This is a very interesting article that appeared in the New York Times. It was written by Stanley Greenberg and Anna Greenberg. He, I recall, was a pollster and advisor to Bill Clinton.
They credit Obama with major accomplishments, but note that over 1,000 Democrats list office during his two terms, and Republicans took control of most states. His personal popularity did not help his party. Now Republicans will control the White House and both houses of Congress.
One of his great errors, they write, was neglecting his base. As Republicans passed anti-union laws, Ibama remained silent.
The Greenbergs fail to mention that Obama s major effort in education was an extension of the GW Bush program of test and punish. Teachers, always an important part of the Democratic base, were repeated assailed as incompetent by Arne Duncan and alienated by his insistence on high stakes testing. Duncan and RTTT promoted privatization, worked closely with reformers like Jeb Bush noted for their hostility to public schools, sent millions to TFA to undermine the profession, and turned the Department of Education into a marketing arm of the education industry.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I have to agree with this analysis.
Me too.
Absolutely !
Obama was indifferent to educators who work in and on behalf of public schools. Arne Duncan was openly hostile. Teacher unions were pawns in an agenda intended to dismantle them. There was no good reason for teachers to be enthusiastic about supporting Democrats at any level.
That’s not my understanding. Duncan was quoted as saying he was just following Obama’s directives. Obama has been pro charter from before he was in politics. I think Duncan was just more crass. A hatchet man.
The article understated President Obama’s complete abandonment of labor in favor of the wealthy. Senator Obama would be ashamed.
Yes…although it was Senator Obama who wrote his book about Audacity wherein he already was complaining about public schools and how he would take steps to change them.
Bush had my immediate attention in 2006. I did not have the audacity to read it. Was Sen. Omama already complaining about public schools? Did he mention charter scams or “…filling in some bubble on a standardized test…”? I have to admit in 2008 for me, it was a choice between McCain, who talked about 50 years of war in Iraq, and anyone else. Waiting for Superman and Race to the Top hadn’t yet revealed the tangible and symbolic primacy of education politics to me. All I knew was that testing was a way to shutter schools and eschew the responsibility to fund fairly, and that the impossible goal of proficiency by 2014 was proof.
I think part of the formation of the Tea Party was from certain people in the country that resented an African American president. This includes most of the south and large sections of the rust belt. Democrats, not just Obama, have alienated labor by giving Wall St. and corporations free reign.
Apparently, resentment from Buffalo’s Paladino, also.
Did he actually believe or hope the Republicans would work with him? He gave in, perhaps due to his inexperience in government. These days you have to remain in campaign mode to get things done. His machine should have been out there in 2010 to help and support Democrats. It was back in 2012, wasn’t it. Education policy, a disaster.
“A scrupulously honest administration” they say. Honest??? NOT!!!
With Rahm, with Immelt, with Summers and Rubin…with intrigue and secrecy dealing with Big Pharma and Big Insurance to the detriment of seniors, with no support in Wisconsin, no support for teachers in Chicago, with trips to LA to court the huge chic entertainment industry cash (same as Hillary),. to his Wall Street-Goldman Sachs Cabinet appointments, to nor indicting the banksters who destroyed our economy, to conniving with Arne and Pritzker to push for Charter schools and for Common Core, with increasing Executive orders and the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act (so that now a fascistic prez can rule unobstructed by the citizenry)…on and on.
Yes, he did some things of benefit to the country, but as he courted Repubs he diminished the strength of the Dems. And as his coup de grace, his betrayal of Israel and the peace process
This so handsome and charming and erudite, Patrician prez, could have stood with the progressives…he chose not to.
But he has a great wife and family, and he will certainly now be in a position to collect the profits…I loved and lost…we all did.
Well stated. We should also remember his clandestine meetings on the TPP, which most Americans oppose.
Forgot that one, dear colleague. Glad you added it. Hope you have a satisfying and healthy new year…and look forward to our continued alliance in 2017,
Here’s another Obama faux pas I just recalled. He sold out the Latinos that campaigned long and hard for him. He promised a “path to citizenship” that quickly went on the back burner repeatedly. By 2010 the Democrats kept losing ground along with any ability to make good on the promise.
Thanks, Ellen. Wishing you a great holiday!
Spot on Ellen it takes me too long to type .
What Joel said.
“His betrayal of Israel”? GIVE ME A BREAK. A HUGE FREAKING BREAK. You mean his abstention of condemning the ILLEGAL settlements in the West Bank? His was a coward’s way out. HE should have vetoed. What’s so hard to understand about ILLEGAL? Or are you talking about the $38B he’s handing over to Israel? So they can buy American arms to use on the Palestinians? Freeing up shekels so Israel can offer its Jewish citizens free university education? Universal healthcare? Home loans? Pay people to move to the West Bank (against international law)? Aaliyah? Free abortions?
The two state solution is DEAD. Israel killed it. The West Bank (aka Judea and Samaria to right wing Israelis) is now Swiss cheese due to settlements that steal Palestinian land. Settlers burn thousand year old olive trees to disrupt Palestinian lives. They siphon off water to fill their olympic-sized swimming pools while Palestinians, their agriculture and livestock go without. This is when settlers aren’t actually POISONING their wells. And all of this is while the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) stand around and watch.
In order to get people like you to stop with this ridiculous talk of “betrayal,” what exactly do we need to do for Israel? We already turn a blind eye to all that they do: collective punishment, by demolishing the homes of “accused” terrorists, throwing out Palestinians from their homes of over 100 years so settlers can move in, giving birth control to African refugees without their knowledge or consent (considered GENOCIDE under UN laws). We ignore the rampant racism, where settlers post pictures on FB of them near Africans in park, and they write about “visiting the zoo,” integrated kindergartens burned down by the right wing fascists, Israeli youths marching through East (Palestinian) Jerusalem chanting “Arabs to the ovens,” just like neo-Nazis marching through Skokie, etc. What else can we possibly do? Hand over our paychecks? Give them more free reign in running our government than they already have? The joke circulating the internet about Russia’s so called involvement in our election is that it pissed off the Israelis, because they’re the ONLY ones who can interfere in our politics.
And I can back up all my accusations with proof, so don’t say I’m lying.
Accusations of anti-Semitism starting in 5…4…
An awful long diatribe and even as a Jew I am not saying your points are wrong . Netanyahu and the Israeli right are leading that country to a hellish future, which says nothing about the conduct or leadership of the other parties to that conflict . But it is curious that in Ellen’s King George declaration you focused on one sentence.
So does that mean you accept the rest of her declaration as I and most who have commented here do.
Her one sentence rubbed me the wrong way because it is beyond the pale. We do nothing but bend over backwards for Israel, and ONE abstention vote is a ‘betrayal’? Oh, brother.
Joel..
I chose not respond to this emotional outburst since this comment reflects a person not informed on policy issues, but who views policy through their own biased prism, wearing cast iron blinders. I have often written here about the university systems’ problems with hate speech and the manipulated BDS movement which are clearly orchestrated to rile up anti Israel and anti Jewish hatred.
ALL the leading Dems reacted to the US “abstention” (rather than veto) imposed by Obama, with horror since it clearly has dimmed any prospects of a negotiated peace process. It has emboldened the surrounding radical Arab countries to continue their push to “drive Israel into the sea” and also for Iran to join them in looking forward to a nuclear war in the Middle East. Given that, at this moment in time, only Israel has nuclear weapons, the more rational among our leaders understand that the prospect of any nation considering a ‘first strike’ is anathema.
Too many Middle East complexities to list them all here and now.
It is Trump-like thinking to make blanket and irrational statements based only on black and white bias, without considering the dichotomy needed for clear headed negotiation. This is why we need a professional and proven student of history and government, not a business maven like Tillerson, to be our Sect. of State.
I always worry about people who repeatedly use the words “should’ and “must” and I take their comments with, not a “grain” but rather, a tablespoon of salt.
Typical Israeli hasbara that appeals to emotions and does not in any way shape or form respond to the factual allegations I have listed. “Betrayal” is in and of itself hyperbole since Obama just promised Israel $38B. Settlements are ILLEGAL. To say Israel must stop populating occupied territory is not anti-Semitic. To say Israel must abide by international law is not betrayal or anti-Semitism. Do you also believe the West Bank is Judea and Samaria? What Zionists like you fail to understand is that your “Israel right or wrong” is what’s causing it to become a pariah among nations.
Socalaura,
I don’t approve of the settlements.
I also don’t approve of terrlorists blowing up pizza parlors and shopping malls and stabbing strangers on the street. A reader of this blog was murdered on a city bus in Israel. He was a pro-peace, pro-coexistence retired teacher. He believed in love.
The world has always opposedIsrael for a simple reason: it is a Jewish state. I am not a Zionist. But I believe in mutual peace and respect.
Joel…this emotional outburst and distorting of my words is why I will no longer engage with ideologically aggressive people, whether I agree with them or not. It is futile to be reasonable with name callers whose opinions are firmly set in concrete. I do hope that this person is not any form of educator..
Well said. That pretty much covers it for me.
He’s a very personable man who puts thought into what he says. But his policies did not benefit many of us.
The failure to, at the very least, put the heat on those who created the financial collapse was disgraceful. He lost a LOT of us there. His policies on education (Arne said he was just doing what the president told him to do) did much to alienate a many of us, as well. CCSS probably got Trump a few extra votes, as the right wasn’t very fond of it either.
All that said; I think it’s a pretty safe bet that many of us will be looking back somewhat fondly on Obama’s years before the first year of Trump’s reign has ended.
Obama toed the “corporate line” on behalf of the reformers when it concerned public education. His cabinet appointees, especially for Secretary of Education, ran in line with the goal of the reform movement to paralyze public education, the record level expansion of charters, and the bashing of public educators took place under his watch…often as he would politically “look away” to other issues.
Many democratic politicians also walked with him, often against the democratic base, including the “lonely hearts club” here in New York…that implemented harmful policies in public education.
While throwing our education system into deep water and forcing it to swim against intentionally difficult currents, Mr Obama often pointed to other issues, and conveniently refusing to address the mess of public education started under Bush, and intensified under his watch.
Mrs Clinton would most likely have been a successful candidate had she embraced public education, but it was financially and politically convenient for her to simply attack “Donald”.
Obama, while an immensely intelligent man, mistakenly followed in his predecessor’s footsteps, and Clinton sought to follow…a wonderful appeasement to the reformers. The election going to Trump was not one of America’s choosing…it was the repudiation of policies of the last 16 years.
Trump pledging to “drain the swamp” and then filling it with more monsters demonstrate his allegiance with the reform class. The selection of Pence as his Vice President is a clear indicator. My fears are that the immediate future will make the past two administrations pale in contrast, but will open the door for even more hatred of the status quo.
2020 may be the election to save public education from the billionaires and millionaires racing to the bank as our children are financially and constitutionally starved.
Curious if it’s a proud moment for John King- to be on the same side of the education agenda as, the former, racist Georgia Governor and Senator, Talmadge and Buffalo’s Paladino.
For all of the right and wrong arguments for and against Obama, we cannot ignore one and main problem: He’s Black–in a country that still has bred-in racism at its core. Of course, the problem is not that he’s Black, but that the greater “We” are still racist. From the beginning, Republican congresspeople rejected HIM and so ANYTHING he put forward, regardless of what it was, and even when it was something that THEY first agreed on.
Did we elect a Black man at the wrong time? As MLK said in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, even though the arch of justice is long, if not now, when? Who knows, then, for the long run. And what do you say to Obama: Too bad you’re Black?
But I think the reality of it is that some people (more than anyone thought) hated him from the get-go on nothing but racist terms. (Even racists deny they are racist.) And some who were so shocked by Obama’s election as president are now doing an “in your face” to “liberals” and “elites” as they define them . . .blah blah blah.
I’m posting again the link to that Mother Jones article about the mentality of Trump voters in the South. If you read it, take note of the mental image that many (whom the writer interviewed over several years) have in their heads of themselves being in line for “the American Dream,” and the undeserving “others” who are slipping in ahead of them–others like women, Black people, immigrants, and everyone under the sun who is not them or white (mostly males). It’s so deeply-set, racist, misogynist, and xenophobic it’ll make your toenails curl.
The image and the WPost article speak to the same reality that Diane wrote about later (see heading and link below) The Mother Jones article link is below that.
Why Does the White Working Class Vote Against Its Own Interests? by dianeravitch
This article in the Washington Post explains a phenomenon that I have long wondered about: Why do people vote for politicians who promise to cut programs they rely on and need?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-white-working-class-votes-against-itself/2016/12/22/3aa65c04-c88b-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.f7ce54107572
View at Medium.com
Catherine…agree with what you say, but many of us voted for Obama not only for his erudition and great smile, but specifically because we deeply wanted to see him as the FIRST Black president. We now aim toward the next Black prez, and the FIRST female, Latino, Jewish, etc. presidents…and as for me, that means each should also be a progressive, and not a tool of Wall Street.
addendum…the new California Senator, Kamala Harris, fulfills many of the traits I enumerated…she is a highly educated woman ‘of color’ who is married to a Jewish attorney, and she was the elected AG of my state. She is only 52 and would be young enough and seasoned enough from legislating in our deeply divided Senate, to run for prez in 2020.
She has already been appointed to sit on important committees which will determine America’s role in this dangerous new administration. Please keep her in mind and follow her carefully.
Don’t vote based on color, race religion, vote for ideas and actions
Guess you are another ‘naysayer’ who skims while reading, Helen.
I indicated what an excellent AG Harris was in Calif., and her academic training and positions on progressive issues are, so far, outstanding. She also went to, and supports, public schools.
Since I also believe in broadening America’s leadership to include people of color, diverse religious views, and all genders, Kamala Harris is the icing on my version of the political cake since she fills these issues that are important to ME.
Hello Ellen–yes, goes with out saying for many of us. But the Trump followers are another story altogether. I would call them hypocrites if I thought they knew what they were doing.
But, but, but… Let’s remember back to 2008. The recession was underway in 2007 & the collapse occurred before the election. Good enough reason to switch horses for most. McCain’s appalling selection of Palin for VP, another one. For those who recognized Clinton’s neolib admin played its role in loss of mfg jobs (NAFTA) & paved the way for Repub actions leading to collapse (repeal of Glass-Steagall), Obama sounded different, sounded populist/ anti-neolib, & we hadn’t had much of his legislative history to contradict that assumption. That brought progressives onboard. None of that has to do w/electing the 1st black president (tho that surely put him over top via minority vote).
bethree5: All of that and more is correct (from my understanding of it); but I was addressing those who pushed against EVERYTHING he did while he was in office and, thus, changed what could have been done on several fronts. I do think he was WAY off where education is concerned. I also think he was trying to be president to all and not merely to the left–and that got him into trouble with everyone.
Trying to be president to all& not merely the left… maybe. I think it’s more like his particular ethos already tacked far right of what we think of as ‘the left’. He was centrist-right-neolib– not much different from Repub– as became evident immediately as he selected Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, Tim Geithner Secy of Treasury, keeping on Gates in Defense (& of course the onerous appt of Duncan to Ed).
Yet I’m w/ you on “those who pushed against everything he did while in office”. I was frankly shocked at McConnell’s vow to make Obama a one-term pres & obstruct against his every move. It was like, Repubs were oblivious to how much they had in common w/him, viewed him as a “liberal” which he is not. Much of a centrist nature could have been accomplished were it not for this recalcitrant Repub position which I’m hard put to assign to anything other than racism (?)
This article was more about the medias role in creating a dynamic of diminishing empathy for others . But here is the conclusion. I did post this the other night .
“There were three farmers: a German, a Hungarian and an American. Each had a cow. One day, misfortune befell them, and their cows died. Each remonstrated against God, saying God had failed him, and each lost faith. God realized he had to do something to make amends. So he came to Earth and approached the German.
“What can I do to restore your faith?” He asked. And the German answered, “God, I lost my cow. Please give me another cow.” And God did so.
“What can I do to restore your faith?” He asked the Hungarian. And the Hungarian answered, “God, I lost my cow. Please give me that cow and another to compensate.” And God did so.
And finally God came to the American, and He asked, “What can I do to restore your faith?” And the American answered, “God, I lost my cow. Shoot my neighbor’s cow.”
http://billmoyers.com/story/media-morality-neighbors-cow/
And another re-post from a poet over 50 years ago that explains the White Southern Mentality the more things change the more they remain the same. The difference is as the middle is crushed it has moved out of the South.class. I could not help but think as I read your link that the Oligarchs must be overcome with joy. As they deflect the pain and anger toward the poor and the helpless . Sat there and thought ,how a Northern European would view these people as totally alien.
The poet, Robert Zimmerman
“A South politician preaches to the poor white man
“You got more than the blacks, don’t complain
You’re better than them, you been born with white skin, ” they explain
And the Negro’s name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician’s gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game ”
” It would be rare to find a farmer in the 1890s or a worker in the 1930s who did not know who was screwing them and how. ” Lofgren again . Certainly not today.
The oligarchy has worked very hard to bring us to this point. Starting with the reversal of the New Deal in 1948 with Taft Hartley which crippled unions. Insuring the South would remain non Union possibly for as long as a century.
Yup Government has been screwing you ! Those that believe that today are in for the screwing of their lives “bigly”
bouncing cursor, middle class is crushed
Joel Herman: “Bigly” indeed. I am a contributor to the “comments” section of a conservative Catholic newsletter.. Some there (probably more than a few) think that all this talk about fascism is “hyperbole” by the liberal left. They are really a test.
The opportunity for a wealthy individual to come out in support of public education is there…rarely before in out nation’s history has an opportunity existed for so long…one so wide…so needed and wanted by the public..yet so lonely ignored.
Which wealthy businessman of businesswoman will be the first to stand up for our public?
It wasn’t Bush.
It wasn’t Obama.
It would not have been Clinton.
It very likely will not be Trump.
Who will be the first?
This is a Golden Opportunity to reclaim the torch for the American people.
Yet so many remain deaf, dumb, and blind….but for how long?
They are afraid of Wall St. and Silicon Valley, both of whom want to ride the education gravy train to the bank. Both groups have lots of campaign contribution money at their disposal. We should limit the amount of money in campaigns to deter the wealthy from buying elections, and give democracy a chance.
You are so right, retired teacher. One of my googlenews filters is “campaign reform” & I keep a close eye on it. I don’t see how we can accomplish much of anything for the public good– education, infrastructure, clean air et al EPA goals, justice/ incarceration system– before we rid the govtl system of the corrupting influence of unlimited campaign contributions & lobbying. From that corruption arises the untrammeled capitalism/ free-market/ privatization hubris.
BTW, the image of being in line in the Mother Jones article is also competitive–as in zero-sum-game capitalism. So we have a lethal combination of (a) white (mostly male) denied privilege and (b) competitive capitalism buried deep in the image-base of a good number of Americans. Sigh . . . . but of course, we haven’t done a poll.
Even a bit more generous than I have been. Obama did not rescue the economy.It healed on its own with the help of Helicopter Ben Bernanke lowering rates to zero and purchasing 17 trillion in questionable bank assets . The stimulus was far to small and included tax cuts,that went mostly to wealthier families, where it went to savings and investments rather than stimulative policy.
He rescued the Banks from bad behavior, “we were never going to have a second Great Depression, because we knew how to prevent depressions WW2 taught us how to do it, spend money.”(CEPR). . Or as the Occupy movement said when they changed the narrative that Obama jumped right on in 2012 . “They got bailed out we got left out and no one went to jail” That swing to Osawatomie Kansas and income inequality was enabled by Occupy changing the narrative from Deficits to Income Inequality . Conveniently just in time for the election. Of course he crushed that movement as a thank you. Let us not forget that he had a supper majority and both houses of congress in 09 when he took office. What we were told is Blue dog Democrats prevented his progressive agenda . As he told progressives to stop whining.
Speaking of dogs there were no Beagles for him to pull the ears of in the Obama White House. I know LBJ must have had it easier with Wallace and the Dixiecrats passing Civil rights . Passing Medicare and Medicaid increasing social security and the war on poverty.
The most revealing email that was released, was the one that showed Michael B. Froman, then Citigroup executive, a bank that was to be bailed out to the tune of 350 billion dollars, picked the entire first Obama cabinet.
The sad part is instead of just fading into the sunset to allow the party to rebuild around a progressive alternative. He is pushing Perez another supporter of Obama’s disastrous trade deal to head the DNC. A deal he kept ramming down the throats of the American people. Corporate Business as usual.
Of course we the American people will be left to pick up the pieces. His legacy could very well be Trump reversing the New Deal. Trump reversing Civil rights .
Trump has a bare majority and lost the popular vote. Watch the carnage he preforms with 52 Senators that Obama could not do with 60. It is not that he could not do it . It is that he would not do it . From day one he was afraid to go bold because he was concerned about a failing legacy. Nobody moves nobody gets hurt, except the American people.
Good reminders of the real history of the Obama administration, Joel.
But I must add that many if not most Keynsian economists were nervous with Bernanke’s “purchasing 17 trillion of bank assets” especially after the banksters’ risks were/are insured by the FDIC, which now encourages them to take even more risks and to invent and sell ever more risky derivatives.
And also, the terror of Keynsians increased with Bernanke printing even more ‘fiat’ cash at a rapid clip. It is a miracle that there has not been another deep recession…YET.
But as you say, Obama’s shoring up the banks (with stimulus provided by the American taxpayers, and started by Bush and Paulson), and the FED keeping interest rates at zero, seems to have saved the day, at least for now. Some of the credit goes to Yellin, (the female economics professor from Berkeley who succeeded Bernanke, who succeeded Geithner who was an incompetent as FED Prez) who raised the rates by 1/4 per cent last week. So far, things are stable, and the stock market will probably hit 20,000 by 2017.
Remarkable recovery that goes unannounced. Yes, Obama can take some of the credit…and Bush shold take most of the blame.
Recovery? Wages are still below 2008 levels and unemployment is well above the farce of 5 percent which is a figure thrown around by fake news AKA (The US Government). The national debt is at 19 trillion and counting and our fiat currency isn’t even worth the paper its printed on. Unions are almost entirely gone and so are a plethora of well paying jobs thanks to globalism and disastrous trade deals like NAFTA which are designed to benefit Corporate pigs. Rents and housing prices are through the roof. Just wait until the Federal Reserve raises interest rates as they have been delying the inevitable forever with artificially low rates. Recovery? Yeah right only if you live in la la land and get your news from CNN, MSNBC, Fox and the like.
The Real One: And, of course, we would have been soooo much better off if we had left it in Republican hands.
Agree Real One…recovery for only the investor class. Should have been more specific. The redistribution of American’s wealth upward has left at least half the workers in dire situations…and Hillary and the DNC did not pick up on how much that was changing the voting patterns. Thanks for correcting me.
The Real One
Not fake news but it is false narratives because investigative journalism is on life support . Has been for some time.
The state of economy is actually told accurately by Government statistics. The failing is in the interpretation of those statistics. Also critical is to consider that methodology is not static. Your grand fathers unemployment rate is not the same compilation.
The unemployment rate actually is 4.7 percent . But!!!!!! there are 5.4 million working part time who would prefer to be working full time a record high that does add somewhat to the above number.Keeping in mind that even in a boom there are some millions caught in that situation. This reflects more than a weak economy .It reflects a structural change in employment that employers have created, because of the persistent inability of labor to place demands,a forty year pattern.
One of those Government statistics is the labor participation rate for prime age workers 25-54 . It is 2% behind 2006 highs and 4% behind 2000 highs. So how does all this translate to that 4.7 % . It adds several points, Several points brings you to the edge of recessionary levels, explains stagnant wages and a federal reserve reluctant to raise rates. By the way Cheney was right about one thing, debt don’t matter. You grow your way out of debt. It could be something as simple as a phony asset bubble that causes people to have “irrational exuberance” spending against paper assets or their home values . Some of that translates into taking on more personal debt but its cumulative effect is growing your way out of debt as happened in 1999- 2000 . Of course when the bubble bursts you are left with the persistently weak economy that we have seen for over 4 decades with inflation adjusted real median wages behind 1970s levels .
But these quirks in statistics are no more the fault of Government technocrats than the missing “Weapons of Mass Destruction” were the fault of the career CIA . They presented the evidence that was skeptical of weapons programs . Cheney,Bush and co. then cherry picked it to justify an invasion. A media more interested in selling advertisement space than investigative journalism struck up the band in an orgy of yellow journalism that led us to a disastrous war. YET AGAIN.
Some other popular mostly false memes.Not in order
1)Schools are failing . (number one on the list)
2)There is a skills shortage the jobs are there the people are too stupid or lazy
3) Immigrants are taking jobs Americans wont do.
4) Markets are self regulating and always best left with out government interference.( As if that ever existed or ever could.)
5)We live in a meritocracy.
6)Automation not Trade has been responsible for the job losses of the last 20 years .
7) We are a shinning city on a hill . An exceptional people … … .
Who just elected an accused child rapist, a fraudulent narcissist demagogue, to the most powerful dangerous position on the planet. A people who have child poverty and incarceration rates higher than any first world nation… …
.
What I have to add is; that the news media did not mysteriously arrive at the state it is in. It has been by design. The media especially the broadcast media is owned by the Plutocracy and serves its interest very well. As called for by Louis Powell, 4 decades ago. Including portraying any journalists who question the established memes of being peddling fake news.
Does anybody think that anybody with a functioning brain stem could not determine that John Podesta running a child sex ring out of a DC pizzeria was absurd. Or to explain that better, that anyone who could possibly believe that was ever not voting for Trump anyway.
Yet the Washington post owned by a right wing plutocrat ran 23 articles in 24 hours against Sanders . Then they used an unidentified
source to slander almost every progressive news outlets as being in collusion with Putin. That is truly fake news.
And let’s not have a repeat with Corey Booker.
Catherine Blanche King: Until you realize that there is no difference between a Republican and a Democrat you will continue to partake in the same blame game over and over again. Both parties are bought and paid for by the same people and are beholden to no one but those individuals. You have no at the. ballot box because both choices ultimately lead exactly down the same path. So no the economy wouldn’t have been sooo much better under a Republican because both Repubs and Dems answer to the same exact people and those people sure as hell aren’t everyday citizens.
The Real One,
There is a vast difference between Democrats and Republicans. No Democrat would appoint a fast-food billionaire as Secretary of Labor or a climate change denier as director of EPA, or a Secretary of Health and Human Services who opposes government medical insurance and abortion.
Either you are a Trump troll or you have gone so far left that you are now indistinguishable from the radical right.
Yours is the voice of despair, passivity, and giving up. If both parties are the same, then we must abandon all hope. I don’t buy it.
This is a place for hope, encouragement, and resistance to inhumanity. If you don’t want to fight, don’t mock those who do. Find someplace else to wallow in despair. If you want to gird your loins for the struggle ahead, join us. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get ready. Or shove off.
Diane: I don’t know why my name is at the top of this post (I think i t was originally for Ed Johnson), but for the record, I agree with what you say in your note and admire your forthrightness in your saying it.
Obama was bad for the Democratic party. The polls were off about Hillary and they were off about Obama’s popularity as well. His education plans were the worst i have ever seen. I think Trump’s education plans will be even worse and it is going to be very hard to work against those plans because the legislature and the house are Republican. The democrats lost alot of ground, I think they will get back but it will take time and alot of effort.
The Democrats need to put forth candidates that represent the interests of the middle class, also someone that voters can relate to and get excited about. That would help them get back in the game.
You are right. I’m still sick over what happened to Bernie. The DNC is not going to do anything for people, the Hillary machine was no friend to teachers, workers. Paper ballots, no big $ for campaigns, we already know but cannot do. Glad all of you are here posting your civil, intelligent ideas.
A new way,
If you follow comments here, you know we argue, and I argue with your comment that Democrats would have done nothing for working people including teachers. Trump has declared war on working people (note his choice for Secretary of Labor opposes the minimum wage and advocates replacing humans with machines), on the environment (his EPA pick denies climate change), and on public education. Yes, there is a difference, and it is vast.
To Helen Olchak -Otero: I think the polls ended up being right–because of the popular vote, but not in terms of the electoral vote. I heard that from someone on the news twice, two different times, two different channels. If that’s arguable or not correct, please correct me here. But I also think Obama was trying to play with rules that were good, but not accepted by his opponents, and that makes for an unfair outcome. I do wish he had channeled President Johnson’s methods sometimes.
Obama lost support because his ‘race card’ turned out to be purely symbolic politics. He did little to easen the life of African Americans. His education policy (RTTT) even deepened the racial “achievement” gap. So while he annoyed many racists he disappointed his supporters. Similarly Hillary Clinton did not get the support she could have got because her feminism was also mostly symbolic, annoying the machos but not getting full support by women. Hillary Clinton should have told the people that Reagan and Bill Clinton caused the economic crisis through their irresponsible deregulation politics. She should have taken up Bernie Sanders’ program to tame the banks and the speculators again. But she did’t. How could she?
Look at all the comments from educators who recognized that Obama was an enemy of public schools. As you reported, Diane, he was recruited by the hedge fund backers of charter schools even before he became President. Voting for HRC would have been voting for just more of the same. The Democrats have morphed into closet Republicans. A new political party is needed.
I agree with so much of what is cited above. I was an enthusiastic supporter of President Obama in 2008 and a resigned voter in 2012. His immediate capitulation on rolling back the Bush tax cuts was the first sign that his commitment and rhetoric were light years apart. And although I no longer work in education, I sensed something was deeply wrong and it was “Reign of Error” that put the proverbial dots together for me.
Also, I think it is important to remember that Bill Clinton also had few coattails and that the party suffered just as much despite his reelection. But I place the greatest amount of blame on the Democratic Party. At the local, state, and national levels, the party has been complacent and incompetent in recruiting candidates and building a consistent message. I saw it in Louisiana when I was young, I saw it again in the DC area, I saw it in California, and now I see it in Ohio. Leaders tell us what to think rather than make the effort to listen to us. Wasserman Schultz, with all her reprehensible qualities, is just another in a long line of failed party leaders. Even Howard Dean, who I supported for president and as leader of the party, showed his true colors when, during this past campaign, when he equated union money with the corporate money of the Republican establishment.
There is a great irony that the one person who has done more to motivate Democrats–with the exception of the Obama campaign in 2008–in my lifetime is Bernie Sanders, a man who has never been a member of the Democratic Party. That should give us all pause as try find a scapegoat. Perhaps we, the grassroots, are as complicate in the failure of the Democratic Party as its leadership.
Good post, GregB. Food for thought for Democrats
Greg…I think you meant ‘complicit’ in the failure of the Dem party, and not “complicate”….and you are so correct.
Many Dems have followed the yellow brick road, as yellow dogs, and supported ‘the party and all Dems be they right or wrong. The very battles we were in on this blog with Hillary supporters v. Bernie supporters shows us how divided we are.
Some Dems have become too Republican…that is SOME Dems who lead the party…and they are focused only on re-election and churning the public’s bank accounts for big donations. Then, once in office, it is payback time to the lobbyists for Pharma, insurance, weapons manufacturers, entertainment industry, etc. MONEY is the goal and end game of these pseudo liberals…and I leave it to you all to name them.
The system stinks. There is so much work to do to try to implement change in the process before 2016. This is why I insist that we must stay in contact with RATIONAL Repubs…since we only need 4 Repub Senators to ally with Dems, to block Trump decisions.
Down with electors, Up with the a popular vote. Down with caucuses, Up with a popular vote. Down with the DNC and RNC…which both manipulate the pubic with mendacity and political theater.
Down with more taxation of the Middle Class and UP with raised taxes on the super wealthy…starting with upping the cap on Social Security to $1 Million, not stopping at ony $118,500 which is a drop in the bucket for Tillerson, Dimon, Blankfein, Waltons, Wassermans, Broad, Milken, Gates, Buffet, Trump, et al. And a higher ESTATE tax…not ever again calling it a “death tax.”
Also, Up with raising taxes on ‘passive savings’ of the super rich…the investment and interest taxation for their ilk is a gift to them from We the People who still pay for everything, as they fly in their private planes to their private islands and vacation on our tax donations to them.
High on this hog is Betsy DeVos who never EARNED a cent in her life.
Yes Ellen, complicit was what I meant. Doggone spellcheck and poor proofreading ability on my part. As a liberal, I yearn for the day when Republicans can once again offer candidates who will make me take notice and consider supporting. I think that would be a boon for the Democratic Party and put them on the proper track.
..and of course I meant ot say we have so much work to do before the 2020 election….too late for 2016
Let’s see. Obama:
-Ramped up the surveillance state.
-Prosecuted whistleblowers.
-Did nothing to reform incarceration and police brutality.
-Did little to combat climate change.
-Deported more immigrants than any other president (2.5 million+).
-Continued the destruction of public schools.
-Failed to regulate the financial sector.
-Failed to regulate the health and pharmaceutical industries.
-Supported TPP.
-Was silent on DAPL.
-Bombed seven countries (at my last count).
-Expanded drone warfare.
-Failed to rally people around issues or in opposition to the Republican agenda.
-Promised hope and change.
Was he bad for “Democrats”? Wrong question. Was he bad for “people”?
The answer is yes. It’s called neoliberalism, and it’s terrible for people.
Very difficult to argue with anything on our list. Very.
your list
seconded.
Thirded.
Fourthed . . . .
You beat me to it! Your list is very similar to mine. May I add the passage of the NDAA which ramps up much of what you summed up above by providing a huge increases in Military spending which will only lead to more drones more bombs and of course more wars. Add on the biggest tax in US History (Obamacare) and I think your list is pretty much complete.
Ed,
Overall, I think some of your charges are stated rather recklessly or should I say, without context. I do have a problem with us Libs who tend to not face “issues on the ground” squarely but just demand liberal changes/policies/actions outside of reality. I won’t defend blindly, but let’s look at some other perspectives. :
-In an ISIS-infested world, “surveillance state” seems to be an exaggeration. Obama also took out the most terrorist leaders.
-Whistle blower Snowden?
-Sentencing disparities were addressed. His very presence caused much more racism to surface–police injustice, etc. He was the victim not the cause.
-You can’t be serious about climate change. Wait till Pres-elect Trump rolls all progress back, then we’ll see how much was actually achieved. Paris Accord?
-Deportation was necessitated if only to gain Republican cooperation and achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Don’t we call that compromise? DACA and many other progressive towards DREAMERS were put into place.
-Even though I give Obama credit for pushing Common Core and some aspects of RTTT (I will address some more later), I agree with many others here that more could have been done. My biggest disappointment was that he didn’t put Prof. Darling-Hammond as the Sec. It would have been a totally different story of success.
No, Pres. Obama wasn’t bad for the people nor for Dems. We’ll soon see what “bad for the people” really looks like. Are you kidding me?
Sorry but dismal democrats empower Republicans . Undoubtedly any republican will be far more destructive. In fact Trump/Ryan will be abhorrent . That does not mean that Obama/ Clinton were good.
They were a disaster. As Michelle Alexander has stated when she attacked Bill Clinton’s policies they were devastating. Obama’s more of the same.
“We don’t hear our president talking about the need for high-quality jobs for everybody, giving it priority, not just giving a speech in Detroit. When are you going to make jobs rather than Wall Street a priority? That’s what I’m concerned about.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/24/cornel_west_he_posed_as_a_progressive_and_turned_out_to_be_counterfeit_we_ended_up_with_a_wall_street_presidency_a_drone_presidency/
Joel,
For the reasons I stated in previous comment, Hillary would have been a win for progress, whereas Trump is already a terrifying disaster with his threat to restart a nuclear arms race. Anti-Hillary posters wrote here that she would start WW3. That was Trump propaganda. He is an ignorant fool and he thinks he is in a reality show.
dianeravitch
Not denying that Clinton would have been better than any republican in the field . The last two standing being the worst. That is different from saying she would have done good. She would perhaps have done far less harm.
It is a dicey proposition at best weighing the good done by a program like expanding healthcare to children vs welfare reform that established an all time high child poverty rate. Or the crime bill whose effects on Children of color were detailed in that EPI article . Or trade policy that as devastating as it was to the white working class was even worse for minorities in cities Like Baltimore , Flint or Detroit….
The Clinton/ Obama years have been a disaster for poor and working class people that the Republicans would be far worse is not even up for debate. These policies including the assault on public schools were Republican or more correctly right wing policy.
Again I have not lost all my grey matter . I did vote for her.
I do agree with you, drro, that we are in for the worst of times under this incoming administration, and that in four years Obama will look much better than he does today. It seems to be a truism that all politicians are self serving in the long run, and only vocalize about The People, and their will and needs, to get elected. But on the other hand, there are times in our history when we have seen paradigm change from the most unlikely of Presidents…as with Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson. Who would have thought that civil rights legislation would have been passed by the loud Texan who carried his dogs around by their ears?
Hi Ellen, And like the prophets we are, haha, look what’s happening now! Another shift. And what are we going to do?
drrosaire said,
-In an ISIS-infested world, “surveillance state” seems to be an exaggeration. Obama also took out the most terrorist leaders.
Surveillance state is not really an exaggeration. Unless we take very intentional measures to avoid it, most of our information (personal and otherwise) is being recorded. “Terrorism” in the abstract does not justify mass surveillance and erosion of civil liberties. Now, Donald will inherit Obama’s surveillance machine and executive power precedents.
-Whistle blower Snowden?
Yep, that’s one…
-Sentencing disparities were addressed. His very presence caused much more racism to surface–police injustice, etc. He was the victim not the cause.
I agree there, but he also did little to challenge the structural racism of the criminal justice system, or to fundamentally change policing in America. Failing to fight is not neutrality, it is bad for us, especially when he promised to fight.
-You can’t be serious about climate change. Wait till Pres-elect Trump rolls all progress back, then we’ll see how much was actually achieved. Paris Accord?
The U.S. has been embarrassingly resistant even to weak solutions like the Paris Accord. Obama didn’t speak or act strongly enough to change that. Failing to fight and act strongly on climate change was a major disservice to all of us. Trump will be worse for climate change, but that doesn’t mean Obama did a good job. He was not much better than a sitting duck in a time we needed to declare war on climate change.
-Deportation was necessitated if only to gain Republican cooperation and achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Don’t we call that compromise?
I guess this is why I’m not a centrist liberal, I don’t accept the explanation that the deportation of 2.5 million immigrants was simply a “compromise” with the Republicans, and now it’s fine. Look where so-called compromise with the Republicans has gotten us. Your idea of “compromise” is a fatal flaw in Democratic Party politics. We call it “triangulation” and it’s one reason on the list of why Obama was bad for us.
DACA and many other progressive towards DREAMERS were put into place.
I’m not saying Obama did nothing good. I’m saying overall he was bad. Breadcrumbs do not make up for a lack of real positive change.
-Even though I give Obama credit for pushing Common Core and some aspects of RTTT (I will address some more later), I agree with many others here that more could have been done. My biggest disappointment was that he didn’t put Prof. Darling-Hammond as the Sec. It would have been a totally different story of success.
Am I reading this right? You CREDIT Obama for pushing CC and RTTT? Most on this blog are/were strongly opposed to CC and RTTT, myself included. Personally, I think one-size-fits-all education is a terrible idea, especially when the standards were designed by ivory-tower corporate types.
Nor do I like the idea of teachers and schools as whipping posts, or inequitable funding mechanisms, or privatization generally. CC and RTTT were regressive for public education.
No, Pres. Obama wasn’t bad for the people nor for Dems.
Maybe not for you personally — but for a whole lot of people, he was a lame, regressive president.
For THE DEMS, just look at how much power the Dems have left in Congress, States, and townships. Republicans have gained a strong foothold in government. You don’t think Obama had anything to do with that? I think he did.
We’ll soon see what “bad for the people” really looks like. Are you kidding me?
We’ve already seen lots of bad.. There’s more ahead, I’m sure.
Hi Ed, I got lost in the seasonal holidays. Haha. Because you took so much time to address my points, I owe it to you to say Thank you! One beautiful thing I love here here is that we mostly converse with respect, especially when we disagree. I will in no way say Pres. Obama is/was perfect. There’s never been a President like him. If you’ve watched any of the rounding up his presidency specials, you will see the man brought strengths and “liabilities”, intentional and unintended, so much so that even his own party couldn’t match up to. I still say that if they got on board and articulated many of the successes of this administration, we would not be here. Take Obamacare, for instance, why and how could it be that all of a sudden, it’s now becoming popular and nobody wants to let go !! Now!! Eventhe rust belt coal country that voted for Trump. I think we have an agreement there on the “whimpy” style of Dems politics.
Final comment, I know many of you on this forum have reservations about CC [putting it mildly], but I stand to differ. It’s a rich and robust set of standards that –get this– gets away from all the unneccesary debates about content/core vs. skills instruction because it covers both. Our students need both and teachers have freedom built into it. I’m not talking about the assessment, just the standards themselves. Anyway, thanks again and see you somewhere else on a different thread. 🙂
Ellen,
We ARE in for one of the worst time in our lives.
Drrosaire,
Obama and Trump and nearly all of them are rotten. One is a slower acting poison that might or night not barely let you live to find a rare antidote, and the other is a fast acting poison.
Poison is poison.
Barack Obama did nothing for people of color and has destroyed the lives of millions of perfectly effective educators who teach and lead.
I hope he and his wife rot . . . .
The love affair with the imagery of Obama and company is over . . .
I’m very disappointed by Jill Stein since learning that she went to Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Russia Today, Putin’s propaganda outlet. She was at the same head table with Gen. Mike Flynn, Trump’s national security advisor, and Putin.
Russian Greens denounced Stein for saying nothing about Putin’s human rights abuses.
I never said I was a Stein fan. She should keep her business here. There is a lot about her body language that makes me uncomfortable.
You forgot the Obomber’s ordering of the extra-judicial murder of US citizens.
Did President Obama, in truth, have a “base”?!? Obama IS the face of American upper middle-class entitlement, sans race. Astoundingly, he was gifted the Nobel Prize for Peace on conjecture alone. Yet—after near-8-years aligning himself with a warmongering Republican Congress, Reagan-Bush State Dept./CIA/Intelligence (Sic)/Pentagon/Washington & Euro-Based Non-Thinking Polemical Neoconservative-Facist Fake-Democracy Action Groups, including their multi-billion dollar funders, and, of course, America’s growth list of willing bribed, paid ally states, others who serve U.S.
interests via arms distribution, terrorist acts, & ‘regime change’ revolutions primarily
in the Middle East and former Soviet Union caucuses—Obama has fostered and expanded United States’ killing machine apparatus while producing the largest human
diaspora in world history. USC’s Reggie Bush demonstrated personal responsibility and accountability for his misdeeds by returning the highly-coveted John Heisman Trophy awarded to him. Obama, in light of the evidence against him and the United States,
would best serve humanity for one moment, at the end of an era under his watch in which humanity have suffered so deep and wide, by returning forthwith to the Nobel
Prize Committee, his previously unearned Nobel Peace Prize Award.
Mr. Obama was, and shall remain, The Great Capitulator–from my perspective.
When Not capitulating, he pretended to be a baton-carrying runner racing forward
to hand off the valued stick to his teammate. Sadly, with President Obama, reality
pictured a boy either dropping the precious baton or running in-place, never reaching the crucial destination assigned. In the case of The Affordable Care Act, he never
entered the race. Obama presented his baton & the power it projects, to a Center-Right
Democratic Senator with Health-Medical-Drug-Insurance Industry lobbies tattooed
over his entire body, with experience, contacts, and staff personnel teddy-ready to
create legislation contrary to anything Mr. Obama promised his so-called “base” or
anyone, for that matter. It’s Obama’s Fourth Way of Governing (Posturing)!
He expending all those days campaigning with Honest Abe Lincoln’s glorious words
comin’ from his lips, and chose to forget straightaway upon entering The Oval Office that
Mr. Lincoln’s words were of significance and rich to our civilization because Abe followed up with deeds that matched or offered lessons testing a man’s character as he attained power.
Obama has been splendid for Republicans. And Democrats have been both cowardly and dishonorable toward Democratic Party Principles. That’s Education Enuff!!!
yup
ditto…
Democrats have abandoned the middle and working classes since Bill Clinton. I debated my Obama fan relatives for years about this.
The labor movement has no political friends and the Democrats have lost a massive voter base. When the Right to Work protests happened, I kept saying “Where is Obama?” Answer was nowhere.
Actually Bill Clinton abandoned the middle class the second he signed NAFTA.
The Aspen Institute’s chronology of school privatization and corporatization, shows the program’s inception during the Bill Clinton administration.
It was somberly announced to us on national TV by Bill, Carter, and Bush Sr.
A bipartisan announcement of “The New World Order” and the need to pass NAFTA and GATT.
They denounced “protectionism” as though it was the plague. Now it’s a done deal and I’m laughed out of the room when I mention the need for blue collar jobs in the USA.
Sadly true.
And Bill, with Hillary at his side, then forced Welfare to Work legislation on the US as a debacle that sent whole families to skid row. Followed up by his/their collusion with Phil Gramm/Rubin/Summers and the whole deregulator group of Citigroup/ Goldman Sachs plutocrats, to kill off Glass Steagal,,,,allowing thereafter, the crooked banksters contriving new products like bundled derivatives, credit default swaps, certified debt obligations, which enriched these crooks and brought down the US economy, and economies around the world.
This is a major reason so many Dems did NOT vote for Hillary.
And so we have a neo-fascist about to become president, who will give the 1% whatever is in their dreams.
Diane…as you know, most of us who supported Bernie, did vote for Hillary, including me. But we cannot create revisionist history to avoid the aspects of the Clinton’s past records. The popular vote does prove that a majority of voters did come out and vote for Hillary, but not in the Electoral College states that caused her defeat. We have read all the analyses of why this happened. It is time to move on and to nurture new candidates to run in 2020 who carry less baggage.
This is why I am suggesting that we all watch the new Senator from California, Kamala Harris, who so fare has an exemplary history as an attorney and as elected AG in California. She is also a product of public schools, even through law school, and she supports public education without the equivocation of other candidates.
All politicians follow the money. Labor was a huge voting block. Now that union membership is small sub-group, candidates are less interested in labor. Our only hope is to limit campaign spending which should return candidates to issues, not who has the most cash.
Our best hope is actually in educating our own members first and then having them spread that knowledge to family and friends. That is a task we have failed at terribly.
As a public school teacher, there was no way I was voting for Clinton after eight years of abuse from Arne Duncan and John King. They lost my vote. Where was Obama during the Wisconsin labor protests? His indifference didn’t go unnoticed. We need a new party that represents the working and middle class. The Democrats lost our trust, and it will not be earned back in my opinion.
I.M. ,
Clinton who has been on the side of children all her life? Hillary could only have improved upon or/and fixed whatever the Obama administration didn’t do. I don’t understand the argument of not choosing someone who is on the same trajectory and direction of change as we desire and instead allowing someone who totally will turn back the clock. I’m not sure the “new party” of Republicans will give us what you desire. It’s a waiting game now. Sadly.
Clinton could not have been on any good trajectory with Podesta as her campaign chairman. He’s a corporate education reformer.
Soc: “Clinton could not have been on any good trajectory with Podesta as her campaign chairman. He’s a corporate education reformer.”
Podesta being the campaign chair does not put him in the Educ. Secretary’s seat. We sure do know which direction DeVos is headed.
Drrosaire…where have you been? Just read your blog and am in agreement with all your posts…wow. So glad you showed up here. Your rehash of Evangelical history reminded me of the long time and established Religious Right who have brought Trump into our midst. And the Cal Thomas item was news to me. Thanks…keep on keepin’ on.
Ellen, Hapy New Year!!! Haha. Thanks for your kind comments. The struggle has only just taken a different turn, hasn’t it?
Where was Obama during the Wisconsin protests? Easy he was golfing as usual.
I agree with the analysis only in part. In the face of all the odds Pres. Obama faced, where was the Democratic party is the question I prefer to ask? The Democratic Party’s messaging remains pitiful. It’s incredulous that Obamacare/ACA was left at the mercy of counter messaging. . . until now. Pres. Obama left his mark on so many pressing issues but Repub opposition only increased. Many of the times, he was left to explain and defend by himself. Where were the Democrats on rooftops, screaming their successes of the past 8 years?
Because they knew it was all a house of cards?
The Democratic members of Congress who lost their elections, after Pres. Obama was elected, expressed the opposite viewpoint. They felt they were made vulnerable by the President’s inability to sell or defend his policies. They said, the President did nothing to assist them, in their home districts. One thing that has to change, assuming the Democrats have much more to lose, is the money raised at the national level and, the organization at the national level, has to be shared with lower level office seekers.
BTW, why didn’t Pres. Obama prevent the Podesto hacking that he warned Putin against? Surely, he understood the prize of the American presidency, was greater than any consequence he could impose on Putin.
Linda,
I agree with you that “weak opposition to the Republican party” is an issue, which as I stated earlier is a messaging problem. I won’t be quick to conclude that all alliances are counterproductive. I’m not convinced moneyed interests are inherently bad (Bill Gates, for one). Come to think of it, a questionable billionaire just won votes from lower/middle/higher income levels. Poor strategizing is another issue. Here we are sounding like all’s permanently lost when approximately 3 million more votes went to the Blue side.
Finally, I’m not sure what you define as “Republican”.
Republican politician, defined- enact legislation and policies that benefit the rich.
Bill Gates is “all bad” because he flouts democracy, creates the impression that he is concerned about the common good and implies, through PR, that he is a giver of great largesse.
(1) In Nov., specific incumbent Washington state judges were targeted for election defeat, by Gates. They had rendered decisions that benefitted public education. (2) Gates, the man, not his foundation, is (a) an investor in the largest seller of for-profit schools-in-a-box. (b) Microsoft has a deal to create products for Common Core. The best standards in the nation are those of Mass. Gates could have promoted them, instead of recreating the wheel. But, public education materials are prohibited from the property protection afforded to copyrights. Common Core is copyrighted. Bill Gates lives and, has influence, in the state that has the most regressive tax system in the nation. Washington’s poor pay up to 7 times the rate that the rich pay in the state. Bill Gates spoke in opposition to raising minimum wage and public pensions. IMO, he is garden variety Koch, but with better P.R. Gates funds Aspen Institute education programs and David Koch sits on the Aspen board.(3) Despite claims otherwise, Bill Gates never falls even one rung on the richest men lists.
An external affairs manager of a Gates-funded organization wrote in Philanthropy Roundtable “…reformers…declare ‘We’ve got to blow up the ed schools.’ ” The alternative suggested was the wealthy, exerting their influence on campus. (The article title “Don’t Surrender the Academy” implies the wealthy own America’s universities and want to blow them up.)
In Philanthropy Roundtable’s interview of Kim Smith (founder of Bellwether, New Schools Venture Fund, Aspen’s Pahara institute and founding team member of TFA, all which rec’d Gates funding, Smith cited, “NSVF’s marching orders…(are) to develop diverse charter organizations to produce different BRANDS (my caps) on a large scale.”
Off topic- read about Gates vested interests and GMO’s.
Perhaps many of the problems are due to the lack of voter participation. In both the 2010 and 2014 elections Democrats suffered major losses in both the house and the Senate. When the majority refuse to participate in either the discussion or the election then the minorities who speak loudly and with money will dominate the discussions, the progress and the elections. Creating a livable, civil society is a 24/7 responsibility. It doesn’t work to show up and vote once every four years.
I would also add that Trump’s campaign, which was founded in prejudice, hate and disdain for the other, shows how deeply ingrained a basic level of intolerance is in our society. The movement against public education began in the South after the Brown vs Board of education decision and expanded with the expansion of busing.
agreed all
But remember how Sanders was jumped on when he used the word ghetto or stated the undeniable fact that poor people do not vote(in the numbers they should)
The true detritus that Trump has dumped on us all, are the many bigots he encouraged to organize and come out into the open, who had been closeted. Now they are loudly swarming over our communities and have free reign to run for office, like David Duke and his KKK now running for the Senate. And now Richard Spencer and others of his Nazi followers are on a vast organizing campaign on high school and college campuses nationwide. ‘True European’ groups are forming and active all over America and on the internet. This is truly alarming and will not go away now that the Trump cesspool is overflowing.
The question is rather how ALEC and the right wing took over the states, many of the republicans and the democrats, and there was no opposition. ALEC is the elephant in the room.
How? a forty year project
Agreed, Detroiter. Some of that ALEC takeover was funded by DeVos
ALEC’s newest brother, ACCE.
May it go down in history that other than supporting LGBT rights, Obama is among the worst presidents ever and used his imagery to trick and fool the people. He was not at all alone in doing it, but he is loathsome, including his horrible ACA which never contained costs and was written by the insurance lobby, despite it covering pre-existing conditions and covering people up to 26 years of age in a family plan.
I left a succinct message for Dr. Greenberg at his firm and told him that I loved the article he wrote, but I also reminded him that he made not one molecule of mention of Obama’s education policies. If GW Bush cut down the trees to create a road, then Obama has paved the road perfectly and smoothly on which Betsy DeVos can speedily navigate and wreak havoc on public schools.
Until anyone can admit how rotten the Democratic party has become, little will change.
I have NEVER voted GOP in my life for ANYONE and will probably not in the future.
Of course, the GOP is equivalent of the wild wild west, but the Democrats are traitors in that they were always counterbalancing, relatively speaking, the GOP; they almost always pushed back and defended the ordinary person, and now they have a corporate streak running through them in a stage 4 metastasis that has diseased nearly all of the party.
I have since removed myself from the party and will from hereon be an independent.
Of course I agree with Diane’s assessment of Trump. Diane is SPOT ON about Trump!!Listen to her carefully folks, because she is right, right, right!!!!!!
But I am very willing to look at the corruptions in Hillary and the DNC. Bernie weakened like crazy. He should have bitten Hillary’s head off like a pit bull attacking a neonatal ward full of Rosemary’s babies. He didn’t. Hillary capitalized upon that. She is evil because of her blatant corruptions but she is NOT alone because most other Democrats share that status and vote against us. Bernie was ineffective ultimately because of his weakness and intolerance for risk. He has also been molded, to some extent, by the psychodynamics of establishment politics.
Now we have Trump and the GOP, and they are the wild, wild west . . . like rooting and tooting cowboys about to conquer not the unsettled lands, but to annex and swallow the middle and working class. It has been therefore a perfect storm for populist-baiting Trump.
I still have hope, but I also acknowledge we gotta lotta heavy lifting and self examination to do . . . .
Yes, I could have supported Hillary (I did not and will not support Trump!) and rationalize that she if far less evil compared to what we have now. But there is a much more long term and potent goal, which is the implosion and explosion of the DNC and its reinvention, whether as one party or as several new parties.
Boy, am I angry! I shan’t curse in this living room, however.
Join Wolf PAC and get money OUT of politics with a Constitutional Amendment:
http://www.wolf-pac.com/states
Hi Robert…good to see you back. I just read your link to Wolf-pac, and although I am in agreement with their views, I cannot find any names of their leadership…how come? When you ask for petition signers to change the Constitution, you should identify who is the initial petitioner.
All good wishes, old friend and ally.
Ellen,
Great to always read your thinking! Miss you too!
Cenk Uygar leads Wolf PAC. The coordinators are all disclosed including their whereabouts once you join. It costs nothing, except your time and your willingness to call elected officials and advocate for a Constitutional Amendment:
From Wikki:
Main article: Wolf-PAC
In late 2011, after seeing the momentum of Occupy Wall Street, Uygur decided to launch a long term project of his, a political action committee named Wolf-PAC. Wolf-PAC aims to lobby state legislators to pass resolutions calling for an Convention of the States under Article V of the US Constitution. Its slogan is “A super-PAC to end all super-PACs”. The aim of the convention would be to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution that would end corporate personhood and publicly finance all elections in the United States.[50]
Thanks Robert…I will join.
Love you, Ellen. There is only ONE Ellen Lubic! . . . .
Not only was Obama willfully destructive, he was snarky. Dropping a presidential proclamation for a charter school appreciation week right on teacher appreciation week was intentional. Like Hillary, he likes our schools “well enough” just not that much.
Obama never went to public school.
Hillary did.
I hope we continue to be more specific in our criticisms. Have the unions erred in some areas, such as overprotecting poor teachers? Probably yes? I’ve always argued that unions should have been ahead of the curve by professionalizing teaching and there I believe they failed. On the other hand, Conservatives are anti-union and anti-teachers without reservations. Pres. Obama highlighted the power and dignity we as a nation should afford teachers and maybe teachers themselves appreciated him because of that.
Again, the flexibility built into RTTP, to counter some of the negatives of NCLB, was good; other parts of it were not very helpful. It’s like the whole ACA; sometimes, many times, we just have to start somewhere and then make progress and improve upon the policy.
Thanks, Diane. While that fact may make a difference, we can’t totally dismiss charter schools without qualifications. The fact is that there are highly performing charter public schools too.
drrosaire
“unions should have been ahead of the curve by professionalizing teaching”
So explain TFA’s , un-certified teachers, high turnover , low pay and online education.
That’s K-12 . At the University level we now have 75% starving adjuncts.
They do not want professionals they want low wage drones that think they are professionals , “cheerful robots” . Who above all are never organized .
A commenter at this blog, reported that Buffalo’s Paladino had one opponent, a 18 year old, in his election to school board.
That’s how to spell, union failure.
“dismiss charter schools without qualification” “So-called public-private partnerships invariably reward big businesses and freeze out smaller businesses” (Jonah Goldberg-newspaper columnist)
Bill Gates met with Capital Impact Partners to work on financing for the charter school chain partnered with Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings.
Hastings can be seen in a YouTube video calling for an end to democratically elected school boards. The business model, end goal is, for-profits, like the one that Gates is personally invested in or, as Bellwether describes schools, “human capital pipelines”
Linda
What were the dynamics of that race?.
An 18 yr old against an ass who ran for Governor sounds like the race might have been hopeless to begin with.
Commenter “Flo…” provided the description, in the responses to the recent post, about Paladino but, nothing additional. Trump lost the popular vote. One would think Paladino, (marginally worse than Trump?) potentially, could lose to some over the age of 18?
As many others have pointed out, Obama was very bad for unions, and in fact, was completely absent in the Wisconsin Wars. He APPLAUDED when the teachers were fired from the RI high school. He forced Duncan, and then King, on us while touting RTTT. And yet teachers love him, our unions love him. And I don’t get it. I’m so sick of unions cowtowing to the Dems, and the Dems cowtowing to the right. I’ve left the Democratic Party, and will be a pain in the ass to my unions to stand up for what’s right. We need to stop groveling.
I agree with you!!!
Teachers do NOT love him! Please tell me what galaxy these Obama-loving teachers are from. I will take my spaceship there and visit. I love outer space . . . have always been intrigued by it.
And UNIONS don’t REALLY represent their teachers any more. They are in business for themselves as long as they collect our dues.
Just as I am willing to criticize the corruptions of the DNC, I am also willing to blast the AFT, NEA, UFT, and NYSUT as most in the soup pot now conclude that the frogs don’t just feel warm or hot anymore, but are being boiled to death . . . .
Wake up, y’all and smell the frog legs . . .
Gotta get into the swamp to get those frog legs!
At night. . . In the Dark. . . With all kinds of things brushing against your legs as you wade in the muck and mire.
Sure is fun though!
Much is said about the mistakes in policy which resulted from whatever caused Obama to have Bill Gates and Arne Duncan shaping the decisions. There are many who favor a lot of destruction of public education, at least to the extent that it is given a subservient, secondary mop up role. Republicans view this as sort of a natural, logical progression as their magical privatization goals take over….but the real problem is centrist and conservative democrats, who fear the power of public school teachers….all of them college educated, and relatively politically active. They check facts, demand explanations, and believe they should have a significant role in shaping the future of education. The most powerful democrats recognize them as a threat, not so much because of policy, but as a threat to their ability to be able to count on their votes, without having to be annoyed by demands to do anything beyond what they believe would work best. The destruction of public education comes natrually to conservative republicans…….it is more of a fear of loss of power with democrat politicians.
Joe,
I do agree with you on two things: conservatives really do not care about public education nor its purported democratic values. Privatized including charter schools would serve their purposes better. I’m not so sure about this your next point about cons. democrats wanting to hold onto power by examining public schools. There is good reason to question the status quo for dysfuntional public schools (something the unions didn’t do either). Politicians should ask questions but should also go with the solutions educators/professionals come up with, not just go with their wrong-headed “solutions”
Make no mistake – this election was a referendum on the Obama administration. This article is quite insightful:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/23/which-part-1930s-did-you-not-get-americans-finally-learn-cooperate-national-suicide
I think there has been a lot of democrats selling charters and reform and extensive testing as progressive ideas…..that is usually not the case. In most cases it is inherently not. It is re segregation not strictly by race, but by wealth and social conditions. Harold Meyerson had an article about how widespread this is becoming in today’a LA Times. Just an op-ed, but more convincing than me.
My opinion- Dems, in the hierarchy, are using the Comey/Russian hack, excuses to salvage the reputation of the Podesto/CAP team. Weak opposition to the Republican Party fits the agenda of the richest 400 families, who run the country. They want to preserve the neoliberal party they created. Before the 2016 election, the CEO of the firm that Podesto and his brother founded, self-described as a former GOP operative and deputy campaign manager for former Governor Jeb Bush. If Bill Gates, Walton-funded CAP, tech industry moguls, etc. sit at the right hand of the Democratic Party, it will continue to lose what little it has left- 17 governors, some of whom, like Cuomo and Raimondo are really Republicans. Senators like Corey Booker are also Republican.