I Guess This Precludes An Update Of An Old HudsonSoft Title

We don't talk much policy at the Education Arcade, but during a presidential election year, it can be difficult to avoid. Currently, I find myself pretty happy with Barack Obama, but as I was excitedly listening to him give a primary victory speech in D.C. earlier this month, the dude let the air out of my tires.

It would seem Barack doesn't think too much of video games.

A quick Googling turns up a Game Politics post entitled Obama Campaign Theme: Video Games As Metaphor For Underachievement. The good folks at Game Politics pull the following quote from Obama's speech:

I know how hard it will be to alleviate poverty that has built up over centuries, how hard it will be to fix schools, because changing our schools will require not just money, but a change in attitudes.

We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children, and that’s going to take some time.

As the GP people also point out, Obama doesn't have the same history of decrying video game content that Hillary Clinton does. Nevertheless, it's frustrating to see that with all the great work being done with games and simulations for learning, video games are still such a convenient straw man for politicians promising hope and scholastic achievement to our citizens.