Culture is not an ornament of leisure to be measured in museum attendance, opera subscriptions, theater going and the like. It is, rather, the fiber of life—a living tradition of values—that lends meaning to a society’s artistic production. The nature of our culture is gauged most accurately not by artistic wares but by the character of the men and women we entrust with public office. By that measure, American culture is at a precarious low. Which brings us to the current administration, ever on the qui vive for promotional vehicles for its own agenda.

Between taking over GM, stroking lethal dictatorships, bullying allies, floating schemes to annex the economy, outlawing private health insurance, and otherwise gaming the system, our Artful-Dodger-in-Chief has taken time to write lesson plans for impressionable pre-voters. Jay Nordlinger, at National Review Online, posted a mild, Goldilocks kind of response—just right—to the White House’s effort:

“Kiddies of our Nation, hear your Leader!” No, just kidding. Look, it’s possible to make too much of Obama’s Speech to the Schoolchildren. And it’s possible to make too little of it. No, it’s not the end of the world: Such a speech does not put us on a path toward North Korea. But it’s also a little . . . creepy. A little un-republican. A little — just a little — Dear Leader-ish. Immodest.

It is also a foreglimpse of something more than a lapse of modesty. As of this writing, published lesson plans for the upper grades—fledgling voters in 2012 and some in 2010—ask students to list the 3 most important words in the president’s speech. Focus-grouping, anyone? Substance aside, what words will resonate with young voters a year or two from now? [Any bets on whether the results of that question will wind up in the principal’s office on Pennsylvania Avenue?)

It is important to get the public on statist porridge early. The White House might consider borrowing the motto of the Man-Boy-Love Association (NAMBLA): “Eight is too late.”