After President Joe Biden appeared to “cancel” Dr. Seuss over allegations of racism, examples of leading Democrats recently celebrating the beloved children’s book author resurfaced.
The cancelation: Biden on Tuesday followed presidential tradition in proclaiming Read Across America Day, but he broke with his predecessors by leaving out any mention of Dr. Seuss, real name Theodor Seuss Geisel.
- Also on Tuesday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced it would end publication and licensing of six of Geisel’s books because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
- Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia said over the weekend that it had advised schools to deemphasize Dr. Seuss books on Read Across America Day, a literacy program that honors Geisel’s work every year on his birthday.
- Amid charges that Geisel’s work promotes racist stereotypes (“The Cat in the Hat” has been likened to a black minstrel show) the National Education Association has for several years sought to downplay Read Across America Day’s ties to him in favor of “diversity.”
The reaction: Conservative commentators on Twitter slammed Geisel’s “cancellation” as the latest progressive purge of the national culture.
Others noted that the Democratic Party’s most prominent black figures seemed unaware of Geisel’s status as a dangerous racist propagandist.
A widely-shared video shows Barack Obama praising Geisel at the White House on Read Across America Day in 2015 — one of several instances when Obama did so or read a Dr. Seuss book to children as president.
Michelle Obama read a Dr. Seuss book on PBS last May and at a number of events as first lady, according to resurfaced news articles and images,
- “We love Dr. Seuss in our house,” Obama is seen telling children at the White House in 2015 before reading aloud from “The Cat in the Hat.”
Vice President Kamala Harris enthusiastically quoted Geisel in a tweet on Read Across America Day in 2017, when she was a first-year senator from California.
Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump — while unable to match the Obamas’ passion for Dr. Seuss — continued to honor Geisel on his birthday.
- In his 2018 proclamation, Donald Trump urged Americans to “always remember the still-vibrant words of Dr. Seuss: ‘You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.'”
