence. I think everyone can agree that maybe kids should spend a little more time in the books than in the virtual world. I guess the responsibility is still that of the parents though. See a trend?

Gotta agree with Thomas, the amount of schoolwork for kids these days is getting wild. If you study too much, academic burnout is a likely outcome. People need the occasional break, otherwise they aren't going to be able to concentrate. Not saying kids shouldn't study, but calm the hell down with this. All work and no play make Jack a dull, incredibly tired and bitter boy.