by alexmhogan, Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 10:54:44 AM EST
Barack Obama has a solid progressive legislative record, which is enough to make me think his occasional use of right-wing talking points when talking about domestic programs like social security and health-care is an electoral ploy. But then he comes out with this.
Senator Obama said this week that he is open to supporting private school vouchers if research shows they work.
"I will not allow my predispositions to stand in the way of making sure that our kids can learn," Mr. Obama, who has previously said he opposes vouchers, said in a meeting with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "We're losing several generations of kids, and something has to be done."
Education analysts said Mr. Obama's statement is the closest they have ever seen a Democratic presidential candidate come to embracing the idea of vouchers.
Vouchers, taxpayer-funded scholarships that allow families to opt out of public school and use their government-allotted education dollars to attend a private school instead, has been a major right-wing policy objective for years. From the National Education Association:
Despite desperate efforts to make the voucher debate about "school choice" and improving opportunities for low-income students, vouchers remain an elitist strategy. From Milton Friedman's first proposals, through the tuition tax credit proposals of Ronald Reagan, through the voucher proposals on ballots in California, Colorado, and elsewhere, privatization strategies are about subsidizing tuition for students in private schools, not expanding opportunities for low-income children....In the words of political strategist, Grover Norquist, "We win just by debating school choice, because the alternative is to discuss the need to spend more money..."
Bush has been a particularly strong advocate of vouchers, pushing a federally funded voucher program on the citizens of the District of Columbia and in his 2009 budget proposal proposed $300 million for national private school vouchers.
Obama would likely argue in his defense that he is only considering vouchers, and that his openness on the issue will be popular with independents and moderates who are frustrated with the pace of change in our public schools. But as Ruy Teixeira pointed out in a survey of voters' attitudes about public schools:
Despite criticisms of its current performance, the public's views on educational reform start with strong support of the public school system--particularly as it functions for low-income students. The public wants that performance improved, starting with higher standards, and is willing to tolerate fairly strict guidelines and testing regimes to accomplish this goal...The data also indicates that the public is far more interested in implementing more accountability in public schools and providing more resources to the public school system than in moving to a voucher-based system. Indeed, vouchers tend to lose badly today when in political propositions precisely because they are perceived to be in conflict with the public's commitment to adequate resources for public schools.
In 2006, voters in the reddest of red states, Utah, delivered this message loudly when they defeated by a 62% to 38% margin, a referendum which would have confirmed a law passed by the legislature to create the most comprehensive education voucher program in the nation.
The question is why Obama, who is now the Democratic frontrunner, decided to flirt with a program that is not only unpopular with the party's base, but with the nation at large and whose biggest proponents
are to be found working for the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." --Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)(also 1995)
Mark's new book, Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008, a collection 14 essays on Bush/Cheney's election fraud since (and including) 2000, is just out, from Ig Publishing.
He is also the author of Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform,
which is now out in paperback from Basic Books, with over 100 pages of new material.
He may be reached through his blog at markcrispinmiller.com. A movie based on his
off-Broadway show, A Patriot Act, is available on DCD at www.patriotnation.com.
If education really made room for people who think for...
themselves, we could pretend that privatization wasn't totally destructive. Far more would be accomlished by getting rid of school athletics in favor of having them run by city recreation departments.
by
John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1196 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 8:36:47 AM
Obamaism is a new Religion; you can't critique it!
I am glad to see a few people putting policies ahead of personalities. Seems Obamaism is a new Religion to many followers; like Religion, you can't criticize or critique it. My article on my distrust of Obama is:
I'm an Edwards supporter who voted for Hillary - yes I know, her Iraq vote was disgusting, but I am accepting what the candidates are stating their current positions to be now in the present - for our future.
Sharon
by
Sharon s (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 9:57:16 AM
say something about possibly privatizing Social Security? Privatization of just about anything has been such a failure when done in the past, we should all be wary of politicians putting forth this idea, either for education, Social Security or anything else.
by
uluro (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 68 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 10:52:15 AM
only "if" is the most important Obama qualifier here
Fully aware of the canard presented by the current incarnation of "school vouchers" - the Neo-Christian Nationalists and christohet supremacists came up with this to syphon public education money into religion-oriented schools - Barack Obama's full response to these questions reveals to me that he is open to the private schools voucher concept only "if" the evidence shows that it works.
There are and will be no professional studies which show that they work. All of the trials have failed regardless of the methods attempted and safeguards included, because all of the voucher schools practice many forms of illegal discrimination in their acceptance practices. I thought he made it very clear that he was open to considering them "only if". For me, this is the kind of open-mindedness that we need in a president; open to actions based on evidence, which in this case - reports that voucher programs work - does not exist and will not.
by
JustHisWordsdotcom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 11:36:50 AM
to national unity than this American obsession with "rugged individualism." If the US had a decent social safety net, Americans wouldn't have to look to a messianic president to unite them. Bush used the politics of fear to unite Americans. Obama is using the politics of hope -- so far, empty rhetoric.
Secure and decently funded social programs -- education, healthcare, social security -- are much more effective as connective tissue for binding citizens together in a common cause. Using your taxes to help one another is an active commitment to community. With that ongoing commitment to each other in place, you won't be so hungry for a Moses to lead you out of the wilderness.
This voucher business gives me the creeps.
by
delia (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 112 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 11:45:42 AM
Obama's statement was well intended and well spoken. He simply said that "if proven to work, he would not stand in the way of our children getting and education."
Public schools and Universities are certainly not working well, so open mindedness is what I hope for in your next president.
by
Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 2:22:40 PM
vouchers are indeed a way of pulling funds out of public education and giving them to church schools,constitutionally illegal but who gives a damn about the constitution nowadays.private schools also destroy american unity and force children to accept the narrow teachings of private schools reenforcing the schools bigotry toward others and society.in Micigan and Ohio Republicans have cut business taxes greatly leaving hugh holes in school budgets.as a former teacher i know this for a fact.all independent studies i have read show vocher schools preform lower or at best equal but no better then public schools with a very few exceptions.The voucher system is another example of republicans trying to destroy democracy and further their conservative base or should i say bias.Schools need more money not less to hire more teachers and lower class size especially in bilingual districts.We can go for the easy fix and ignor real solutions and privatize but that has been proven to be no fix at all
by
liberalsrock (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 117 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 3:47:30 PM
Yeah, he'd be "open to it" if a study could prove it works because we're losing generations of kids.
Sound good? Well, it's not. Here's the problem.
The US is spending more than $1.1 TRILLION dollars on "defense." Who's defending the school kids? We cannot continue to spend money to support the great oil empire and military contractor profits and simultaneously expect to meet our domestic needs. My town is laying off teachers. We're shutting down special education programs. We're eliminating those "whimsical" courses like art and music. We're no longer able to provide computers in the schools. The same trend can be seen all over my state. I'm confident towns all over the country are experiencing similar problems.
Before Mr. Obama opens himself up to the abusive idea of privatizing education, perhaps he might want to acknowledge the incredible damage his votes to support the US military infrastructure have done to all those school kids he's so concerned about.
by
welshTerrier2 (7 articles, 3 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 105 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 4:39:52 PM
Obama is the collectivfe projection of the rational elementof this country who, asent a real candidate, are taking the next best thing and pouring their hopes and sense of urgency into his campaign.
Privatized education, as he speaks of it, has been tried and it failed miserably. What happened to Chris Whittle's enterprise. Not doing that much or that well. He was supposed to be the Peid Piper but he's just the captain of a loss leader that keeps losing.
But Obama doesn't have to know much, he just has to preservehope and then follow the people, as any good leader does. It's a dreadful "best choice" but it' will have to do. Afterall, we couldhave Hillary as proxy for the Bush - Clinton enterprise.i
by
Michael Collins (96 articles, 16 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 344 comments)
on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 11:45:14 PM
Are you so very certain that an Obama Presidency will run as you predict? Will Obama, who seems more and more to be less and less, follow the dictates of the people any more than did his predecessors?
Hell, will he even beat McCain?
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 10:07:22 AM
11 comments
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