Compared to Trump, Obama is a portrait of dignity, reason, and intellect. The Washington Monthly published a list of his top 50 accomplishments. Note that there is no mention of K-12 education. As readers of this blog know, Obama’s education policies were a continuation of the George W. Bush policies of measure-and-punish. Arne Duncan did whatever Gates and Broad wanted. He advanced privatization by his constant promotion of charter schools and his refusal to demand accountability for them. He demoralized teachers by insisting that they be evaluated by test scores of their students. He trumpeted the lie that our public schools are failing. He was an agent of the right wingers who want to replace public education with an array of bad choices. When unions were under attack in Wisconsin and in the courts, the Obama administration was not there. It collaborated in the destruction of the Democratic base.
This is too was Obama’s legacy: the assault on public schools, teachers, and unions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
While George W. Bush listed No Child Left Behind as his signature accomplishment in his autobiography.
Does anyone seriously think that Hillary Clinton, would have taken a different course on education, that Pres. Obama? She sent her daughter to a private school.
Clinton, Obama, and Trump sent their children to elite private schools where the tuition is about $50,000.
Public schools are free and open to all.
Private schools choose their students.
You can apply but they don’t have to accept your child.
If you prefer a private or religious school, pay for it yourself. Don’t ask me to subsidize your private choices.
Clinton was much more susceptible to pressure from the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic party than Obama ever was. The Democratic base didn’t pressure Obama on his education policies. I think Clinton would not have been afforded that same treatment. On the Republican side, there is no moving the authoritarian, Christian, billionaires who have supported privatized education for decades.
The question is: Do you think that Hillary Clinton would have taken a different approach to education than Obama? Obama was no friend of public education. Do you think that Hillary Clinton would have done anything substantially different than this current president? I just do not see it.
Charles,
Yes I do think Hillary would have been better on education than Obama. He went to an elite private school. She went to public schools only.
I could have talked to her. She would have listened.
With Trump, the door is closed.
I agree, and you will then agree that the federal government shouldn’t be in the business of funding Planned Parenthood, either.
Planned Parenthood provides women’s health services. Do you oppose it?
“When unions were under attack in Wisconsin and in the courts, the Obama administration was not there. It collaborated in the destruction of the Democratic base.” I believe that this is a major reason that the Dems lost the election. They didn’t show up for their base so their base didn’t show up for them. The Dems need to go back to their labor roots and not court those that the Reps are courting.
I will never forget the protest-laden summer leading up to opening of Philly pubschs in Sept 2013– on-time opening purchased at the 11th hr w/ a $50mm bond, after mass school closings & thousands laid off, schools opening w/huge classes, part-time counselors & nurses [that month a student at a school w/no nurse on duty would die of asthma attack, another 8 mos later], minus sports arts et al programs– a July beg to Duncan for fed assistance from Diane & Randi unheeded– where was Obama as this decimated, crippled pubsch sys opened in Sept 2013?, I wondered. Surely the plight of public schools in the birthplace of American democracy should command the presence of POTUS who ran on platform of “world-class public education” to reassure Philly residents w/promises of fed help?
For me, that absence of fed-ed leadership confirmed everything that concerned me about CCSS & RTTT. This made it undeniably clear that Obama & his minions cared not a whit about US pubsch sys, in fact were fine w/letting inner-city pubsch sys be undercut so as to allow privatization take up the slack.
Sadly, you are correct. Public education is not a legacy he can be proud of for all the reasons you cite.
Obama’s assault on unions and public education have contributed to widening the income gap in this country. He is a neo-liberal corporatist.
Obama also allowed Bill Gates to insert himself into policy. As a result, Gates bribed states to adopt the CCSS. Then, the DOE extorted school districts to ensure compliance. Schools got test and punish while teachers got VAM. Neither of which is based on evidence. Gates has been allowed to use our schools and students and guinea pigs. Gates’ next big play will be “personalized learning.” All data all the time, tuning our young people into chickens that peck for corn all day. It will be deadly and grim.
Gates lead Duncan around on a leash. Gates didn’t bribe the states to adopt CCCS. Duncan did that with $5 billion of our taxpayer dollars.
Indeed he is, and he helped destroy the Democratic Party.
Take a look at where the Party was when he was elected in 2008 and where it is now; you wouldn’t have had more destruction of it if a double agent had been put in power with the specific intention of destroying it.
Thomas Frank has done an excellent job in spelling all this out in his most recent book, “Listen, Liberal.” If the Democratic Party wants to practice me-tooism in competition with the Republican Party, it should not be surprised when voters ignore it at the polls. In my own estimation, other than on social issues–which are, yes, important, which I why I held my nose and voted for Hillary Clinton–I haven’t seen much difference between the main stem of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Both appear, first and foremost, about turning the reins of power over to corporations.
Same here, Mark.
The problem is, the people (or the Electoral College) seem to have decided that, if they are going to vote for a Republican, why vote for “Republican Light”?
Exactly, Zorba. I think the Clintons and their ilk (and I’m talking about Rahm Emanuel here, among others) took the Democratic party in the wrong direction, and I think the Democrats could have won the 1992 election–I voted for Tom Harkin in the primary, myself–with a more Rooseveltian candidate. The question now is, how do we talk the party back from the cliff they’ve rushed up to.
How did you feel about Anthony Quinn’s portrayal of you?
LOL! Well despite the name, I am a female. But I am of Greek descent. I read the book “Zorba the Greek,” in both English and Greek. (I love Nikos Kazantzakis, the author.)
Quinn did a very good job.
(Although, his dancing of the Zorba dance could have been a bit better. Not too bad for a non-Greek, though.) 😀
A great novel and film. Thanks for responding, Zorba. Look forward to seeing you around this neighborhood.
He’s been terrible for public schools. They have lost every year he was in office.
His administration points to the stimulus as his contribution to K-12 schools, but it’s just baloney. ANY administration would have subsidized public schools during a once in a generation financial collapse. They couldn’t actually let public schools go bankrupt. That would be mass chaos.
I’m not a teacher or in a teachers union but he really betrayed those people. I’m not surprised they didn’t come out for Clinton. Courting them and then using Duncan to attack them was hugely cynical. They didn’t deserve that treatment from supposed “allies”.
Obama has a lot of good qualities as a human being and I agree with most of his political positions but he just doesn’t value public schools. My sense is that administration would like nothing better than to hand them all over to contractors and be done with them. I get the same sense from Rahm Emanuel.
I read an interview with him once where he said he opposed vouchers because vouchers don’t “work”. So if privatizing all schools “worked” he would just end public education as a concept, without a backward glance? He doesn’t value public schools.
I wrote Obama many times during his eight years, and told him that his stance on education was going to be his worst legacy and why. In October 2015 he wrote back more than a form letter, and said that he was “struck by” my perspective…and was listening…unfortunately that listening did not lead to any change in policy, at all other than hiring John King who totally messed up Common Core, testing, and teacher evals in NYS. So sorry that the man I admired let me, and students/teachers across this already-great country, down.
One of my sons is in a private sector building trades union and Obama was not good for private sector unions either. When push came to shove he wasn’t willing to fight for those people, which kind of sucked since so many of them voted for him.
The Democratic Party’s relationship with labor unions is really cynical. They’re happy to take the support of rank and file members but Democratic politicians won’t cross the street to help any of those rank and file members. It’s awful to watch. I get angry watching Democrats do it year after year after year- labor unions are wonderful for 6 weeks in the fall during an election cycle. The rest of the time Democrats are too snobby to associate with them.
Chiara, Obama promised in 2007 to put on a comfortable pair of shoes and walk the picket lines with at-risk union workers.
“Understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain, when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that picket line with you, as president of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that someone’s standing in their corner,” he said at a rally in Spartansburg, S.C., in November of 2007.
Well, I guess that he never did find those comfy shoes, because it never happened. 😦
Jon Pelto sent Obama a pair of comfortable walking shoes when Scott Walker attacked unions
Must have been the wrong size
Must have been, Diane.
So, true. Chiara, so true!
One accomplishment Obama created during his 2 terms is the rise of Trump and his movement that saw a repudiation of his policies…..
With the help of Putin
Matt Taibbi has been one of the most vocal, outspoken anti-Trump writers out there ever since the election and even he has doubts about the the “Russia hacked the election”* story.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-story-stinks-w458439
Money quote (but please read the entire article):
“If the American security agencies had smoking-gun evidence that the Russians had an organized campaign to derail the U.S. presidential election and deliver the White House to Trump, then expelling a few dozen diplomats after the election seems like an oddly weak and ill-timed response. Voices in both parties are saying this now.”
Another good quote regarding that phrasing:
“This has led to widespread confusion among news audiences over whether the Russians hacked the DNC emails (a story that has at least been backed by some evidence, even if it hasn’t always been great evidence), or whether Russians hacked vote tallies in critical states (a far more outlandish tale backed by no credible evidence).”
Dienne,
You embarrass yourself by continuing to insist the Vlad the Tyrant did not hack the elections.
Do you need a personal handwritten confession by Putin?
jscheidell: the most important thing Obama did to create “the rise of Trump and his movement” is being born with black skin. If you deny that, then you haven’t been paying attention.
Mischell Obama did the job of claiming an “Obama” education legacy… this afternoon in her last speech surrounded by school counselors.
Mischelle
The three states HRC needed to win — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — had all seen the consequences of Dem neoliberalism in the aggressive privatization of public schools and the loss of collective bargaining rights. Tired of the Dems, horrified by the GOP.
Keith Ellison for DNC oculd bring back hope.
They forgot his ordering of the extra-judicial killings of American citizens.
“Compared to Trump, Obama is a portrait of dignity, reason, and intellect. ”
Even when he is not compared to Trump, he is as above—as a person. Not such a great president, though.
I trust that Trump’s presidency will be destroyed by Alec Baldwin, as Ford’s presidency was destroyed by Chevy Chase (at least this is what Ford had thought)
It’s impossible to make such parody of Obama.
By the way, it’s interesting to hear Trump’s reaction to Baldwin’s parody: he instinctively uses Lakoff’s advice of correct framing, and never adopt the framing of the other side. While the main message of Baldwin’s parody is that Trump is dumb, Trump avoids using the word “dumb”, and claims he claims Baldwin paints him as a mean person.
Alec Baldwin is a perfect Trump. Dumb as a rock. He googles ISIS. Although we now have learned that he doesn’t know how to use the computer and has things printed out for him.
“Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments do not include education.”
And, therefore, Obama’s Top 50 accomplishments are meaningless and his legacy will prove meaningless.
Let’s not do this again when Cory Booker shows up.
Buyers Remorse is a new book about the failure of Obama to support his people and I hate having to agree with a lot of what it reports. Obama knew Linda Darling-Hammond was the best and his having her run his education committee during the transition made my heart soar. Then, unforgivably, he replaced her with a Gates puppet who was already well known as an enemy of public education and teachers. Then, he added insult to injury and appointed John King. Buyers Remorse indeed.
Worse, he pushed forward the privatization & destruction of public education. In other words, he made everything worse. Talked out of both sides of his mouth RE: “standardized” (as Duane repeatedly says, there’s no such thing) testing, then touts “creativity” in teaching, & teachers being left to do their jobs, & THEN declare Charter Schools Week the SAME week as American Education Week or Educators Week (or whatever it’s called)–WHAAAT?!
Had to look this up, but if any of you are wondering if Arne Duncan is suffering for any of his crimes against American students, parents & educators, the answer can be found in the Chicago Tribune’s Real Estate Section entitled “Elite Street, Chicago Luxury Real Estate”– “Arne Duncan, wife buy $1.3M home on Hyde Park block of power hitters.”
This may or may not be the correct link (if, that is, you can stomach reading the article–
http://www.chicagotribune.com/…/ct-elite-street-arne-duncan-hyde-park-121816
The last I read of him was a puff piece article, “Can Arne Duncan Save Chicago?” in Chicago Magazine (November, 2016, I think), whereby he is doing soooo much work w/juvenile detainees…and the last paragraph of this article describes him as putting his head in his hands & softly crying.
Would that he would cry–or, better yet, put his $1.3M where his tears are!–for what HE has done to “other people’s children.”