WH withdraws call for students to 'help' Obama

The Obama administration late Wednesday withdrew a recommendation that school children who watch a video featuring President Obama next week write about how they might "help the president" as part of a classroom assignment.

The decision came after conservative critics attacked the plan by federal education officials that teachers supplement the speech with a special curriculum that was designed in concert with the White House.

Among the activities the government was suggesting for pre-kindergarten to sixth grade students: that they "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." By Wednesday evening, the sentence asking children to think about how they can "help the president" had been removed from the document...