Learning of programming languages is not important for everyone. I do not see the need of a politician to be able to implement any particular software. But I thing there is some misunderstanding in what a politician promote. You have to understand, that a political goal should not be taken too directly. By saying "I want to learn code" is more of a statement, a direction for more mathematical and scientific approach in your live. Its a motivation to many young people to make them understand that programming is not boring at all and is everywhere, from your smartphone to the electric city grid. I am, as probably many here, a professional programmer. Yes, I agree that a few hours, days or even weeks of programming is not enough. But we think on a different level. The software we write is not the software a politician is talking about. Whether it is R for some financial calculation for a economy student or a programmable calculator - the spectrum is wide and the motivation to learn programming as a general statement remarkable.