Wednesday, March 21, 2012

How Barack Obama's Education Policies May Lose Him the 2012 Election

How Barack Obama's Education Policies May Lose Him the 2012 Election



Many supporters of Barack Obama have been reluctant to support the initiative, organized entirely by teachers, to remove Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education for fear it might compromise Barack Obama's 2012 Election campaign. In fact, the reverse is true. This campaign, if successful, might save the Obama campaign from a loss of several key states dues to indifference or hostility to the ticket on the part of the nation's public school teachers, all 4 million of them.


Those who disagree me with might say that the nation's largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association. have both endorsed President Obama and plan to campaign for him vigorously in 2012. But that endorsement covers over a simmering discontent with the Administration's education policies among the membership of these two organizations that even their leaders had to acknowledge in their press releases. But this discontent is not merely passive. It has risen to the level of a deep seated rage in many teachers that will prevent them from campaigning for the President unless there is a relaxation of Administration pressure to rate teachers on the basis of student test scores or create charter schools. And it is particularly significant in the swing states. I am in regular contact with teachers in Florida, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Washington, and Michigan, who will boycott the Obama campaign unless Arne Duncan is removed as Secretary of Education. Since the margin of victory in these states at best will be small, their refusal to join the campaign, support it financially, and even go to the polls, could swing those states into the Republican camp.


This is still an avoidable outcome. Many of those teachers campaigned enthusiastically for the President in 2012 and would be glad to do so again if the President wasn't supporting policies that undermine their best practices and subject them to public attacks. But as long as Arne Duncan is Secretary of Education, that will not happen


So if any of you are close to the Obama brain trust, you might pass my words of advice along.


America's teachers are a sleeping giant, and you do not want to be the object of their wrath when they awaken.

2 comments:

Tom King said...

Count me among those puzzled by the continuing loyalty of our unions and many teachers to a president and administration disloyal to us and uncaring about K-12 and kids.

We have all been ill-served these past 4 years with the same policies instigated by the previous administration.

If you can't vote against, you can not vote!

Susan O said...

I agree with Tom.

Duncan is only doing what he's told.

I recommend reading "Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion," a collection of essays edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank. They point out that instead of blaming the corrupt insurance giant AIG, the Obama crew bailed them out with $182 (and counting) taxpayer money. And not only allowed the executives to continue to run the company but approved more than $450 million in executive bonuses.

Tens of trillions are likely to follow in this bail out of banks, etc.

Meanwhile, Obama and crew will continue to blame teachers for the economy.

We will never get change if we don't show the Democrats we won't just roll over and play dead because we're so scared of Republicans. Look at our war policy. Look at who Obama appointed to run Treasury, Agriculture, Interior. Could it possibly be more corporate?

Vote third party.