“One Little Hour”

I had hoped (and posted) that Obama’s middle-of-the-road rhetoric on school reform options meant that he would support school choice. Instead he has acquiesced to the powerful teachers unions. The second paragraph of the article is particularly indicting:

Let’s call them Sidwell Liberals, after the famous Washington, D.C., school where President and Mrs. Obama send their daughters. Despite this personal experience, Mr. Obama signed into law a provision passed by Congress that shuts down Washington D.C.’s voucher program, depriving 1,700 disadvantaged kids of the chance to escape failing public schools through the use of scholarships that let them attend private schools. Two of them attend Sidwell Friends School with the Obama girls.

It saddens me that a man who seems to sincerely desire to help the underprivileged cannot (or will not) see such hypocrisy.

[Add. 9/10/o9] : I must revise my opinion of the President downwards. The more I ruminate on this issue the less willing I am to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. His is the “sin” of commission rather than just ommission.

I just received the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History for February. One of the articles complained about the shrinking availability of tenure track positions at universities. Also, over the past two decades part-time faculty have taken on an increasing share of the teaching load in the academe. The history profession has become more and more stratified. (more…)

The Congressional hearings concerning the Big Three bailout exemplified political gamesmanship at its finest. (more…)