Coronado, CA – President Barack Obama says the Penn State sex-abuse scandal should lead to “soul-searching” by all Americans, not just Penn State.
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“Obviously what happened was heartbreaking, especially for the victims, the young people who got affected by these alleged assaults,” he told Westwood One Radio in an interview Friday night, in his first public comments on the scandal.
“And I think it’s a good time for the entire country to do some soul-searching — not just Penn State. People care about sports, it’s important to us, but our No. 1 priority has to be protecting our kids. And every institution has to examine how they operate, and every individual has to take responsibility for making sure that our kids are protected.”
The Penn State scandal has cost several university officials their jobs, most notably longtime football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier. They were fired because trustees felt they did not do enough to alert law enforcement authorities after an alleged assault in March 2002 by Jerry Sandusky, Paterno’s former assistant and onetime heir apparent, who has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years.
Obama said that the scandal shows that “you can’t just rely on bureaucracy and systems in these kinds of situations. People have to step forward, they have to be tapping into just their core decency.” When kids are mistreated — or anyone, for that matter — “all of us have to step up, we don’t leave it to somebody else to take responsibility.”
Obama spoke at halftime of a college basketball game — the Carrier Classic — between No. 1 North Carolina and Michigan State, held on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
When was the last time we heard such’a kind of speech of any Rabbi???
For once, I agree with this man. We all have a personal responsibility. We cannot look away when we see something suspicious. “If you see something, say something” should not just be a slogan for public safety with regard to suspicious packages and the like. We need to be vigilant to protect our most precious resources: the holy souls of our children. Molestation is called soul murder for a reason.
Let’s not stand idly by. Let’s all insist that our children be taught about child safety and that our schools take active steps to criminal background checks on prospective and current employees and that any behavior which may endanger children not be tolerated. If we have to err, let’s err on the side of caution when it comes to protecting our children rather than err on the side of protecting individuals and institutions.