The reason so many people are upset about President Obama addressing the nation’s schoolchildren is the “cult of personality” that surrounds this President. This video is an example of the cult of personality:

The lesson plan from the Education Department on watching the speech encouraged students to write letters to themselves about how they can “help” the president and to think about what the president wants them to do. Now they have backed away from those guidelines and re-issued a lesson plan that seems less political.
What this controversy has done is expose a fundamental debate in America — who is in charge of our children, parents or the state? The response from some administrators, even in Arizona, that no students will be allowed to “opt out” is downright frightening, and in violation of Arizona law.
You as the parent have rights in Arizona. I can’t tell you whether pulling your kids from an Obama speech is necessary – it’s almost impossible to avoid seeing an Obama speech in our current media culture — but that’s your call, not the school’s. Arizona Revised Statute Sec. 15-102 says school districts must have policies by which:

… parents who object to any learning material or activity on the basis that it is harmful may withdraw their children from the activity or from the class or program in which the material is used.