Whitney Tilson's Blog on Barack Obama's Presidential Candidacy

President Obama is DFER's Ed Reformer of the Month

2011-04-22T15:27:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe, but the 2012 Presidential campaign has, for all intents and purposes, already begun. I will be supporting President Obama again. Yes, he's made some mistakes and I sometimes wish he'd fight harder for certain principles I know he believes in, but I think 90% of what people criticize him for isn't his fault. The best analogy I can give is a bridge player who's dealt terrible cards and then has to choose the least-bad card to play each time, with his mortal enemies screaming "You bum!" at him every time he's forced to play a bad card.

Take the economy: it was in a state of complete collapse when he was elected, yet today, 2 ½ years later, it's recovering nicely. I never would have believed it, given that there was utter panic in the markets and we were on the verge of another Great Depression. Obama deserves tremendous credit for getting the big calls right: he engineered a big government stimulus/liquidity injection (to be fair, Bush deserves credit for initiating this), he intervened to help the automakers get back on their feet, yet didn't nationalize the banks (those who accuse him of being a socialist have yet to explain that one). Yes, under- and unemployment remain a big problem and he should have been much tougher on the banks/Wall St., but I think it's a minor miracle that we are where we are today.

And on education, my big issue, President Obama been exceptional. He appointed and has fully supported a true reformer, Arne Duncan, as Secretary of Education, and backed a revolutionary program, Race to the Top, a competitive distribution of nearly $5 billion of federal education funding. For this reason, Democrats for Education Reform has made him Ed Reformer of the Month (and "he's really more like the education reformer of the decade."). I just donated $2,500 to his reelection campaign and hope that if you choose to donate as well, you'll do so via the DFER web page at https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dferapril11. Here's a letter from DFER's Joe Williams:

Dear Friends,

OK, he's really more like the education reformer of the decade. But after the 2009 stimulus yielded the largest federal education investment in history, sparking unprecedented state and local reforms, and on the heels of a tough budget fight in which he managed to protect key education reform initiatives, who but President Obama could be April's Ed Reformer of the Month?

The recent deal cut billions from the federal budget but the administration doubled down on their signature program, Race to the Top (RTTT). During 2010, 47 states applied for RTTT funding, affecting dramatic reforms throughout the country. That the President fought for $700 million to continue the program speaks volumes about his priorities.

It's pretty surreal because, a few years ago, electing a reform-minded president seemed like a long shot. Successfully agitating for a reformer like Arne Duncan to be named education secretary was unprecedented. And any kind of competitive distribution of federal education funding was a total pipedream.

Yet RTTT has already eclipsed the total collective discretionary funds available to all prior education secretaries. Implementation hasn't been perfect but it's still pretty impressive.

We don't always agree with the administration on education policy. Sometimes they yield too much ground to the status quo, like in recent comments by both the President and Secretary Duncan on the overhaul of No Child Left Behind. All the more reason to buck them up and demonstrate how much we support their education reform efforts.

It's time to saddle up. Right now is, in many ways, the best time to give. By showing up early for his campaign, we can show the President that we appreciate his priorities. Having a lot of donors is just as important as a lot of money (probably more important), so please go to https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dferapril11 and give whatever you can.

Thanks again,

Joe

Behind the Abortion Warr

2011-04-22T15:26:00.001-04:00

I hope the Republicans spend a lot of time and energy on things like abortion and whether Obama was born in the U.S. – their extremist views may energize their base, but it completely alienates moderates in the middle, the 10% of voters who determine every close election. Here's Gail Collins with an op ed about Republican attacks on abortion, which is really an attack on contraception:

Beyond the science, there's the fact that many social conservatives are simply opposed to giving women the ability to have sex without the possibility of procreation.

"Contraception helps reduce one's sexual partner to just a sexual object since it renders sexual intercourse to be without any real commitments," says Janet Smith, the author of "Contraception: Why Not."

The reason this never comes up in the debates about reproductive rights in Washington is that it has no popular appeal. Abortion is controversial. Contraception isn't. A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that even women who are faithful Catholics or evangelicals are likely to rely on the pill, I.U.D.'s or sterilization to avoid pregnancy. Rachel Jones, a lead author of the report, said the researchers found "no indication whatsoever" that religious affiliation has any serious effect on contraception use.

What we have here is a wide-ranging attack on women's right to control their reproductive lives that the women themselves would strongly object to if it was stated clearly. So the attempt to end federal financing for Planned Parenthood, which uses the money for contraceptive services but not abortion, is portrayed as an anti-abortion crusade. It makes sense, as long as you lay off the factual statements.

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April 13, 2011

Behind the Abortion War

By GAIL COLLINS

www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/opinion/14collins.html

Part of the price of keeping the government operating this week is another debate over the financing of Planned Parenthood. Whoopee.

At least it'll give us a chance to reminisce about Senator Jon Kyl, who gave that speech against federal support for Planned Parenthood last week that was noted for: A) its wild inaccuracy; and B) his staff's explanation that the remarks were "not intended to be a factual statement."

This is the most memorable statement to come out of politics since Newt Gingrich told the world that he was driven to commit serial adultery by excessive patriotism.

Evidence Aside, State Lawmakers Debate ‘Birther’ Bills

2011-04-22T15:25:00.001-04:00

And here's an article about the birther issue:

Investigations have concluded that President Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii in 1961, as he has always said.

Just this week, on the news program "Good Morning America" on ABC, George Stephanopoulos produced a copy of the president's Certification of Live Birth, causing a potential presidential aspirant, Michele Bachmann, the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, to say that the issue appeared settled. In 2008, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging that proof.

But the so-called birther controversy stubbornly refuses to go away.

The issue, which has simmered at the fringes of the nation's political discourse for years, even got a recent burst of attention when it was adopted as a talking point by Donald Trump, a potential Republican presidential candidate.

The result is that what had been a wispy tale of purportedly buried documents and cover-ups designed to hide the president's supposed birth in Kenya — a tale that has been dismissed by most mainstream members of both political parties — now appears to have staying power as the political season lurches toward 2012.

A New York Times/CBS News Poll released Thursday found that 57 percent of adults surveyed nationwide said they thought Mr. Obama was born in the United States, versus 25 percent who said he was born elsewhere.

But digging deeper into the numbers shows striking disparities along party lines and regions of the country. Among Republicans, for instance, 33 percent said they thought Mr. Obama was born in America, while 45 percent said his birth occurred in another country. The nationwide telephone poll, conducted April 15-20 with 1,224 adults and a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, said that majorities in all regions of the nation think the president was born in the United States, but that those majorities were smaller in the South and Midwest than in the Northeast and Far West.

Around the country, the issue has proved to be a sure winner for the conservative base, with bills popping up in more than a dozen state legislatures to force future presidential candidates to prove their citizenship. Those legislatures, though, have been much more reluctant to turn this issue into concrete law.

Birther bills have foundered or fallen dormant in at least five states and are still being debated in more than a half-dozen others. In Arizona, where both legislative chambers passed one such bill, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed it this week, calling it "a bridge too far."

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Evidence Aside, State Lawmakers Debate 'Birther' Bills

By KIRK JOHNSON

Published: April 21, 2011

www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/us/politics/22birthers.html

OKLAHOMA CITY — Investigations have concluded that President Obama was, in fact, born in Hawaii in 1961, as he has always said.

Is there any end to the anti-Obama anger? I can't even talk politics with my friends anymore

2010-09-30T11:02:00.001-04:00

The NY Daily News published on its web site a column I wrote about my concerns about the political polarization that’s taken place in our country:

For someone as optimistic and energetic as I am, it's a very strange feeling being totally pessimistic about the future of our country. The political polarization has reached such an extreme that I find that I can't even have a conversation with people who don't share my general political views.

On the rare occasion that I do have such conversations - often with good friends whom I really respect, and whom I think are moderate and thoughtful people - I'm stunned by the vitriol they express toward Democrats in general and President Obama in particular. They genuinely, passionately believe that Obama is a liar, a socialist, a hater of Israel and a terrorist appeaser.

It's nothing short of bizarre and it fills me with despair. If I can't even have talk about politics with good friends, then there's no hope for any kind of unity and compromise in our political system, which we so desperately need given the enormous challenges we face. Instead, I see us going down the road of Kenya (which I'm familiar with because my parents and sister live there), in which politics is tribal and it's kill or be killed (sometimes, literally), and where no tactics, no matter how despicable, are off the table.

We're still a long way from this, of course, but the trend is troubling - and if it doesn't reverse, I fear we are doomed to a future of political paralysis which will lead to stagnation and mediocrity, like Japan in recent decades. We will always be an enormously wealthy country - as Japan still is (it has 10 times the GDP per capita as China, for example) - but if my fears prove correct, we will not be the dynamic, vibrant, inspiring, truly great country we once were.

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Is there any end to the anti-Obama anger? I can't even talk politics with my friends anymore

By Whitney Tilson

Thursday, September 23rd 2010, 1:30 PM

www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/09/23/2010-09-23_is_there_any_end_to_the_antiobama_anger_i_cant_even_talk_politics_with_my_friend.html#ixzz10NbT1rfE

Too Many Hamburgers?

2010-09-30T10:58:00.001-04:00

Tom Friedman in his column today is so right – and I’m so pessimistic that we can come together to meet our challenges:

Studying China’s ability to invest for the future doesn’t make me feel we have the wrong system. It makes me feel that we are abusing our right system. There is absolutely no reason our democracy should not be able to generate the kind of focus, legitimacy, unity and stick-to-it-iveness to do big things — democratically — that China does autocratically. We’ve done it before. But we’re not doing it now because too many of our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class are more interested in what keeps them in power than what would again make America powerful, more interested in defeating each other than saving the country.

“How can you compete with a country that is run like a company?” an Indian entrepreneur at the forum asked me of China. He then answered his own question: For democracy to be effective and deliver the policies and infrastructure our societies need requires the political center to be focused, united and energized. That means electing candidates who will do what is right for the country not just for their ideological wing or whoever comes with the biggest bag of money. For democracies to address big problems — and that’s all we have these days — requires a lot of people pulling in the same direction, and that is precisely what we’re lacking.

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September 21, 2010

Too Many Hamburgers?

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Tianjin, China

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/opinion/22friedman.html

To visit China today as an American is to compare and to be compared. And from the very opening session of this year’s World Economic Forum here in Tianjin, our Chinese hosts did not hesitate to do some comparing. China’s CCTV aired a skit showing four children — one wearing the Chinese flag, another the American, another the Indian, and another the Brazilian — getting ready to run a race. Before they take off, the American child, “Anthony,” boasts that he will win “because I always win,” and he jumps out to a big lead. But soon Anthony doubles over with cramps. “Now is our chance to overtake him for the first time!” shouts the Chinese child. “What’s wrong with Anthony?” asks another. “He is overweight and flabby,” says another child. “He ate too many hamburgers.”

That is how they see us.

Disappointed Supporters Question Obama

2010-09-30T10:57:00.002-04:00

I’m not the only Obama supporter feeling depressed (Jon Stewart devoted six minutes of his show last night to this town hall and it’s well worth watching: www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-21-2010/meet-the-depressed. It’s not his usual highly partisan thing – Jon Stewart is feeling depressed and let down too…):

It was billed as “Investing in America,” a live televised conversation on the state of the economy between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check.

But it sounded like a therapy session for disillusioned Obama supporters.

In question after question during a one-hour session, which took place on Monday at the Newseum here and was televised on CNBC, Mr. Obama was confronted by people who sounded frustrated and anxious — even as some said they supported his agenda and proclaimed themselves honored to be in his presence.

People from Main Street wanted to know if the American dream still lived for them. People on Wall Street complained that he was treating them like a piñata, “whacking us with a stick,” in the words of Anthony Scaramucci, a former law school classmate of Mr. Obama’s who now runs a hedge fund and was one of the president’s questioners.

“I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for,” said the first questioner, an African-American woman who identified herself as a chief financial officer, a mother and a military veteran. “I’ve been told that I voted for a man who was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class and I’m waiting sir, I’m waiting. I still don’t feel it yet.”

A 30-year-old law school graduate told Mr. Obama that he had hoped to pursue a career in public service — like the president — but complained that he could barely pay the interest on his student loans, let alone think of getting married or starting a family.

“I was really inspired by you and your campaign and the message you brought, and that inspiration is dying away,” he said, adding, “And I really want to know, is the American dream dead for me?”

The extraordinarily personal tone of the session, coupled with more substantive policy questions from the host, John Harwood of CNBC and The New York Times, reflects the erosion of support for Mr. Obama among the constituencies that sent him to the White House two years ago.

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Disappointed Supporters Question Obama

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Published: September 20, 2010

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21obama.html

WASHINGTON — It was billed as “Investing in America,” a live televised conversation on the state of the economy between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check.

If only Obama had...

2010-09-30T10:57:00.001-04:00

Before we completely despair, it’s important to note that Carter, Reagan and Clinton all had LOWER approval ratings at this stage of their Presidencies:

What if Obama had done not-X? Would things really be better for him? How do we know they wouldn't be worse?

Sadly, we can't hit rewind on the cosmic VCR and persuade Obama to do the other thing in the name of science. But we have had a number of presidents who did very different things, and that gives us some basis on which to make judgments. Let's start with approval ratings. Gallup's system will let me compare only four presidents at once, so I chose the last three presidents who entered office amid a recession and didn't have a country-unifying terrorist attack in their first year. That gives us Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. The dashed line is an average of all recent presidents.

Obama's current approval rating of 44 percent beats Clinton, Carter and Reagan. All of them were between 39 percent and 41 percent at this point in their presidencies. And all of them were former governors who accomplished less legislatively than Obama has at this point in his presidency.

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If only Obama had ...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/if_only_obama_had.html

The Angry Rich

2010-09-30T10:56:00.003-04:00

Krugman thinks the rabid anger toward Obama is mostly rooted in the rich hating him for wanting to raise their taxes, which I think is too simple (though it’s certainly a factor). The point he makes about “normal rules of civilized (and rational) discourse no longer apply” is spot on, however:

Anger is sweeping America. True, this white-hot rage is a minority phenomenon, not something that characterizes most of our fellow citizens. But the angry minority is angry indeed, consisting of people who feel that things to which they are entitled are being taken away. And they’re out for revenge.

No, I’m not talking about the Tea Partiers. I’m talking about the rich.

These are terrible times for many people in this country. Poverty, especially acute poverty, has soared in the economic slump; millions of people have lost their homes. Young people can’t find jobs; laid-off 50-somethings fear that they’ll never work again.

Yet if you want to find real political rage — the kind of rage that makes people compare President Obama to Hitler, or accuse him of treason — you won’t find it among these suffering Americans. You’ll find it instead among the very privileged, people who don’t have to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at the thought of paying modestly higher taxes.

The rage of the rich has been building ever since Mr. Obama took office. At first, however, it was largely confined to Wall Street. Thus when New York magazine published an article titled “The Wail Of the 1%,” it was talking about financial wheeler-dealers whose firms had been bailed out with taxpayer funds, but were furious at suggestions that the price of these bailouts should include temporary limits on bonuses. When the billionaire Stephen Schwarzman compared an Obama proposal to the Nazi invasion of Poland, the proposal in question would have closed a tax loophole that specifically benefits fund managers like him.

Now, however, as decision time looms for the fate of the Bush tax cuts — will top tax rates go back to Clinton-era levels? — the rage of the rich has broadened, and also in some ways changed its character.

For one thing, craziness has gone mainstream. It’s one thing when a billionaire rants at a dinner event. It’s another when Forbes magazine runs a cover story alleging that the president of the United States is deliberately trying to bring America down as part of his Kenyan, “anticolonialist” agenda, that “the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s.” When it comes to defending the interests of the rich, it seems, the normal rules of civilized (and rational) discourse no longer apply.

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September 19, 2010

The Angry Rich

By PAUL KRUGMAN

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/opinion/20krugman.html

How Obama Thinks

2010-09-30T10:56:00.001-04:00

I was so stunned by what Krugman said Dinesh D’Souza wrote in Forbes that I figured Krugman must have taken a sentence out of context so I looked it up (below and at: www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem_print.html) and it’s even MORE despicable than Krugman says! You really have to read it to understand how stunning it is that a mainstream Republican would write this, and that a mainstream publication would publish it. Here are the last two paragraphs:

Colonialism today is a dead issue. No one cares about it except the man in the White House. He is the last anticolonial. Emerging market economies such as China, India, Chile and Indonesia have solved the problem of backwardness; they are exploiting their labor advantage and growing much faster than the U.S. If America is going to remain on top, we have to compete in an increasingly tough environment.

But instead of readying us for the challenge, our President is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost.

Obama barely knew his father!

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On The Cover/Top Stories
How Obama Thinks
Dinesh D'Souza, 09.27.10, 12:00 AM ET

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem_print.html

Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history. Thanks to him the era of big government is back. Obama runs up taxpayer debt not in the billions but in the trillions. He has expanded the federal government's control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, autos and energy. The Weekly Standard summarizes Obama's approach as omnipotence at home, impotence abroad.

Who's the Con Man?

2010-09-30T10:55:00.001-04:00

Maureen Dowd’s take on this travesty is spot on, especially her conclusion: “It’s Newt and D’Souza and their ilk who put America at risk.”:

Gingrich praised D’Souza’s article in Forbes, previewing an upcoming book called “The Roots of Obama’s Rage.”

Newt told The National Review Online that it was the “most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama” and said D’Souza shows that the president “is so outside our comprehension” that you can only understand him “if you understand Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.”

Newt added: “This a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president.”

So the smear artists are claiming not only that the president is a socialist but that he suffers from a socialism gene.

“Our president is trapped in his father’s time machine,” D’Souza writes in Forbes, offering a genetic theory of ideology. “Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation’s agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son.”

Playing into the bigotry of birthers and haters who paint Obama as “the other,” D’Souza writes that the president was raised offshore, spending “his formative years — the first 17 years of his life — off the American mainland, in Hawaii, Indonesia and Pakistan, with multiple subsequent journeys to Africa.” The ominous-sounding time in Pakistan was merely a visit when Obama was a college student.

…If it wasn’t so sick it would be funny. It’s worse than a conspiracy theory because this conspiracy consists of a single dead individual. The idea that there’s something illegitimate about anticolonialism on the part of a Kenyan man in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s is stupid. And it’s inconsistent to accuse a president who’s raining drones on bad guys in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen of having an inherited anticolonial ideology.

It’s also really low. D’Souza and Gingrich are not merely discrediting the president’s father’s ideology. They’re discrediting his character and insinuating that the son inherited not just his father’s bad ideology but a bad character, too.

…This fear-mongering is ugly. D’Souza and Gingrich employ the tactics the Bush administration used to get us into Iraq — cherry-picking, insinuation, half-truths and dishonest reasoning.

If the conservatives are so interested in psychoanalyzing father and son relationships, why didn’t they do so back when W. was rushing to avenge and one-up his father by finishing what daddy started with Saddam?

On their Web site, Callista and Newt tout “Gingrich Productions” and promote an apocalyptic movie with the same kind of scary music that Fox uses, suggesting that the Obama administration is weak in the war against “radical Islam.” The movie and the Web site are called “America at Risk.”

It’s Newt and D’Souza and their ilk who put America at risk.

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Who’s the Con Man?

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: September 14, 2010

WASHINGTON

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/opinion/15dowd.html

Aren't We Clever?

2010-09-30T10:54:00.001-04:00

Friedman with a powerful example of how China is kicking out butts because of our political paralysis:

Aren’t We Clever?

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: September 18, 2010

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19friedman.html

What a contrast. In a year that’s on track to be our planet’s hottest on record, America turned “climate change” into a four-letter word that many U.S. politicians won’t even dare utter in public. If this were just some parlor game, it wouldn’t matter. But the totally bogus “discrediting” of climate science has had serious implications. For starters, it helped scuttle Senate passage of the energy-climate bill needed to scale U.S.-made clean technologies, leaving America at a distinct disadvantage in the next great global industry. And that brings me to the contrast: While American Republicans were turning climate change into a wedge issue, the Chinese Communists were turning it into a work issue.

“There is really no debate about climate change in China,” said Peggy Liu, chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, a nonprofit group working to accelerate the greening of China. “China’s leaders are mostly engineers and scientists, so they don’t waste time questioning scientific data.” The push for green in China, she added, “is a practical discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to emphasize future consequences when people already see, eat and breathe pollution every day.”

And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.

So while America’s Republicans turned “climate change” into a four-letter word — J-O-K-E — China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word — J-O-B-S.

“China is changing from the factory of the world to the clean-tech laboratory of the world,” said Liu. “It has the unique ability to pit low-cost capital with large-scale experiments to find models that work.” China has designated and invested in pilot cities for electric vehicles, smart grids, LED lighting, rural biomass and low-carbon communities. “They’re able to quickly throw spaghetti on the wall to see what clean-tech models stick, and then have the political will to scale them quickly across the country,” Liu added. “This allows China to create jobs and learn quickly.”

Message to Muslims: I'm Sorry

2010-09-30T10:53:00.001-04:00

Nick Kristof argues correctly that the right’s attacks on ALL Muslims are not only immoral and contrary to what our nation stands for, but also massively contrary to our self-interest, as it dramatically increases the number of people who want to harm us.

Many Americans have suggested that more moderate Muslims should stand up to extremists, speak out for tolerance, and apologize for sins committed by their brethren.

That’s reasonable advice, and as a moderate myself, I’m going to take it. (Throat clearing.) I hereby apologize to Muslims for the wave of bigotry and simple nuttiness that has lately been directed at you. The venom on the airwaves, equating Muslims with terrorists, should embarrass us more than you. Muslims are one of the last minorities in the United States that it is still possible to demean openly, and I apologize for the slurs.

…Radicals tend to empower radicals, creating a gulf of mutual misunderstanding and anger. Many Americans believe that Osama bin Laden is representative of Muslims, and many Afghans believe that the Rev. Terry Jones (who talked about burning Korans) is representative of Christians.

Many Americans honestly believe that Muslims are prone to violence, but humans are too complicated and diverse to lump into groups that we form invidious conclusions about. We’ve mostly learned that about blacks, Jews and other groups that suffered historic discrimination, but it’s still O.K. to make sweeping statements about “Muslims” as an undifferentiated mass.

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September 18, 2010

Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19kristof.html

Join me at Jon Stewart's RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY in DC on Sat., Oct. 30th

2010-09-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

I checked to make sure that this is real, not some elaborate hoax, and it’s really happening: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are hosting a rally on the mall in Washington DC on Saturday, Oct. 30^th. Called the “Rally to Restore Sanity” (Colbert hilariously calls his “The March to Keep Fear Alive”), I actually think this is going to be a VERY important political event, a powerful statement for sanity and moderation, and against the radical right, which is threatening to hijack our country by spreading hatred and divisiveness – plus it will surely be a BLAST, as Stewart and Colbert are the two funniest men alive! I can’t wait to hold up the signs they will be providing, including ‘I Disagree With You, But I’m Pretty Sure You’re Not Hitler,’ ‘I’m Not Afraid of Muslims/Tea Partiers/Socialists/Immigrants/Gun Owners/Gays…But I Am Scared of Spiders,’ ‘Got Competence?,’ ‘9/11 was an OUTSIDE job,’ and ‘Take It Down a Notch, America.’

So, yes, I’m going and bringing my entire family – it’s a great opportunity to start getting my three girls politically active, plus show them the sights. Susan and I have taken them around this country and the world, but they’ve never been to DC so we’re looking forward to visiting the White House, the Air and Space Museum, etc.

To see the hilarious segment announcing the rally on The Daily Show this week, see www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-16-2010/rally-to-restore-sanity (starts at 0:55). And here’s Colbert: www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/359382/september-16-2010/march-to-keep-fear-alive (starts at 2:30). High comedy!

Here’s an excerpt about the rally their web site, www.rallytorestoresanity.com:

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Who among us has not wanted to open their window and shout that at the top of their lungs?

Seriously, who?

Because we're looking for those people. We're looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles.

Are you one of those people? Excellent. Then we'd like you to join us in Washington, DC on October 30 -- a date of no significance whatsoever -- at the Daily Show's "Rally to Restore Sanity." Ours is a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) -- not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point.

Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we'll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don't. If you'd rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice... Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We'll make it worth your while.

Below are two articles about the rally. The exact time on the 30^th isn’t set yet, but you can sign up to get info as it becomes available at: www.rallytorestoresanity.com.

I hope to see you there!

PS—The cheapest way to get to DC from East Coast cities (NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore) is one of the express bus services like MegaBus (www.megabus.com) or BoltBus (www.boltbus.com) – there are busses to/from NYC almost every hour and the prices are ridiculously low, ranging from $8-$23 each way. I took MegaBus a few months ago and it was comfortable and had free wi-fi – what’s not to like?!

---------------------------

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert D.C.rally has a deadly serious purpose

It may have started out as a game and a joke but the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rally in Washington D.C. may be the most important political event this year.

The political stage has been completely dominated this election season by Glenn Beck and other right wing commentators and the various Tea party rallies.

Can Stewart and Colbert prove there is a major alternative American voice out there as the mid term elections approach and the Tea Party is running rampant?

The October 30th "Rally to Restore Sanity" ,coming just a short time before those elections could prove to be a rallying cry and a Woodstock for the millions of liberals and moderates whose voices, with the exception of Stewart and Colbert, have not been heard.

Stewart in particular has shown an ability to articulate the sheer puzzlement and occasional despair at the charges being flung from the right against the Obama administration and others.

He skewers the worst excesses nightly as does Colbert in a more complex fashion.

But who do they speak for, and will the people they speak for turn up on the mall and give voice to the reality that while both are comedians, what they are addressing is deadly serious?

Time will tell but it will be a fascinating exercise in power politics, behind all the grins and one liners.

-------------------

Stewart, Colbert Plan Competing DC Rallies

By Erik Hayden | September 17, 2010 8:47am

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Stewart-Colbert-Plan-Competing-DC-Rallies-5064

Not to be outdone by Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart has announced a DC rally on the National Mall October 30th. Entitled the "Rally To Restore Sanity," it is aimed at people who normally don't attend rallies (people with "shit to do," he explains). Not to be outdone by Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert has also announced a DC rally on the same day, cheekily dubbed "The March To Keep Fear Alive." The moves, evidently calibrated to combat Glenn Beck's huge "Restoring Honor" event last month, also are conveniently timed a few days before election day 2010. Not only do Colbert and Stewart cash in on the political fever before the midterms, they can perhaps even make a political statement or two while lampooning. Critics call it a savvy move.

· Pre-Announcement Buzz Melissa Bell at The Washington Post details the build up to the announcement: there were "a number of 'pre-announcement announcements' on the show and an online campaign started by Reddit.com. The users on Reddit called for Stephen Colbert to match Glenn Beck's 'Restoring America' march with one for 'Restoring Truthiness.' They even raised $239,075 for schools on Colbert's behalf. Stewart said the date of the show has no significance--a reference to Glenn Beck's rally falling on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's speech."

· Stewart's Event Seems Like 'A Direct Response' to Beck observes Michael O'Brien at The Hill, who notes that Stewart described it as a "million moderate march" against ideological extremists in both parties. But both Stewart's and Colbert's rallies, "ostensibly have the purpose of mocking some of the more strident rhetoric members of both parties have employed in political debates over the past decade."

· Is It a Comedy Rally or a Rally Against 'Extremism'? The New York Times Bill Carter hedged, "The rally will clearly have some comedy elements (as well as likely guest stars, Mr. Stewart said), and his partner on the Comedy Central cable channel, Stephen Colbert, appeared on the show in his usual conservative blowhard persona to threaten to infiltrate the rally. Mr. Stewart also promised to supply the crowd with signs if they did not bring their own, including as examples, 'I Disagree With You, But I’m Pretty Sure You’re Not Hitler,' and 'Take It Down a Notch, America.'"

· 'It's Unclear If the Rallies Will Actually Take Place' reports Aliyah Shahid at The New York Daily News, "but Stewart will be in D.C. that week to host his show on Oct. 25-28. And he insisted on the show that he had already reserved a spot on the National Mall, declaring 'the forms have been filled out, the checks have been written.'"

The 'Timing and Message Are Undeniably Political' writes The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder. "I'd imagine that these rallies will draw counter-rallies, and that smart conservative folks will try to incorporate them in a way that helps Republicans as well....Depending on how the media covers the run-up to these rallies, Stewart and Colbert could generate interest and enthusiasm among the type of voters who have so far been turned off by the independent conservative resurgence."

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www.rallytorestoresanity.com

Name:

E-mail:

The Long, Lame Goodbye

2009-01-19T19:22:00.003-05:00

Maureen Dowd with a scathing (and accurate) summary of who we're bidding good riddance to:

As Barack Obama got to town, one of the first things he did was seek the counsel of past presidents, including George Bush senior.

As W. was leaving town, one of the last things he did was explain why he never sought the counsel of his father on issues that his father knew intimately, like Iraq and Saddam.

When Brit Hume did a joint interview last week with Bush father and son, dubbed “41st guy” and “43rd guy” by W., the Fox anchor asked whether it was true that “there wasn’t a lot of give and take” between them, except on family matters.

“See,” the Oedipally oddball W. replied, “the interesting thing is that a president has got plenty of advisers, but what a president never has is someone who gave him unconditional love.”

He talks about his father, the commander in chief who went to war with Saddam before he did, like a puppy. “You rarely have people,” he said, “who can pick up the phone and say, ‘I love you, son,’ or, ‘Hang in there, son.’ ”

Maybe he wouldn’t have needed so many Hang-in-there-sons if he had actually consulted his dad before he ignorantly and fraudulently rammed into the Middle East.

-----------------

January 18, 2009

Op-Ed Columnist

The Long, Lame Goodbye

By MAUREEN DOWD

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/opinion/18dowd.html

WASHINGTON

As Barack Obama got to town, one of the first things he did was seek the counsel of past presidents, including George Bush senior.

Inaugural Celebration Concert

2009-01-19T19:22:00.001-05:00

A friend's comments on the Inaugural Celebration Concert yesterday:

I watched the concert as I cleaned and made dinner, though I got choked up a few times. The actors reading quotes and tributes to America's great principles and Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and Kennedy were alternately stirring and flat.

But the musical performances, though not always musically great, were very moving.

Bruce Springsteen doing "The Rising" (with a gospel choir, fantastic), and at the end with Pete Seeger and Seeger's grandson doing "This Land is My Land". Amazing to think all of what Seeger has seen in this country.

Beyoncé singing "America The Beautiful"

John Mellencamp doing "Pink Houses" with the big choir, also very moving when you think about the ambivalence in the song, the way Mellencamp cites some of the Everyman ironies of life here but embraces it all anyway.

Mary J Blige doing "Lean on Me" - yes, Bill Withers, the Obama of music?

Betty LaVette doing "A Change is Gonna Come".... And Jon Bon Jovi ?!?!?!? doing somewhat tortured duet with her. She still kept it wonderful.

Garth Brooks: "Shout" = so-so. "american pie" = better. Never loved his music, but infectiously fun fellow.

U2 doing Pride, and City of Blinding Lights wasn't the best musically, Bono's voice didn't quite his his old highs, but was still beautiful.
Bono took a moment to shout that the dream of "In the name of love!" included Israelis and, pointedly, Palestinians. A nice gesture, just to acknowledge what's gone on, and say their name from that stage (the Lincoln Memorail) is meaningful, without being divisive or making it too political. Somehow I was hoping for some other rock star moment from him to signify the moment but the words and music were enough.

James Taylor ("Shower the people you love with love") and Stevie Wonder ("Higher Ground") were probably the best musically, both had guest singers. Shakira was a strange choice for Stevie, and she didn't fit in well vocally. But he is so solid it didn't matter.

I was never the bggest James Taylor fan, but it's a beautiful song and worked beautifully with the guest singers (John Legend...).

You can skip the Marisa Tomei intro, but this is a gorgeous moment. Watch it in 'high quality'
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=james+taylor+inaugural&search_type=&aq=f

Here are some other links I found on YouTube to performances at the concert:

Obama's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sAdjxOcm3Q
James Taylor and John Legend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTb7TOYey-E
Bruce Springsteen, The Rising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9agL99z6Q4
Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, This Land Is Your Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg0wiOHc9tI
Garth Brooks, American Pie and Shout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwXWlI8J8Sk
U2, In the Name of Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ1t06Ytp1E
Will.i.am & Herbie Hancock & Sheryl Crow - Bob Marley's "One Love" (Let's Get Together), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnJXBQGY3lc
Renée Fleming - "You'll Never Walk Alone", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg_xFto88bQ

Great humor from The Daily Show

2009-01-15T18:57:00.003-05:00

Y'know, after a lot of therapy (not really -- but maybe I should have!), I'd stopped thinking about the soon-to-be-departed-worst-President-ever. He's going to disappear into well-deserved obscurity on Tuesday (as Palin already has) and what's the point of sitting around hating him for doing so much damage to this country -- and the world? The damage is done, everyone knows he's responsible (with a big assist from Cheney and a handful of other cronies) and thank goodness there will FINALLY be a capable, smart, good man in charge who will start to heal the damage that's been done.

But after watching clips from Bush's press conference on The Daily Show on Tuesday, I got furious all over: www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=215901. He's not just trying to spin history -- he's totally off-his-rocker, delusional! Here are some quotes:

"[Iraq] not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment...Abu Ghraib was a huge disappointment...I've thought long and hard about Katrina. Could I have done something differently, like land Air Force One in New Orleans or Baton Rouge? The problem with that is that law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission and then your questions, I suspect, would have been, 'How can you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge and police officers who were needed to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taken off the task to look after you.'"

Jon Stewart's comment: "You have no idea why people are mad at you about Katrina, do you? You thought it was the plane landing/flyover? You're like the guy whose wife comes home and catches you banging her sister and you think she's mad at your for not telling her you were coming home early." LOL!

You gotta watch this starting at 9:10, where the press conference becomes "just plain weird".

Also, while you're at it, the first five minutes of Monday's Daily Show is a hoot, contrasting Obama's and Bush's vastly contrasting styles at press conferences: www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=215333

He's Leaving. Really.

2009-01-15T18:57:00.001-05:00

Gail Collins with a nice good riddance column:

The White House has promised that in his final address, the president will be joined by a small group of everyday American heroes, which means that the only person on stage with a history of failing to perform well in moments of stress will be the main speaker.

Bush is going to devote some of his time to defending his record, although there has been quite a bit of that already. Over the last few weeks we have learned that he thinks the Katrina response worked out rather well except for one unfortunate photo-op, and that he regards the fact that we invaded another country on the basis of false information as a “disappointment.” Since Bush also referred to the disappointments of his White House tenure as “a minor irritant” it’s perhaps best to think of the weapons of mass destruction debacle as a pimple on the administration’s otherwise rosy complexion...

...History does suggest that Bush performs best in venues like this one, in which he has a long lead time and virtually no actual role in preparing the words he is about to say. But still, what could he possibly tell the country that would change anybody’s opinion about the last eight years?

“My fellow Americans, before I leave you next week I want you to know that ...

A) “Although things have gone very wrong, I take comfort in the realization that Dick Cheney was actually in control from the get-go. Honest, I never even knew half the people in the cabinet.”

B) “Laura and I have come to realize that all things considered, retirement to a mansion in Texas is just totally inappropriate. And so we take our leave to begin a new life as missionaries at a small rescue station in the Gobi desert ...”

C) “Surprise! This has all actually been a bad dream. It’s really still November of 2000 and tomorrow Al Gore is going to be elected president.”

Otherwise, the best possible approach for a farewell address might be for Bush to follow his father’s lead and just not give one.

----------------------

January 15, 2009

Op-Ed Columnist

He’s Leaving. Really.

By GAIL COLLINS

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15collins.html

Tonight President George W. Bush bids adieu to the American people.

Excitement mounts.

The man has been saying goodbye for so long, he’s come to resemble one of those reconstituted rock bands that have been on a farewell tour since 1982. We had exit interviews by the carload and then a final press conference on Monday, in which he reminisced about his arrival on the national stage in 2000. “Just seemed like yesterday,” he said.

I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that the way this transition has been dragging on, even yesterday does not seem like yesterday. And the last time George W. Bush did not factor into our lives feels like around 1066.

So far, the Bush farewell appearances have not drawn a lot of rave reviews. (Most striking, perhaps, was a critique of that final press conference from Ted Anthony of The Associated Press: “It all felt strangely intimate and, occasionally, uncomfortable, in the manner of seeing a plumber wearing jeans that ride too low.”) A Gallup poll did find that his approval rating had risen slightly since they began, but this was probably due to enthusiasm for the part about his going away.

How to turn Obama's success into gains for black boys

2009-01-15T18:56:00.001-05:00

An outstanding editorial in the USA Today last week about how to turn Obama's success into gains for black boys, which mentions both KIPP as well as one of the REACH schools, Frederick Douglass Academy:

Learn from successful schools

Few African-African boys have access to elite private schools such as Washington's Sidwell Friends, where the Obama girls started classes Monday. But several inner-city schools are showing impressive results. At the Key Academy in Washington, D.C., a charter that is part of the successful KIPP group, black boys arrive in fifth grade reading two grades behind the girls. By seventh grade, they pull even. Their success is related to a persistent focus on literacy skills, even in science and math classes.

At New York's Frederick Douglass Academy, a regular public school where two-thirds of the students qualify for the free lunch program, students take courses that rival the rigor of anything offered in the best suburban schools, and nearly all go on to college.

Nice plugs for Arne Duncan and NCLB as well:

Obama has signaled that he intends to be more than a role model. His biggest education issue, ramping up the federal role in offering high-quality preschools, could have a huge impact on black boys, especially if he launches research into making preschools work as well for boys as they do for girls.

The president-elect's promise to double funding for effective charter schools such as KIPP mirrors reform efforts in Chicago, where his choice to become the federal Education secretary, Arne Duncan, served as schools chief for the past seven years.

Most important, Obama has resisted calls from the teachers' unions to dismantle President Bush's No Child Left Behind school-reform law. Whatever the law's shortcomings, No Child's relentless emphasis on data forces school districts to come clean about the poor job they have done with black boys.

----------------------

How to turn Obama's success into gains for black boys

USA Today editorial, 1/6/09

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/how-to-turn-oba.html

You can see the message on brick wall murals in inner cities: Yes we can. You can hear it in the music of Black Eyed Peas' frontman will.i.am: Yes we can.

The Confidence Surplus

2009-01-15T18:55:00.001-05:00

David Brooks a week ago on Obama's stimulus plan. Re. the last line, he'll be a great president:

The Confidence Surplus

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: January 8, 2009

Christina Romer is Barack Obama’s choice to lead his Council of Economic Advisers. In 1994, Romer and her husband, David, wrote an essay entitled “What Ends Recessions?” In the first paragraph, the Romers noted that “economists seem strangely unsure about what to tell policy makers to do to end recessions.”

The Romers surveyed the recessions of the previous 50 years to try to reach some conclusions about what works. “Our central conclusion is that monetary policy alone is a sufficiently powerful and flexible tool to end recessions,” they wrote. Automatic spending policies like unemployment insurance have sometimes helped. Discretionary policies, like tax cuts and stimulus plans, have not been of much use. As they put it: “Discretionary fiscal policy, in contrast, does not appear to have had an important role in generating recoveries.”

The Romers briefly described how different administrations responded to recessions. All the administrations, Democratic and Republican, resisted large-scale fiscal stimulus plans. They didn’t believe they could time a stimulus correctly. They didn’t trust Congress to pass the bills quickly or cleanly. They decided they shouldn’t be making policy in what Kennedy administration economists called “an atmosphere of haste and panic brought on by recession.”

The Romers’ essay exemplifies the economic doctrine that reigned up until a few months ago: fiscal stimulus plans that try to time a recession are dangerous, unproven and unnecessary.

That doctrine has suddenly vanished. But not because we suddenly know how to create effective stimulus plans. Last year, the Congress passed a $165 billion plan that seems to have done almost nothing for the economy. The doctrine has vanished because this recession is deeper than the others and we’ve run out of other stuff to do.

Today there is wide support for fiscal stimulus. It’s just that there is no historical experience to tell us how to do it, and there is no agreement on how to make it work. The economists’ prescriptions are all over the map.

Obama is compelled to jump into unchartered territory, with no compass or guide. He could have chosen to spend the big money that is apparently required in cautious ways. He could have chosen to pick out a few easily implemented policies that could be enacted in a way that is targeted, temporary and timely. He could have chosen to merely cut the payroll tax, boost aid to the states and do infrastructure projects.

But the Obama presidency is going to be defined by his audacious self-confidence. In Thursday’s speech, he vowed to do everything at once. He vowed to throw the big things into the stimulus soup — tax cuts, state aid, road and bridge repair — but also the rest of the pantry. He proposes broadband projects, special education programs, a new power grid, new scientific research, teacher training projects and new libraries.

This will be the most complex piece of legislation in American history, and as if the policy content wasn’t complicated enough, Obama also promised to pass it via Immaculate Conception — through a new legislative process that will transform politics. The process, he said, will be totally transparent. There will be no earmarks, no special-interest pleading. In a direct rebuttal to Federalist No. 10, he called on lawmakers to put aside their parochial concerns and pass the measure in weeks.

And as if that isn’t enough, he promised next month to make repairing Social Security and Medicare a “central part” of his budget. “I’m not out to increase the size of government long-term,” he told John Harwood of The Times.

This is daring and impressive stuff. Obama’s team has clearly thought through every piece of this plan. There’s no plank that’s obviously wasteful or that reeks of special-interest pleading. The tax cut is big and bipartisan. Obama is properly worried about runaway deficits, but he’s spending money on things one would want to do anyway. This is not an attempt to use the crisis to build a European-style welfare state.

The problem is overload. Four months ago, no one knew how to put together a stimulus package. Now Obama wants to use it to rush through instant special-ed programs and pre-Ks. Repairing the power grid means clearing complex regulatory hurdles. How is he going to do that in time to employ workers in May?

His staff will be searching for the White House restrooms, and they will have to make billion-dollar decisions by the hour. He is asking Congress to behave and submit in a way it never has. He has picked policies that are phenomenally hard to implement, let alone in weeks. The conventional advice for presidents is: focus your energies on a few big things. Obama just blew the doors off that one.

Maybe Obama can pull this off, but I have my worries. By this time next year, he’ll either be a great president or a broken one.

A Cook County Political Tale In Three Acts

2009-01-06T12:32:00.003-05:00

Quite a remarkable story:

You may think today's story is about the crooked Illinois governor
selling Obama's Senate seat. What you don't know is how the Bush Justice
Dept. probably steered Obama away from disaster even before taking
office. Here's how the pieces of the puzzle fit, based on the known
facts as well as those alleged in the Criminal Complaint, my knowledge
of federal criminal case management and protocols, and some deductive
reasoning.

-------------------

A Cook County Political Tale In Three Acts

This written by Dan Westerbeck, retired lawyer from Chicago , former
quarterback at Ohio State U, and all around good guy.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=275712

Fellow Citizens,

Since most of you do not understand the " Chicago way" of doing things
and come from places that are, relatively speaking, governed by
elections, you may need an interpreter for news from Chicago , especially
about Cook County politics. That's why I'm here.

Ex-Detainee of U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal

2009-01-06T12:32:00.001-05:00

Stories like this, which Dick Cheney is defending to this day, are a complete disgrace and make me ashamed for my country (watch the video at www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/asia/06iqbal.html if you have any question whether Mr. Iqbal is telling the truth). And anyone who thinks this was an unusual case, please let me know, as I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you... Obama can't close Guantanamo fast enough...

When Muhammad Saad Iqbal arrived home here in August after more than six years in American custody, including five at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had difficulty walking, his left ear was severely infected, and he was dependent on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants.

In November, a Pakistani surgeon operated on his ear, physical therapists were working on lower back problems and a psychiatrist was trying to wean him off the drugs he carried around in a white, plastic shopping bag.

The maladies, said Mr. Iqbal, 31, a professional reader of the Koran, are the result of a gantlet of torture, imprisonment and interrogation for which his Washington lawyer plans to sue the United States government.

The coming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is weighing whether to close the Guantánamo prison, which many critics have called an extralegal system of detention and abuse.

But the full stories of individual detainees like Mr. Iqbal are only now emerging after years in which they were shuttled around the globe under the Bush administration's system of extraordinary rendition, which used foreign countries to interrogate and detain terrorism suspects in sites beyond the reach of American courts.

Mr. Iqbal was never convicted of any crime, or even charged with one. He was quietly released from Guantánamo with a routine explanation that he was no longer considered an enemy combatant, part of an effort by the Bush administration to reduce the prison's population.

"I feel ashamed what the Americans did to me in this period," Mr. Iqbal said, speaking for the first time at length about his ordeal during several hours of interviews with The New York Times, including one from his hospital bed in Lahore.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ex-Detainee of U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal

By JANE PERLEZ and RAYMOND BONNER

Published: January 5, 2009

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/asia/06iqbal.html

LAHORE, Pakistan When Muhammad Saad Iqbal arrived home here in August after more than six years in American custody, including five at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had difficulty walking, his left ear was severely infected, and he was dependent on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants.

The Year in Review

2009-01-06T12:31:00.001-05:00

Dave Barry with a HILARIOUS summary of 2008 -- here are the excerpts about the campaign:

JANUARY . . .

which begins, as it does every four years, with presidential contenders swarming into Iowa and expressing sincerely feigned interest in corn. The Iowa caucuses produce two surprises:

On the Republican side, the winner is Mike Huckabee, folksy former governor of Arkansas, or possibly Oklahoma, who vows to remain in the race until he gets a commentator gig with Fox. His win deals a severe blow to Mitt Romney and his bid to become the first president of the android persuasion. Not competing in Iowa are Rudy Giuliani, whose strategy is to stay out of the race until he is mathematically eliminated, and John McCain, who entered the caucus date incorrectly into his 1996 Palm Pilot.

On the Democratic side, the surprise winner is Barack Obama, who is running for president on a long and impressive record of running for president. A mesmerizing speaker, Obama electrifies voters with his exciting new ideas for change, although people have trouble remembering exactly what these ideas are because they are so darned mesmerized. Some people become so excited that they actually pass out. These are members of the press corps.

Obama's victory comes at the expense of former front-runner Hillary Clinton, who fails to ignite voter passion despite a rip-snorter of a stump speech in which she recites, without notes, all 17 points of her plan to streamline tuition-loan applications.

The instant the caucuses are over, the contenders drop Iowa like a rancid frankfurter and jet to other states to express concern about whatever people there care about.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush, who is still, technically, the president, visits the Middle East and finds things over there just as confusing as ever.

FEBRUARY . . .

The battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton heats up as the two engage in a series of increasingly hostile debates, including one in which Secret Service agents have to tackle a large, angry, red-faced man who bursts from the audience shouting incoherently. This turns out to be Bill Clinton, who is swiftly dispatched by his wife's campaign to work his magic on voters in the crucial Guam caucuses.

On the Republican side, John McCain emerges as the clear front-runner when Mitt Romney drops out of the race, citing "motherboard issues."

MARCH . . .

In politics, Barack Obama addresses the issue of why, in his 20 years of membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he failed to notice that the pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is a racist lunatic. In a major televised address widely hailed for its brilliance, Obama explains that . . . Okay, nobody really remembers what the actual explanation was. But everybody agrees it was mesmerizing.

Obama's opponent, Hillary Clinton, gets into a controversy of her own when she claims that, as first lady, she landed in Bosnia "under sniper fire." News outlets quickly locate archive video showing that she was in fact greeted with a welcoming ceremony featuring an 8-year-old girl reading a poem. Clinton's campaign releases a statement pointing out that it was "a pretty long poem."

On the Republican side, John McCain wraps up the nomination and embarks on a series of strategic naps.

APRIL . . .

tensions run high in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, which all the experts agree is extremely crucial. Barack Obama gets into trouble with rural voters for saying that rural Americans are "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion." Responding to charges that this statement is elitist, Obama responds: "You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy."

Seeking to capitalize on Obama's gaffe, Hillary Clinton starts channeling Annie Oakley, tossing down shots of whiskey and talking about her love of guns and hunting. After one particularly long day on the trail, she grabs a Secret Service agent's pistol and attempts to shoot a deer; instead she wounds a reporter, thereby sealing her victory in the Pennsylvania primary, which turns out to not actually be all that crucial because the Democratic race keeps right on going with no sign of ending in the current decade.

On the Republican side, John McCain gets wind of something called the "Internet" and orders his staff to give him a summary of it on index cards.

MAY . . .

In presidential politics, the increasingly bitter fight for the Democratic nomination intensifies when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hold a televised debate, moderated by PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, which consists entirely of spitting.

On the Republican side, John McCain, preparing for the fall campaign, purchases a new necktie.

JUNE . . .

Barack Obama finally claims the bitterly contested Democratic nomination when Hillary Clinton, behind on delegates and in debt to the tune of $25 million, including $9 million for hairspray alone, suspends her campaign and declares that she has "no hard feelings" and will do "whatever it takes" to help Obama get elected, "even though he is scum." Bill Clinton, at his wife's side, nods vigorously but is unable to speak because of the restraining device. A gracious John McCain tells the press that he "looks forward to a spirited debate with Sen. Mondale." Before he can take questions, he is informed by his aides that he has an important meeting.

In other campaign-related news, Chicago developer Tony Rezko, a former Obama associate and fundraiser, is convicted on corruption charges, but media representatives realize that this is not an issue after Obama explains that it is not an issue.

President George W. Bush takes one last official trip to Europe to meet with European leaders. Unfortunately, they are not home.

JULY . . .

Barack Obama, having secured North and South America, flies to Germany without using an airplane and gives a major speech -- speaking English and German simultaneously -- to 200,000 mesmerized Germans, who immediately elect him chancellor, prompting France to surrender.

Meanwhile, John McCain, at a strategy session at a golf resort, tells his top aides to prepare a list of potential running mates, stressing that he wants somebody "who is completely, brutally honest." Unfortunately, because of noise from a lawnmower, the aides think McCain said he wants somebody "who has competed in a beauty contest." This will lead to trouble down the road.

AUGUST . . .

Barack Obama, continuing to shake up the establishment, selects as his running mate Joe Biden, a tireless fighter for change since he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1849. The Democratic Party gathers in Denver to formally nominate Obama, who descends from his Fortress of Solitude to mesmerize the adoring crowd with an acceptance speech objectively described by the New York Times as "comparable to the Gettysburg Address, only way better."

Meanwhile, John McCain, still searching for the perfect running mate, tells his top aides in a conference call that he wants "someone who is capable of filling my shoes." Unfortunately, he is speaking into the wrong end of his cellphone, and his aides think he said "someone who is capable of killing a moose." Shortly thereafter, McCain stuns the world, and possibly himself, by selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a no-nonsense hockey mom with roughly 114 children named after random nouns such as "Hamper."

SEPTEMBER . . .

the Republican convention gets off to a tentative start in St. Paul, Minn., when President Bush and Vice President Cheney are unable to attend, partly because of Hurricane Gustav, and partly because the organizers told them that the convention was in Atlanta. The mood improves when Sarah Palin dazzles the delegates with her winning smile, detailed knowledge of what is on the teleprompter and spot-on imitation of Tina Fey. The next night, John McCain, formally accepting the nomination, pledges to run "a totally incoherent campaign." None of this is reported in the media because the entire press corps is in Wasilla, Alaska, investigating rumors that Palin once dated a yeti.

But the presidential campaign is soon overshadowed by the troubled economy. The federal government is finally forced to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after they are caught selling crack at a middle school. But that is not enough, as major financial institutions, having lost hundreds of billions of dollars thanks to years of engaging in practices ranging from questionable to moronic, begin failing, which gives the federal government an idea: Why not give these institutions more hundreds of billions of dollars, generously provided by taxpayers?

This plan is discussed and debated in urgent meetings in Washington attended by the president, the Cabinet, congressional leaders, Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain and all other concerned parties except the actual taxpayers, who are not invited because they are, with all due respect, way too stupid to understand high finance. The taxpayers are repeatedly assured, however, that unless they fork over $700 billion, the economy will go right down the toilet. And so it comes to pass that in . . .

OCTOBER . . .

The economy dominates the presidential campaign, with the focal point being "Joe the Plumber," an Ohio resident who asks Barack Obama a mildly confrontational question about tax policy and within hours is more famous than the Dalai Lama. He draws intense scrutiny from the news media, which, using investigative reporters borrowed from the Palin-yeti beat, determine that "Joe the Plumber" is in fact (1) not named Joe, (2) not a plumber, (3) a citizen of Belgium and, biologically, (4) a woman.

In the presidential debates, John McCain, looking and sounding increasingly like the late Walter Brennan, cites Joe the Plumber a record 847 times while charging that Obama's tax policies amount to socialism. Obama, ahead of McCain by double digits in the polls and several hundred million dollars in money, skips the debates so he can work on his inaugural address. The New York Times declares his performance "masterful."

NOVEMBER . . .

Barack Obama, in a historic triumph, is elected the nation's first black president since the second season of "24," setting off an ecstatically joyful and boisterous all-night celebration that at times threatens to spill out of the New York Times newsroom. Obama, following through on his promise to bring change to Washington, quickly begins assembling an administration consisting of a diverse group of renegade outsiders, ranging all the way from lawyers who attended Ivy League schools and then worked in the Clinton administration to lawyers who attended entirely different Ivy league schools and then worked in the Clinton administration, to Hillary Clinton.

DECEMBER . . .

President-elect Obama, continuing to bring change in the form of fresh-faced Washington outsiders, announces that his secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton. The position of secretary of defense, currently held by Bush appointee Robert Gates, will be filled by Bush appointee Robert Gates. Responding to rumors that he also plans to retain Dick Cheney, Obama insists that he has tried to ask the vice president to leave, "but nobody knows where he is."

In other political news, federal authorities arrest Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod "Rod" Blagojevich after wiretaps reveal that he was . . . okay, that he was being the governor of Illinois. Everybody is very, very shocked. Meanwhile, the recount in the extremely tight Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken is thrown into disarray with the discovery that more than 13,000 of the ballots were cast by residents of Palm Beach County, Fla.

...The point is, if you have any money left, you should spend it soon.

And happy New Year.

-------------------

The Year in Review

By Dave Barry
Sunday, December 28, 2008; W10

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121901343.html

How weird a year was it? Here's how weird:

O.J. actually got convicted of something.

Gasoline hit $4 a gallon -- and those were the good times.

On several occasions, "Saturday Night Live" was funny.

There were a few days there in October when you could not completely rule out the possibility that the next Treasury secretary would be Joe the Plumber.

Finally, and most weirdly, for the first time in history, the voters elected a president who -- despite the skeptics who said such a thing would never happen in the United States-- was neither a Bush nor a Clinton.

Of course, not all the events of 2008 were weird. Some were depressing. The only U.S. industries that had a good year were campaign consultants and foreclosure lawyers. Everybody else got financially whacked. So, we can be grateful that 2008 is almost over. But before we leave it behind, let's take a few minutes to look back and see if we can find some small nuggets of amusement. Why not? We paid for it, starting with . . .

Democrats for Education Reform Statement on Selection of Arne Duncan to Head Department of Education

2008-12-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

Here's DFER's press release on the Duncan appointment:

"In spite of decades of talk about education reform, the system remains broken," said Joe Williams, executive director of DFER. "The Obama administration, with Arne Duncan at the head of the Department of Education, will lead the charge of breaking the existing ideological and political gridlock to promote new, innovative and experimental ideas in education."

DFER believes Duncan represents the very best choice for the Secretary of Education with his long history of commitment to improving public education in the United States. As CEO of Chicago Public Schools since 2001, Duncan has demonstrated that he understands that improving educational opportunities for children is a critical investment in our nation's future. Under Duncan's leadership, Chicago has been at the forefront of school restructuring and improving teacher quality. During his seven year tenure Chicago Public Schools have demonstrated sustained improvements in student achievement, graduation rates and college-going rates.

---------------------------

Democrats for Education Reform Statement on Selection of Arne Duncan to Head Department of Education

DFER recommended Duncan to the Obama administration in their Education Transition Memo as a way to send a strong signal that education reform will be a priority for the administration

Last update: 7:43 p.m. EST Dec. 15, 2008

NEW YORK, Dec 15, 2008 /PRNewswire

www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-15-2008/0004942402&EDATE

In response to the widely reported selection of Arne Duncan to head the U.S. Department of Education in President-elect Obama's administration, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) championed the selection and urged the incoming secretary to make good on the promises Obama made while campaigning for the presidency. DFER was an early advocate of the selection of Duncan in the Education Transition Memo they released on November 11, because of his commitment to education reform ideas and his experience implementing reform in the Chicago Public Schools.

"In spite of decades of talk about education reform, the system remains broken," said Joe Williams, executive director of DFER. "The Obama administration, with Arne Duncan at the head of the Department of Education, will lead the charge of breaking the existing ideological and political gridlock to promote new, innovative and experimental ideas in education."

DFER believes Duncan represents the very best choice for the Secretary of Education with his long history of commitment to improving public education in the United States. As CEO of Chicago Public Schools since 2001, Duncan has demonstrated that he understands that improving educational opportunities for children is a critical investment in our nation's future. Under Duncan's leadership, Chicago has been at the forefront of school restructuring and improving teacher quality. During his seven year tenure Chicago Public Schools have demonstrated sustained improvements in student achievement, graduation rates and college-going rates.

"During the long fight for the presidency Barack Obama made clear that education will be a central focus of his administration," Williams continued. "In his speech in Grant Park in Chicago on election night President-elect Obama listed education in his top five priorities for his term in office. He has promised to increase funding for charter schools, create a system for rewarding excellent teachers, and expand pre-K -- all issues that DFER has campaigned rigorously in favor of."

DFER supports Democratic candidates committed to progressive ideas like greater mayoral accountability for schools; adjustments in teacher licensing requirements; changes to teacher compensation to reward our best educators; and a renewed focus on early childhood education (in particular, linking early childhood education with charter schools, which usually do not include Pre-K).

About Democrats for Education Reform (DFER)

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a political action committee whose mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education. DFER was founded in June of 2007 by a group of Democratic contributors and education reformers who were frustrated that the Democratic Party appeared to be unfairly resistant to positive change in schools. http://www.dfer.org/

Nobody Better Than Arne Duncan

2008-12-16T14:02:00.004-05:00

A nice shout-out for Duncan from the authors of Freakonomics (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061234001/tilsoncapitalpar) on the NYT blog:

December 16, 2008, 10:01 am

Nobody Better Than Arne Duncan

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/nobody-better-than-arne-duncan

By Steven D. Levitt

Arne Duncan is expected to be announced as the next secretary of education later today. Freakonomics readers will remember Arne as the hero of our chapter on teacher cheating. He was head of the Chicago Public Schools when Brian Jacob and I were investigating how teachers and administrators were doctoring standardized test sheets.

With seemingly nothing to gain and much to lose, Arne embraced our results, even allowing us to do audit testing to confirm our hypotheses. Eventually, a handful of teachers were fired.

Since then, I’ve interacted with Arne a few times, and in a variety of settings. I always walk away dazzled. He is smart as hell and his commitment to the kids is remarkable. If you wanted to start from scratch and build a public servant, Arne would be the end product.

About five years ago, I joked with him that he was not even 40 years old and he had the second-best job in education. He had nowhere to go but down, since the only better job would be secretary of education.

For all his accomplishments improving schools, perhaps even more remarkable are his accomplishments on the basketball court: he and his buddies have won the national Hoop It Up Three-On-Three basketball championship on multiple occasions.

Press coverage of Duncan appointment, mentioning Democrats for Education Reform

2008-12-16T14:02:00.003-05:00

The press coverage of the Duncan pick has been AMAZING -- the front page of the NY Times, etc. -- and DFER has been mentioned prominently in many of them. Here's a summary:

-- NY Times (www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html) (full text below):

Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, said last week that his group would be delighted to see Mr. Klein or Ms. Rhee appointed, but had sent to the transition team a memorandum recommending Mr. Duncan.

“He is the kind of guy who can work with all sorts of people with different viewpoints, and we like his work in Chicago with charter schools,” Mr. Williams said.

-- Washington Post (1) (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121601115.html ):

Duncan is embraced by the teachers unions, who have been concerned about high-stakes testing and worry about merit pay being tied to test scores, as well as reformers, who favor charter schools and tougher standards.

Duncan partnered with the Chicago Teachers Union to develop a performance-pay plan for the city's teachers, while also supporting charter schools. Democrats for Education Reform wrote in a policy paper that Duncan "has credibility with various factions in the education policy debate and would allow President Obama to avoid publicly choosing sides in that debate."

-- Washington Post (2) (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121600106_pf.html):

"Duncan is someone we believe can work with everyone, and that's going to be an important part of setting a new tone to get things done in the new administration, instead of treading water," said Joe Williams, executive director the New York-based Democrats for Education Reform.

-- WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122938427050108751.html):

Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee that advocated for Mr. Duncan to be selected as Education secretary, said he had been a proponent of charter schools, or public schools operated by outside organizations, as well as merit pay for teachers -- both controversial topics among teachers' unions.

-- Congressional Quarterly (www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002997989#):

Duncan, head of the Chicago school system since 2001, is generally well-regarded in the education community, and he has won praise for an emphasis on teacher quality and focus on graduation rates. Duncan favors keeping, but significantly revising, President Bush's 2001 No Child Left Behind law (PL 107-110).

He won praise from Democrats for Education Reform, a New York-based political action committee, which endorsed Duncan for the post.

"Duncan has credibility with various factions in the education policy debate and would allow President Obama to avoid publicly choosing sides in that debate in his most high-profile education nomination," the memo read.

-------------------------------------------------

Chicago Schools Chief Is Obama’s Education Pick

By SAM DILLON

Published: December 15, 2008

www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html

Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools superintendent known for taking tough steps to improve schools while maintaining respectful relations with teachers and their unions, is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice as secretary of education, Democratic officials said Monday.

Comment on Duncan by Angus Davis

2008-12-16T14:02:00.001-05:00

My friend Angus Davis, who's spearheading education reform in Rhode Island, sent this email to his fellow Regents, which nice summarizes how great Duncan is:

From: Angus Davis <angus.davis@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Subject: Obama to Name Arne Duncan US Secretary of Education Tomorrow

Fellow Regents,

Some excellent news for education reform -- President-Elect Obama will tomorrow morning name Arne Duncan his pick for US Secretary of Education. During his time in Chicago's public school system, Duncan has been a strong advocate for meaningful reform.

Duncan is midway through implementing his mayor-backed Renaissance 2010 plan to create 100 new schools (many of them charters); he describes himself as a "portfolio manager" of both district- and charter-operated public schools. Low-performing schools have been closed and reopened with new staff and revamped curriculum. As he explains, "We've been able to do things - for example, close schools for academic failure. It is hugely difficult, it's hugely controversial and it's absolutely the right thing to do. That simply does not happen in other cities, because of a lack of political will." In a hearing this summer before Congress, he testified, "We are one of the few districts in the country that literally shut down underperforming schools and replaced the entire school staff." The turnaround strategy has resulted in doubled or tripled student performance in many of these schools, he testified: "Same children, same families, same socio-economic challenges, same neighborhood, same school building... Different teachers, new leadership and a new educational approach, and the results are dramatic. As Chancellor Klein said, it puts the lie to any myths of what poor children can or cannot do."

Duncan espouses accountability and data-driven decision making (indeed, the announcement tomorrow will be at Dodge Renaissance Academy, where they publish their recent math and reading scores with pride on their home page). He opposes social promotion, which he describes as a "shameless practice."

He shuns the "blame the parent / blame the kid" mentality, testifying in a July 2008 hearing: "I worked in the inner-city community for some time and saw that parents, despite whatever lack of education they had, they were extraordinarily interested in their children's education and in wanting something better. So before we blame parents I think we need to really be self-critical and look in the mirror first."

Duncan is a forceful advocate for charter schools; in May his office issued a press release touting a RAND/Mathematica study showing 8th graders in Chicago charters were more likely to graduate high school and to attend college than traditional district-run schools. In the release, Duncan said: "We're very pleased to hear how well our charter school students are prepared for their future, but we aren't surprised by these results. We work hard to make sure all of our schools are among the many high-quality educational options for parents looking for the right fit for their children." The report also found that Chicago charters do not "skim the cream." The sub-headline of the release from his office: "Charter schools are one of many high-quality, diverse educational options, says Duncan."

Duncan favors a merit-based pay system to reward excellent teachers for performance and has begun to roll out such a program in Chicago with the support of union leadership. Like DC, only teachers who want the system get it -- in Chicago, a school that wants to adopt pay-for-performance must get 75% of the teachers to vote for it. He says, "In our world, talent matters tremendously, and nothing is more important than geting the best and brightest adults working with our children every single day." He hired 171 new principals this fall. He has attracted many new teachers, getting 10 resumes for every available slot, improving the quality of the applicant pool.

He embraces Obama's call for an "army of new teachers." In Chicago, he secured TFA's newest regional training site, and hired 330 TFA corps members this fall alone (these are in addition to the 250 TFA alumni still teaching in Chicago and the 25 TFA alumni currently working as principals in the city). In welcoming the newest corps members this fall, he said, "We are thrilled that Teach For America serves as a channel for this idealism, as well as a pipeline that brings outstanding teachers and leaders into the district."

He supports No Child Left Behind, calling its focus on accountability "a huge step in the right direction," and supports a move that tracks growth or "value-added" in a given school year rather than a one-time snapshot (i.e. Stanford 10 in September and June to measure the growth in achievement, rather than a one-time snapshot).

When I spoke with Duncan several weeks ago on the phone to get his advice and counsel on our search for a new commissioner, he seemed genuinely excited about our position and he spent a half hour giving me specific feedback on who our committee should consider recruiting for the post. I'm glad Rhode Island is on his radar and I will definitely call him back after the dust settles in the 2009 to ask for his help and perhaps including Rhode Island on his tour of states that are advancing the cause of education reform in his first year in office.

Best,
-angus

60 Minutes

2008-12-16T14:00:00.001-05:00

I thought the 60 Minutes segment I was on came out well -- a link to the video and transcript is at: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/12/60minutes/main4666112.shtml

Our slide presentation on the mortgage crisis – the causes, current situation and what the future holds – is posted at www.valueinvestingcongress.com (on the right side under "T2 Partners"). In addition, 11 video clips of me presenting these slides is at: www.ValueInvestingTV.com.

The Year That Was

2008-12-15T18:59:00.003-05:00

Jay Greene, author of the great book, Education Myths (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/074254978X/tilsoncapitalpar), listed the rise of education reform in the Democratic Party, "largely thanks to the efforts of Democrats for Education Reform", as one of the "5 most important developments during 2008 that contributed to reform of K-12 education":

Reform ideas, including choice, merit pay, curbing teacher tenure, and promoting alternative certification, are gaining mainstream acceptance in the Democratic Party largely thanks to the efforts of Democrats for Education Reform. An important indication of this political shift was an event at the Democratic National Convention organized by the Democrats for Education Reform at which an audience of about 500 cheered speakers denouncing the teacher unions and embracing reform ideas. The Democratic supporters of reform largely (but not exclusively) consist of urban minority leaders, including Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Adrian Fenty, Cory Booker, Kevin Chavous, Al Sharpton, and Marion Bary. Go ahead and make all the Sharpton and Bary jokes you like, but this (mostly) minority defection of urban Democrats from union orthodoxy is like a political earthquake that will have important implications for future reform politics. And it’s true that some conservatives have begun backtracking on reform ideas, including Sol Stern, Diane Ravitch, and depending on the day of the week, Checker Finn and Mike Petrilli. But if the reform movement has traded some conservatives for the new generation of minority Democratic leadership, I think we’ve come out ahead.

Greene has a sad but true conclusion about the "the 5 most important developments during 2008 that hindered reform of K-12 education":

And finally the most disappointing development of 2008 is that we spent another half trillion dollars on public education without significantly altering the dysfunctional system that fails to teach a quarter of 8th grade students to read at a basic level or get them to graduate from high school. Results for minority students are significantly worse. The economic bailout may be a $700 billion enterprise, but the public school system spends almost that much each and every year. Every year that we spend that money without fundamentally altering how we operate public education is another fortune wasted and another year lost for millions of students.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Year That Was

Jay Greene's blog

http://jaypgreene.com/2008/12/15/the-year-that-was/

It’s getting to be that time when people make lists of good and bad things that happened during the preceding year. Here’s mine from an interview with Michael F. Shaughnessy of EducationNews.org:

What were the 5 most important developments during 2008 that contributed to reform of K-12 education?

1) Barack Obama strongly endorsed the idea that expanding choice and competition is an important part of improving public schools. He limited his support to expanding choice and competition through the introduction of more charter schools, but the theory is not fundamentally different than doing the same with vouchers. Whether Obama follows through on this campaign position or not, it is now clear that it is considered politically desirable among both Democrats and Republicans to support choice and competition. Holdouts from this view, including the teacher unions on the left and curriculum-focused reformers on the right, are being increasingly marginalized.

2) Sarah Palin, in her only major policy speech, pushed the idea of special education vouchers. Like Obama embracing choice and competition, Palin embracing special ed vouchers is a symbol of the political attractiveness of the policy. Special ed voucher programs already exist in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Utah, and Arizona (pending the resolution of a court case). I’d expect the idea to spread to several more states in the next four years regardless of Sarah Palin’s political prospects.

3) Reform ideas, including choice, merit pay, curbing teacher tenure, and promoting alternative certification, are gaining mainstream acceptance in the Democratic Party largely thanks to the efforts of Democrats for Education Reform. An important indication of this political shift was an event at the Democratic National Convention organized by the Democrats for Education Reform at which an audience of about 500 cheered speakers denouncing the teacher unions and embracing reform ideas. The Democratic supporters of reform largely (but not exclusively) consist of urban minority leaders, including Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Adrian Fenty, Cory Booker, Kevin Chavous, Al Sharpton, and Marion Bary. Go ahead and make all the Sharpton and Bary jokes you like, but this (mostly) minority defection of urban Democrats from union orthodoxy is like a political earthquake that will have important implications for future reform politics. And it’s true that some conservatives have begun backtracking on reform ideas, including Sol Stern, Diane Ravitch, and depending on the day of the week, Checker Finn and Mike Petrilli. But if the reform movement has traded some conservatives for the new generation of minority Democratic leadership, I think we’ve come out ahead.

4) We saw a string of new or expanded school choice programs in 2008. Georgia adopted a universal tax-credit supported voucher program. Louisiana adopted a voucher program for New Orleans as well as a personal tax deduction for private school tuition. Florida expanded and decreased burdensome regulation on its tax-credit supported voucher program. And Utah increased and secured a source of funding for its special ed voucher program. For a movement declared dead more times than Generalissimo Francisco Franco, school choice continues to grow.

5) I’ll take the privilege of the final development to brag about the launch of the new doctoral program in education policy in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. It may not have been among the 5 most important developments in the whole country, but it was a big development in my little world. With the first cohort of students starting in the Fall of 2009 (supported by a pool of generous fellowships) and a collection of outstanding faculty, we have the potential to significantly increase the number of reform-oriented researchers in academia, think-tanks, and foundations.

What were the 5 most important developments during 2008 that hindered reform of K-12 education?

1) The reform movement lost two great champions this year with the passing of John Brandl and J. Patrick Rooney. Brandl, who had been the Democratic leader of Minnesota’s state senate and Dean of the University of Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey School of Public Policy, contributed significantly to the argument that choice was not only efficient, but also enhanced opportunities for the disadvantaged. He helped create the state’s pioneering charter school law and other choice programs. Brandl also served as mentor to many of today’s leading choice researchers. Rooney, who had always been active in the civil rights movement, personally sponsored scholarships for disadvantaged students to attend private schools. His privately financed program became a model for publicly funded voucher and tax-credit supported scholarship programs.

2) In 2008 we saw a number of “implementation” problems undermine otherwise promising reform initiatives. For example, Georgia adoption a social promotion policy that required students to pass a test or follow a formal exemption policy to be promoted in certain grades. My research with Marcus Winters on a similar policy in Florida suggested that it would improve student achievement. But in several districts around Georgia more than 90% of students were promoted without passing the test and without following the formal exemption procedure. They simply disregarded the law on a large scale with no consequences for any district or school employee. Another promising idea undermined by implementation was Reading First. There is a lot of rigorous science to support a phonics-based reading approach, but getting public schools to do it well is a completely different matter. Implementation also appears to have done-in a promising teacher mentoring program. I could go on, but the point is that there is no shortage of clever reform practices out there. The problem is that without addressing the lack of proper incentives in the public education system to improve, we regularly see these clever practices fall flat. We need incentive-based reforms along with reform of educational practices.

3) Earlier this year an Arizona court struck down voucher programs for students with disabilities and students in foster care on the grounds that the state constitution forbids aid to private schools. This month defenders of the program argued on appeal to the state Supreme Court that the program aids students, not schools. And the state already sends disabled students to private schools when it is determined that the public schools are unable to provide adequate services. That practice may also be in jeopardy, even though it is actually required by federal law (IDEA). Who knows how this will all be resolved, since courts can adopt any interpretation they like, reasonable or unreasonable. But court action has prevented these beneficial programs from operating and threatens to kill them.

4) A Florida court struck down the ability of a state commission to approve charter schools. If upheld by the (notorious) Florida Supreme Court, only school districts could approve charters and existing charters approved by the state commission may have to be closed. Giving districts the exclusive power to grant charters essentially allows the districts to decide with whom they will have to compete. It’s like giving McDonalds the exclusive power to approve the opening of all new restaurants. The state Supreme Court used the same narrow interpretation of clauses in the state constitution to strike down the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program, so the prospects for a vibrant and competitive charter sector in Florida are not good.

5) And finally the most disappointing development of 2008 is that we spent another half trillion dollars on public education without significantly altering the dysfunctional system that fails to teach a quarter of 8th grade students to read at a basic level or get them to graduate from high school. Results for minority students are significantly worse. The economic bailout may be a $700 billion enterprise, but the public school system spends almost that much each and every year. Every year that we spend that money without fundamentally altering how we operate public education is another fortune wasted and another year lost for millions of students.

Obama Picks Arne Duncan for Education Post

2008-12-15T18:59:00.001-05:00

The rumor I heard was right: NPR, the Chicago Tribune and the NY Times blog (see below) are all reporting that Obama has picked Arne Duncan to be Secretary of Education (plus there's a press conference tomorrow).

This is AMAZING news and genuine school reformers should be celebrating!!! I predict that Duncan, with Obama's support, is going to be transformational and make a huge difference in the lives of millions of American children.

My main concern at this point is who Obama picks as Duncan's #2. Here is what I sent out about this 10 days ago:

Deputy Secretary of Education

The Deputy Secretary of Education is a powerful and important position, so in addition to picking a strong Secretary, Obama also needs to choose an equally strong, reform-oriented #2. From what I hear, while Linda Darling-Hammond has no chance of being Secretary, but there might be a natural inclination by the Obama team to throw her (and the unions) a bone by making her Deputy Secretary, which would be a disaster. Do NOT underestimate her: she’s influential, clever and (while she does her best to hide it) an enemy of genuine reform, so she could totally undermine whomever is Secretary. Let’s be realistic – she’s likely get some position in the DOE, but it must not be the powerful #2 position. (For more on LDH, see the article below and my thoughts on her at: http://edreform.blogspot.com/2007/12/obamas-disappointing-choice-of-linda.html)

Instead of LDH, there are many other superstars who would be great #2’s such as the following four people (listed in alphabetical order; full bios are at the end of this email):

n     Michael Lomax, the President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. He’s been a teacher, elected official and university president, and serves on the national boards of KIPP and Teach for America, among others.

n     Ted Mitchell, the CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund. He was formerly the President of Occidental College (coincidentally, where Obama attended before transferring to Columbia).

n     Andrew Rotherham, the co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, an independent national education policy think tank. He is a member of the Virginia Board of Education, launched the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project, and served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration, where he managed education policy activities at the White House and advised President Clinton on a wide range of education issues.

n     Jon Schnur, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Leaders for New Schools, who is currently on a leave of absence to advise Obama on education issues. He was a policy advisor on K-12 education in president Bill Clinton's administration for seven years, serving as White House Associate Director for Educational Policy, Vice President Gore's Senior Policy Advisor on education, and Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley.

Obviously only one of these guys can get the #2 position, but all of them should be offered other senior positions in the DOE, as it’s critical that genuine reformers are in key staff positions throughout the DOE.

In addition to being happy for my country and its children, I'm personally breathing a sigh of relief because I stuck my neck out in saying very publicly (see my blog post, below) years ago that Obama:

A) Understood the crisis in American K-12 public education and, deep in his core, was committed to addressing it;

B) Knew that the old union-driven nostrums of spending more money to hire more teachers to reduce class size wouldn't work;

C) Embraced most of the new approches that DO work: high standards and expectations, accountability, differential pay for teachers, removing ineffective teachers, fostering the growth of high-quality charter schools, etc.; and

D) Was willing to spend political capital and take political risks on this issue.

We haven't answered all of these questions definitively -- C) and D) will take time to see -- but Duncan's appointment (and other things Obama has said and done) I think put to rest many of the worries in the education reform community -- believe me, I heard them! -- about whether Obama was one of us.

-------------------------

December 15, 2008, 5:30 pm

Obama Picks Arne Duncan for Education Post

By Sam Dillon

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/obama-picks-arne-duncan-for-education-post/

President-elect Barack Obama will name Arne Duncan, the superintendent of schools in Chicago, to be his Secretary of Education, a senior Democratic official and a second person close to the decision said.

Mr. Duncan is a Harvard graduate whose friendship with Mr. Obama began on the basketball court and flowered into frequent discussions of education policy.

He has seven years’ experience as chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest school district, where he has earned a solid reputation for confronting pressing issues in public education, like how to raise teacher quality, how to transform weak schools and when to shutter those that are irredeemably failing.

Word of the selection comes as Mr. Obama’s transition team said Monday that he would make an important announcement on Tuesday morning at the Dodge Renaissance Academy, an elementary school that Mr. Duncan and Mr. Obama visited together in October 2005.

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This is what I initially posted on my blog (www.tilsonfunds.com/Personal/Obama/Obamadetails.htm) two years ago (updated a tiny bit since then) about Obama and education reform:

School Reform

Obama recently gave a speech (posted here) in which he compellingly laid out the crisis in our public schools and, critically, was the most specific and the most bold he's been to date about what he would do about it as President. He really pushed the reform agenda and, in doing so, courageously took on the most powerful interest group in the Democratic Party, the teachers unions. Click here to read my blog post about this.

I think this is an issue he feels very strongly about because he’s black and our school system is failing black children to an especially alarming degree. I’ve posted a few pages from each of Obama’s two books in which he talks about this issue (Obamaonschoolreform-book1 and Obamaonschoolreform-book2). Here is an excerpt from Dreams from My Father:

“I decided it was time to take on public schools.

“It seemed like a natural issue for us. Segregation wasn’t much of an issue anymore; whites had all but abandoned the system. Neither was overcrowding, at least in black neighborhood high schools; only half the incoming students bothered to stick around for graduation. Otherwise, Chicago’s public schools remained in a state of perpetual crisis – annual budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions; shortages of textbooks and toilet paper; a teachers’ union that went out on strike at least once every two years; a bloated bureaucracy and an indifferent state legislature. The more I learned about the system, the most convinced I became that school reform was the only possible solution for the plight of the young men I saw on the street; that without stable families, with no prospects for blue-collar work that could support a family of their own, education was their last best hope. And so in April, in between working on other issues, I developed an action plan for the organization and started peddling it to my leadership.

“The response was underwhelming.

“Some of it was a problem of self-interest, constituencies misaligned. Older church members told me they had already raised their children; younger parents, like Angela and Mary, sent their children to Catholic schools. The biggest source of resistance was rarely talked about, though – namely, the uncomfortable fact that every one of our churches was filled with teachers, principals, and district superintendents. Few of these educators sent their own children to public schools; they knew too much for that. But they would defend the status quo with the same skill and vigor as their white counterparts of two decades before. There wasn’t enough money to do the job right, they told me (which was certainly true). Efforts at reform – decentralization, say, or cutbacks in the bureaucracy – were part of a white effort to wrest back control (not so true). As for the students, well, they were impossible. Lazy. Unruly. Slow. Not the children’s fault, maybe, but certainly not the schools’. There may not be any back kids, Barack, but there sure are a lot of bad parents.

“In my mind, these conversations came to serve as a symbol of the unspoken settlement we had made since the 1960s, a settlement that allowed half of our children to advance even as the other half fell further behind. More than that, the conversations made me angry; and so despite lukewarm support from our board, Johnnie and I decided to go ahead and visit some of the area schools, hoping to drum up a constituency beyond the young parents of Altgeld.”

Uncertainty on Obama Education Plans

2008-12-15T08:32:00.003-05:00

I’m quoted in an article in today’s NY Times about whom Obama might pick as the next Secretary of Education:

One former Teach for America official who has been outspoken is Whitney Tilson, a New York mutual fund manager.

In a recent blog entry, Mr. Tilson said of Dr. Darling-Hammond, “She’s influential, clever and (while she does her best to hide it) an enemy of genuine reform.”

Mr. Tilson is on the board of Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee based in New York.

The group sent the Obama transition team a 43-page memorandum shortly after the election with policy advice and a “wish list” of candidates for secretary that included Mr. Duncan; Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America; and Jon Schnur, who started a nonprofit group, New Leaders for New Schools, that trains principals for urban schools, said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.

Mr. Williams said his group also liked Mr. Klein and Ms. Rhee. “We’d be thrilled,” he said, “if either one were named secretary.”

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December 14, 2008

Uncertainty on Obama Education Plans

By SAM DILLON

www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/politics/14educ.html

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to announce his choice for education secretary, there is mystery not only about the person he will choose, but also about the approach to overhauling the nation’s schools that his selection will reflect.

Despite an 18-month campaign for president and many debates, there remains uncertainty about what Mr. Obama believes is the best way to improve education.

Will he side with those who want to abolish teacher tenure and otherwise curb the power of teachers’ unions? Or with those who want to rewrite the main federal law on elementary and secondary education, the No Child Left Behind Act, and who say the best strategy is to help teachers become more qualified?

The debate has sometimes been nasty.

Education Attacks on Darling-Hammond Don't Fit Obama's Post-Partisanship

2008-12-15T08:32:00.001-05:00

This Huffington Post article by John Affeldt defends LDH and claims that I and others opposing her selection for the #1 or #2 position at the DOE are engaged in "a well-choreographed crusade", "old school divisive politics", "in-fighting and the backstabbing", etc.

Darling-Hammond has spent 30 years pushing for a radical restructuring of public schools and the systems that serve them so that all students will have high-quality teachers and rich learning opportunities, not just well-off, predominantly white kids. To call her a defender of the status quo is like calling Lincoln a defender of slavery because he wasn't as absolute in opposition as were some on his team of rivals. The provocative rhetoric would also miss the fact that Lincoln, at the end of the day, alone possessed the unifying wisdom and skills to steer the nation to its most radical of reforms.

The partisans may be congratulating themselves on a well-choreographed crusade, but one has to wonder: what campaign were they watching win the Presidency? From the kick-off in Springfield, Barack Obama styled himself not just a little on Lincoln: rising above old school divisive politics; exchanging thoughts in respectful debate; taking the best ideas and humbly but boldly moving forward, building consensus along the way. By drawing so heavily from the old playbook, the hard-chargers may have just charged off the cliff--virtually ensuring Obama will be less receptive to their pleas.

Beyond the discordant tactics, much of the substance of their agenda similarly misapprehends the Obama style and vision.

Affeldt's article is well articulated -- but is nonsense. He is confusing bitter, personal attacks with spirited arguments about who would provide the best leadership and has the best ideas to reform a system we all agree is broken so that every child in America gets at least a solid education. This isn't personal -- I don't doubt for a moment that LDH cares deeply about kids and wants to do what's best for them. And I don't even think her ideas are bad -- it's that they're so LIMITED! She fails to appreciate that it's THE SYSTEM that's the problem and needs to be reformed and also fails to even acknowledge that there are WAY too many ineffective teachers who simply need to find other careers -- and that no amount of better training can change this. She also doesn't understand that the power of Teach for America (and a handful of similar programs) is not just the direct outcomes (students learn more in TFA teachers' classrooms), but also that TFA is a remarkable recruiter of talent into a sector sorely lacking it. It's NOT a coincidence that KIPP and nearly every important education reform organization was founded by or disproportionately staffed by TFA alums. I could go on, but you get the idea...

In summary, if all of the reforms she proposes were adopted, I don't think it would move the needle much to chance educational outcomes -- but everyone would feel good about the pseudo-reforms and real reform would be derailed. THAT'S why she and her ideas are so dangerous!

For more on this, see what I posted on my blog a year ago: http://edreform.blogspot.com/2007/12/obamas-disappointing-choice-of-linda.html

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Education Attacks on Darling-Hammond Don't Fit Obama's Post-Partisanship

www.huffingtonpost.com/john-affeldt/education-attacks-on-darl_b_150778.html

A slickly-coordinated string of editorials and columns in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere has poured forth recently, all decrying the possible appointment of Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond as Secretary of Education. Obviously responding to the same talking points, the pieces paint Darling-Hammond a status quo, incrementalist and anoint a new group of pro-merit pay/pro-testing/pro-charter school advocates as the hard-charging "reformers."

My thoughts on Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Education; A Job for a Reformer; Who Will He Choose?; How dangerous is Linda Darling-Hammond, Obama's old-school, pro-union education guru?

2008-12-05T21:06:00.001-05:00

Dear fellow Obama supporters,

I know I send out so many emails that nobody can possibly keep up with all of them, but if you read one email from me this year, make it this one.

I'm writing to share my thoughts on whom I hope President-elect Obama will pick to be Secretary of Education and, almost as importantly, whom he picks (and doesn't pick!) to be the Deputy Secretary, as well as three articles from the Washington Post, the New York Times and The New Republic that I think capture an extremely exciting and historic shift that's occuring.

If you agree with me and are in a position to call someone on the Obama team, please do so THIS WEEKEND, as I suspect the decisions regarding the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Education will be made within a matter of days.

Overall, I remain optimistic that Obama will deliver on his promise to shake up the unacceptable status quo in our public schools (especially those serving low-income, minority students), but at the same time I'm concerned that he might be tempted to make compromises I don't think he has to make.

Secretary of Education

Obama's choice of Secretary of Education will be the single most important decision he will make in this arena, and I feel strongly that he should choose either Joel Klein or Arne Duncan. Both would be great, but I personally favor Klein because the work of education reform is so hard and I've witnessed up close his willingness to fight the really hard battles. Since I've never met Duncan and follow the reforms he's initiated in Chicago less closely, I cannot have the same confidence in him as I'd have in someone whom I've come to know as well as Klein. I should note that in this preference I am speaking only for myself; other education reformers whom I respect and work closely with think very highly of Duncan and are optimistic that he would forcefully advocate for a reform agenda.

The real questions that I'd want to ask about any potential Secretary of Education candidate include:

1) Is he/she a true reformer a "disrupter" rather than an "incrementalist", to quote Rep. George Miller?;

2) Does he/she have the skills, experience and connections to maximize the chances of actually bringing about meaningful change?; and

3) Does he/she have the strength, courage, passion and willingness to run through walls and suffer endless slings and arrows to always do what's right for kids?

I can say with 100% certainty that the answer to each of these questions for Klein is an emphatic YES. Based on what I've read and heard about Duncan, the answers are likely yes as well but not quite to the same degree, with the same amount of certainty. When it comes to helping millions of children who today are suffering in failing schools, I want certainty!

So why do I think Obama is more likely to pick Duncan than Klein? In part because they're both from Chicago and I understand that Duncan has very strong, long-standing relationships with both Barack and Michelle (and, as an added bonus, Rahm Emanuel). Given that the new administration will be focused primarily on the economy, Iraq, health care, etc., the importance of these relationships shouldn't be underestimated. Thus, for the same reason I favor Klein in part because I know him much better, Obama might favor Duncan.

But, sadly, there's another important factor as well: politics. If Obama picked Klein, the teacher union bosses will weep, gnash their teeth and get their knickers in a twist because Klein has been so strong in always pushing for what's best for kids, regardless of whether that threatens the interests of adults (who are, of course, accustomed to having their way). Obama's team would certainly prefer not to get the nation's largest and most powerful interest group riled up in the early days of the new administration, so for this reason I think he's likely to pick a less controversial reformer.

If Obama does, in fact, choose Duncan, reformers should still be celebrating because he's likely be a very good Secretary of Education but I still hold out hope that he'll pick Klein. If I had five minutes on the phone with him, here would be my argument:

1) You should pick the person who is most likely to bring about the greatest reform in the shortest time PERIOD!

2) Among possible candidates, Duncan and Klein stand out. Klein has the experience, relationships and track record, both in NYC and Washington, that are unrivaled by any other candidate. He's run the largest school system in the country 2% of all U.S. public school students are in NYC for the past 6½ years and has transformed it so much so that the city won the coveted Broad Prize last year. He has deep experience in Washington, was the CEO of Bertelsmann and, most importantly, no-one cares more and is willing to fight harder for always doing what is best for kids.

3) Sure the unions stamp their feet, but so what? You owe them nothing. In fact, they did everything they could to squash your candidacy during the primaries.

4) Finally, it would send a powerful message that you're truly a New Democrat, focused on doing what is best for the country, even if it means angering entrenched interests in your own party.

Deputy Secretary of Education

The Deputy Secretary of Education is a powerful and important position, so in addition to picking a strong Secretary, Obama also needs to choose an equally strong, reform-oriented #2. From what I hear, while Linda Darling-Hammond has no chance of being Secretary, but there might be a natural inclination by the Obama team to throw her (and the unions) a bone by making her Deputy Secretary, which would be a disaster. Do NOT underestimate her: she's influential, clever and (while she does her best to hide it) an enemy of genuine reform, so she could totally undermine whomever is Secretary. Let's be realistic she's likely get some position in the DOE, but it must not be the powerful #2 position. (For more on LDH, see the article below and my thoughts on her at: http://edreform.blogspot.com/2007/12/obamas-disappointing-choice-of-linda.html)

Instead of LDH, there are many other superstars who would be great #2's such as the following four people (listed in alphabetical order; full bios are at the end of this email):

n Michael Lomax, the President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. He's been a teacher, elected official and university president, and serves on the national boards of KIPP and Teach for America, among others.

n Ted Mitchell, the CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund. He was formerly the President of Occidental College (coincidentally, where Obama attended before transferring to Columbia).

n Andrew Rotherham, the co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, an independent national education policy think tank. He is a member of the Virginia Board of Education, launched the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project, and served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration, where he managed education policy activities at the White House and advised President Clinton on a wide range of education issues.

n Jon Schnur, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Leaders for New Schools, who is currently on a leave of absence to advise Obama on education issues. He was a policy advisor on K-12 education in president Bill Clinton's administration for seven years, serving as White House Associate Director for Educational Policy, Vice President Gore's Senior Policy Advisor on education, and Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley.

Obviously only one of these guys can get the #2 position, but all of them should be offered other senior positions in the DOE, as it's critical that genuine reformers are in key staff positions throughout the DOE.

Thank you for making a call this weekend, if you're able, and let's cross our fingers!

Sincerely yours,

Whitney

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Here are three AWESOME articles that came out today. It's truly historic when liberal-leaning publications like these three are calling on a Democratic President to break with the most powerful interest group in the Democratic Party -- the Washington Post editorial even refers to "the forces of the status quo"!

1) The Washington Post's editorial:

We trust that Mr. Obama was serious when he promised change and will select someone who -- instead of just tinkering with a tired, low-performing system -- will be bold in choosing new directions for American education...

...Nor should opposition from the forces of the status quo scare Mr. Obama away from considering someone such as New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, who has helped improve the nation's largest school system.

We are not promoting any individual, but the ideal candidate would be someone who is not afraid to break with orthodoxy, who is more concerned with results than with ideology, who has a proven ability to lead large systems toward change and is passionate about regaining America's place as the best-educated country on the planet. It's encouraging that, in his nominations to date, Mr. Obama has been sure-footed and inspiringly unpredictable. He won't be able, nor should he try, to placate all the education interests, so he should focus on the only interests that matter -- those of America's schoolchildren.

2) An Op Ed in the NY Times by David Brooks:

But the union lobbying efforts are relentless and in the past week prospects for a reforming education secretary are thought to have dimmed. The candidates before Obama apparently include: Joel Klein, the highly successful New York chancellor who has, nonetheless, been blackballed by the unions; Arne Duncan, the reforming Chicago head who is less controversial; Darling-Hammond herself; and some former governor to be named later, with Darling-Hammond as the deputy secretary.

In some sense, the final option would be the biggest setback for reform. Education is one of those areas where implementation and the details are more important than grand pronouncements. If the deputies and assistants in the secretary's office are not true reformers, nothing will get done.

The stakes are huge. For the first time in decades, there is real momentum for reform. It's not only Rhee and Klein the celebrities but also superintendents in cities across America who are getting better teachers into the classrooms and producing measurable results. There is an unprecedented political coalition building, among liberals as well as conservatives, for radical reform.

No Child Left Behind is about to be reauthorized. Everyone has reservations about that law, but it is the glaring spotlight that reveals and pierces the complacency at mediocre schools. If accountability standards are watered down, as the establishment wants, then real reform will fade.

This will be a tough call for Obama, because it will mean offending people, but he can either galvanize the cause of reform or demoralize it. It'll be one of the biggest choices of his presidency.

Many of the reformist hopes now hang on Obama's friend, Arne Duncan. In Chicago, he's a successful reformer who has produced impressive results in a huge and historically troubled system. He has the political skills necessary to build a coalition on behalf of No Child Left Behind reauthorization. Because he is close to both Obamas, he will ensure that education doesn't fall, as it usually does, into the ranks of the second-tier issues.

If Obama picks a reformer like Duncan, Klein or one of the others, he will be picking a fight with the status quo. But there's never been a better time to have that fight than right now.

3) An article in The New Republic:

In November, Barack Obama bewildered education reformers by tapping Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford professor who had advised his campaign, to oversee the transition's education policy team. Their verdict was swift and harsh. "Worst case scenario," wrote Mike Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank, the day after The Wall Street Journal leaked the news. "This is a sign that the president-elect isn't a bona fide reformer," he later told me. Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, confirmed, "The reform community is scared to death."

The "reform community" is an aggressive group of education advocates who argue that the certification programs which produce teachers, and the unions that represent them once they're in the classroom, have had too tight a grip on progressive priorities in the field for too long. Instead, they want to shake up the system through programs that bring in new blood and hold teachers accountable. They place their hopes in nervy, pioneering leaders like Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein, the chancellors of the D.C. and New York City public schools, respectively. In Darling-Hammond--an academic, union favorite, and vocal critic of Teach for America and No Child Left Behind--they see the opposite: an ideological enemy representative of a sluggish status quo.

Reformers are right to be nervous. During the campaign, Obama deftly appeased all sides of the policy debate. While appealing to the unions, which have long been bastions of Democratic support, he also gave great hope to reformers inside and outside the party by supporting merit pay and pledging to increase funding for charter schools. In asking Darling-Hammond to helm the transition--a precursor, some worry, to her appointment as secretary of education--Obama has suggested that he wasn't entirely serious about change, at least when it comes to education. It's a misstep that threatens to derail his quest for post-partisanship--and ruin a critical opportunity to revolutionize America's lagging schools...

...That may be, but, with Darling-Hammond as the point person on deciding how to implement the most important pieces of an undoubtedly evolving platform, it's easy to imagine reform-backed proposals falling by the wayside. That's why, even if she does not secure a position in the Obama administration, the symbolism and influence she has in this preliminary stage are troubling. Vexing education's boldest change agents won't help Obama substantiate his still-murky education reform credentials and forge bipartisan policies. And, if Obama does elevate her to his Cabinet, the appointment would leave lasting wounds, both among reformers and in the nation's schools. "Hopes would be dashed . . . if [the secretary of education] isn't reformed-minded," Williams says.

In The Audacity of Hope, Obama wrote that "ideological battles [in education] . . . are as outdated as they are predictable." Too bad he's just started another one.

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A Job for a Reformer
Will Barack Obama opt for boldness or the status quo in choosing an education secretary?

Friday, December 5, 2008; A24

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/04/AR2008120403655_pf.html

WITH MUCH of his national security and economic teams in place, President-elect Barack Obama faces another critical pick: education secretary. No names have emerged from the transition team, but warring camps within the Democratic Party are furiously seeking to influence the decision. We trust that Mr. Obama was serious when he promised change and will select someone who -- instead of just tinkering with a tired, low-performing system -- will be bold in choosing new directions for American education.

--------------------

December 5, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

Who Will He Choose?

By DAVID BROOKS

www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/opinion/05brooks.html

As in many other areas, the biggest education debates are happening within the Democratic Party. On the one hand, there are the reformers like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who support merit pay for good teachers, charter schools and tough accountability standards. On the other hand, there are the teachers' unions and the members of the Ed School establishment, who emphasize greater funding, smaller class sizes and superficial reforms.

During the presidential race, Barack Obama straddled the two camps. One campaign adviser, John Schnur, represented the reform view in the internal discussions. Another, Linda Darling-Hammond, was more likely to represent the establishment view. Their disagreements were collegial (this is Obamaland after all), but substantive.

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How dangerous is Linda Darling-Hammond, Obama's old-school, pro-union education guru?
Education Wars by Seyward Darby
The New Republic, Friday, December 05, 2008

www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=2668834e-678b-4295-ae53-b8f2c236bd23

In November, Barack Obama bewildered education reformers by tapping Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford professor who had advised his campaign, to oversee the transition's education policy team. Their verdict was swift and harsh. "Worst case scenario," wrote Mike Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank, the day after The Wall Street Journal leaked the news. "This is a sign that the president-elect isn't a bona fide reformer," he later told me. Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, confirmed, "The reform community is scared to death."

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Bio of Michael Lomax

As president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Dr. Michael L. Lomax heads the nation's largest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. Through its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, and 24 field offices across the country, UNCF annually provides operating and program funds to its 39 member private historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their 60,000 students. In addition, it manages more than 400 scholarship programs that support nearly 10,000 students at over 900 of the nation's colleges and universities. In the course of its 62-year history, UNCF has raised and distributed over $2.5 billion and has assisted over 300,000 students in earning undergraduate degrees. In 1999, UNCF received over $1 billion, the largest private gift to American higher education, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to administer the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which provides outstanding minority students with an opportunity to complete their undergraduate and graduate college educations.

Dr. Lomax joined UNCF after serving in a series of high-level academic and political positions. Immediately before joining UNCF, he served seven years as president of Dillard University in New Orleans.

Dr. Lomax went to Dillard after thirty years in Atlanta, where he pursued simultaneous full-time careers as a university professor and public servant. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Atlanta's Morehouse College (the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King) and, after receiving his M.A. degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in American and African American literature from Emory University, taught literature at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and the University of Georgia.

At the same time, he became a prominent figure in Atlanta government and politics. He began his public service as an assistant to Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African American mayor, and went on to serve as the first head of Atlanta's Bureau of Cultural Affairs. In 1978, he was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Two years later, he became the Board's chairman, the first African American ever to hold that position and served in that position for twelve years.

Dr. Lomax is a trustee of Emory University, a member of the founding Council of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a member of the Boards of Directors of Teach for America, The KIPP Foundation, The Carter Center, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Bill T. Jones Dance Company and the National Black Arts Festival, of which he was founding chair. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He has also received numerous awards including The Laurel Crowned Circle Award from Omicron Delta Kappa (2006), the distinguished Emory Medal, the Candle in the Dark award from Morehouse College and several honorary degrees.

Dr. Lomax and his wife, Cheryl Ferguson Lomax, have two daughters, Michele and Rachel. His oldest daughter, Deignan, graduated from Dillard University in 2000.

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Bio of Ted Mitchell

Ted Mitchell assumed the role of CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund in the fall of 2005, after having served on the NewSchools Board of Directors for seven years.

Prior to joining NewSchools, Mitchell served as the 12th president of Occidental College in Los Angeles. Mitchell's tenure at Occidental was marked by a dramatic improvement in both the College's national reputation and its engagement in the community, as well as by unprecedented financial growth. A former deputy to the president at Stanford University and vice chancellor at University of California, Los Angeles, Mitchell is a national leader in the effort to provide high-quality education for all students and has long been active in California and Los Angeles educational reform initiatives. He currently chairs the Governor's Committee on Educational Excellence, charged with making recommendations to improve California's system of K-12 finance and governance, and is President of the California State Board of Education. He also serves on the boards of a variety of nonprofit education organizations.

Ted graduated from Stanford with bachelor's degrees in economics and history, and also earned a master's degree in history and a doctorate in education there.

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Bio of Andrew Rotherham

Andrew Rotherham is co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, an independent national education policy think tank. Rotherham, who Washingtonian Magazine describes as being "at the forefront of U.S. education policy," is also a member of the Virginia Board of Education. In addition, Rotherham writes a monthly column for U.S. News & World Report as well as the widely read and award winning blog Eduwonk.com, which an Education Week study found to be among the most influential sources of information in American education today.

In 1998, Rotherham launched the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project, which he directed until 2005. Under his leadership, the project became a leading Washington D.C.-based education policy center. It developed public policy strategies to eliminate systemic inequities in American education and to redesign American public education into a system based on universal access to high-quality instruction, public sector choice and customization, common academic standards, and accountability for results. The project's ideas have been implemented in national and state education policy. Washington Post columnist David Broder cited one of the project's major policy proposals as "the clearest evidence of change" in the national education policy debate.

Rotherham previously served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration. He managed education policy activities at the White House and advised President Clinton on a wide range of education issues including the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, charter schools and public school choice, and increasing accountability in federal policy. Rotherham also led the White House Domestic Policy Council education team, the youngest person to have done so.

Governor Mark Warner appointed Rotherham to the nine-member Virginia Board of Education in 2005. He was the youngest appointee in the modern era. In addition, Rotherham is currently a member of the board of directors of the Indianapolis Mind Trust and Democrats for Education Reform. He is also a trustee of the César Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in Washington, D.C., and serves on advisory boards and committees for numerous organizations and institutions including The Broad Foundation, Harvard University, the National Governors Association, the National Charter School Research Project, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and the Campaign for a U.S. Public Service Academy. Rotherham is also a member of the Aspen Institute-New Schools Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education 2008 Fellows class.

Rotherham has published more than 100 articles, book chapters, papers, and op-eds about education policy and politics. Doublethink calls him "the go-to guy for those looking for serious, cogent, analysis of the latest education trends" and American School Board Journal says Rotherham is "one of Washington's leading commentators on education policy." He is a regular commentator on National Public Radio, and has written for a wide-range of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Education Week, The Washington Monthly, and The Times of London as well as academic and trade publications. In addition, Rotherham has authored or edited four influential books on education policy.

Rotherham, recently recognized as one of the "40 People Under 40 to Watch" by Washingtonian Magazine, was born and raised in Virginia and educated in Virginia's public schools and universities. A graduate of Virginia Tech he holds a master's degree from the University of Virginia and is completing a doctorate in political science from the University of Virginia. Rotherham lives in Earlysville, Virginia, with his wife, Julie who worked in international aid and public education prior to taking a professional break to focus on their two young daughters.

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Bio of Jon Schnur

Jon Schnur is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Leaders for New Schools - a national non-profit organization devoted to improving education for every child by attracting and preparing the next generation of outstanding principals for our nation's urban public schools. Schnur was a policy advisor on K-12 education in president Bill Clinton's administration for seven years, serving as White House Associate Director for Educational Policy, Vice President Gore's Senior Policy Advisor on education, and Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley.

He spearheaded the development of many educational policies in such areas as teacher recruitment and training, after-school programs, school reform and charter schools.

Schnur spent several months at Harvard designing the business plan for New Leaders for New Schools while taking coursework at the Graduate School of Education, the Business School and John F. Kennedy School of Government. He graduated from Princeton University cum laude in 1989 and from a public high school near Milwaukee, WI, in 1984.

Thoughts on Obama's Choice as Secretary of Education

2008-11-23T10:47:00.002-05:00

I've started to get some nervous emails about who Obama will select as Secretary of Education. Education reformers are right to focus on this, as this is indeed BY FAR the most important decision that will impact millions of American children over the next few years (and, not to be too hyperbolic, the economic future of our country). I'm not too worried because Obama understands the crisis, knows the tired old "solutions" are NOT the solution, owes nothing to the teachers unions (they were aggressively supporting Hillary) and, most importantly, consistently makes really good decisions. I'm quite certain he won't appoint an old guard union apologist and think he's wise enough not to pick a VIP -- a big name who lacks extensive experience in the education world. Among many worthy reformers, I'm sure he'll pick someone who'll be an excellent Sec. of Education.

The worrying reminds me of this hilarious and spot-on photo that I sent around to my Obama email list shortly after the Republican convention and the Palin pick, which temporarily put the race into a dead heat, freaking out Obama's supporters:

American Prayer - Dave Stewart (Barack Obama Music Video)

2008-11-14T18:48:00.001-05:00

Here's a link to a powerful and moving 5-min video, American Prayer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q. As with most videos (and given my horrible habit of multitasking furiously), I had it playing in the background, but as it progressed, I started watching it and started to get very emotional. The video of MLK, the night before he was assassinated, starting at 3:51 is esp powerful -- he says "I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!". I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here are excerpts from the comments of Dave Stewart, who wrote the song with Bono:

When we were originally writing the song, Bono was crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that 'America' as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality. I find it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.

When I set out to make a video for the new version of this song, I wanted to honor all of those millions of people, especially young people, who are, for the first time, feeling empowered to voice their beliefs. I wanted to capture how Obama's message of change has echoed across the broad fabric of what is America. To do that, we've cast the film with an eclectic array of personalities, including Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone. They appear alongside veterans, teachers and everyday citizens— all of whom have been touched by this simple idea of change.

Here are the rest of Stewart's comments and the words to the song:

AMERICAN PRAYER SONG on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...

RINGTONE
http://www.myxer.com/CHANGE or text "CHANGE" to 69937 to get your "American Prayer" ringtone

FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT SONG
http://www.myamericanprayer.com

Earlier this year when I was recording American Prayer, a song I originally co-wrote with Bono, the phrase, "When you get to the top of the mountain, remember me" seemed to take on a whole new resonance, given the inspirational candidacy of Barack Obama. The song always contained one of my favorite passages from Dr. King, which was hauntingly delivered the night before he was assassinated. King says: "I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!" People long for a connection— whether it is to music, to their country, or to a big idea. Regardless of what happens in November, Senator Obama has reminded millions of people that they have the power to connect to bigger ideas. He is, in essence, the embodiment of a new anthem for change. He has continued King's narrative from what was once thought of as a dream to a reality. I find it especially relevant that Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party Nomination for President 45 years to the day of King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
When we were originally writing the song, Bono was crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that 'America' as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality. I find it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.
When I set out to make a video for the new version of this song, I wanted to honor all of those millions of people, especially young people, who are, for the first time, feeling empowered to voice their beliefs. I wanted to capture how Obama's message of change has echoed across the broad fabric of what is America. To do that, we've cast the film with an eclectic array of personalities, including Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone. They appear alongside veterans, teachers and everyday citizens— all of whom have been touched by this simple idea of change. As an Englishman, I'm not an expert in all the intricate details of American politics. But as an artist, I understand how rare it is to inspire a connection to a bigger idea or purpose. This video isn't so much an endorsement of Barack Obama as much as it is a celebration of all those who have picked up a sign, who have registered to vote and are working to make the world a better place. So as Senator Barack Obama ascends to the mountain top, let us not forget all of the others who for the past 40 years have sung anthems of change to make this moment possible.

LYRICS

This is my American Prayer
This is my American Prayer

This is the time to finish what you started
And this is no time to dream
This is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see

American Prayer
American Prayer

And this is the ground
That keeps our feet from getting wet
And this is the sky over our head
And what you see depends on where you stand
And how you jump will tell you where you're gonna land

American Prayer
American Prayer

My oh my
Couldn't get much higher
Lets not kick out the darkness
Make the light brighter

And these are the hands
What are we gonna build with them?
This is the church you can't see
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses
You know they're yearning to breathe free
This is my American Prayer
American Prayer
American Prayer

When you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me

LIST OF GUESTS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Dave Stewart
Forest Whitaker
Amy Keys
Macy Gray
Jason Alexander
Colbie Caillat
Whoopi Goldberg
Joss Stone
Buju Banton
Ann Marie Calhoun
Barry Manilow
Linda Perry
Cyndi Lauper
Sergio Mendes
Herbie Hancock
Mike Bradford
Margaret Cho
Cindy Gomez
Speech
Joan Baez
Daedelus
Pamela Anderson
Peter & Gordon
Sierra Swan
Nadirah X
Perez Hilton

Pics of the Obamas from election night

2008-11-14T18:47:00.002-05:00

Here are 82 pics of the Obamas from election night: http://flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/sets/72157608716313371/

Newsweek: Secrets of the 2008 Campaign

2008-11-14T18:47:00.001-05:00

If you have the time to read 84 (!) pages, Newsweek has a remarkably detailed story from the campaign -- the writers were given were given unique access for a year to both the Obama and McCain camps, in exchange for agreeing not to publish until after the election: www.newsweek.com/id/167582

Democrats for Education Reform petition

2008-11-14T18:46:00.001-05:00

Democrats for Education Reform has launched a petition to encourage Obama to support giving parents in DC (and elsewhere) the same educational choices that he and Michelle have -- please sign it at: www.dfer.org/petition/obama (more articles on this topic below):

Parent Letter to President Elect Obama

Dear President Elect Obama:

We write with pride to congratulate you on making history.

As parents, we appreciate the great care you and Michelle are taking to make sure your daughters will fare well when you (and your new puppy) make the move to your new neighborhood in Washington. We understand how much thought your family will put toward finding the best schools for your children.

As parents who have selected public charter schools (and other schools of choice) for our own children, we understand the importance of having excellent educational options.

We encourage you to include public charter schools in your school shopping list. More importantly, however, we encourage you to remember that all parents should be able to make these kinds of crucial, life-changing decisions on behalf of their children. And they should do so with as many excellent options in front of them as we can possibly provide.

Please join us in fighting for parental choice so that every child in America has the kind of opportunities they deserve.

Sincerely,

Revenge of the Black Nerd

2008-11-14T18:45:00.002-05:00

I'm convinced that Obama's election is going to be a game-changer for education reform and closing the achievement gap -- for many reasons, including this:

Revenge of the Black Nerd

Finally, an end to the myth that being bookish means you’re “acting white.”

By John McWhorter
Published Nov 9, 2008
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52025/?f=most-commented-24h-10

In his speech at the Democratic convention four years ago, Barack Obama memorably challenged the myth that holding a book is “acting white.” Now that he’s been elected president, he might actually be able to do something about it.

Black students are too often scorned by their peers as “thinking they’re white” for making A’s, and many let their grades slip in order to have black friends. Some educators and academics dismiss it as an unimportant thing to focus on when addressing black-student achievement. Some sociologists have even claimed that the whole “acting white” notion is a myth by showing that black students who make good grades also say that they are popular. But as Harvard economist Roland Fryer puts it, “Asking teenagers whether they’re popular is like asking them if they’re having sex.” Fryer’s work has shown that black students do in fact have fewer social connections the higher their grades, to a much greater extent than white students.

The problem dates from desegregation. Black teens only started calling each other “white” for liking school in the mid-sixties. Feeling unwelcomed by the white students they were now suddenly going to school with, black kids started identifying school as “other.” Recently, teachers and black parents have been addressing the acting-white problem, but it’s hard. Teenagers have a variety of identities open to them for trying on anti-Establishment postures. White kids can be stoners or goths. Black kids can be “nonwhite.” As of last Tuesday, however, there’s a new weapon, and it’s Barack Obama himself. Whenever a black nerd gets teased for thinking he’s white, all he has to say is four words: “Is Barack Obama white?”

It remains to be seen what an Obama presidency will mean for the nuts and bolts of education policy. But those four little words could do more to improve black-student achievement than any number of new charter schools and reading tests.

Obama may make parents a stronger player in education

2008-11-14T18:45:00.001-05:00

John Kirtley sent me the article below with this comment:

Today we had an event in Jacksonville celebrating our tax credit scholarship program for low income children. I wish President-elect Obama could have seen it. It was held at a school in a poor neigborhood that has a 99% graduation rate, in a city that graduates less than half its minority students. Our MC was a black Democrat, one of many in attendance. Please see this clip (2 min):

www.jacksonville.com/multimedia/video/?bcpid=1329229943&bclid=1308023108&bctid=1912371019

For those like Obama who are "pro parental choice but anti-voucher", consider this: there are private schools in Jacksonville serving low income kids on this program. There are five charter schools in the city. Would the President elect tell the parents who were at this event today that this program is wrong? Would he tell parents whose children are in schools not working for them that they should wait until a charter school comes to their neighborhood? They should wait when 95 other schools like this one are eager to take their kids?

These are real lives we are talking about. These parents don't care that he "proudly proclaimed his history of public school choice" to the NEA. They have a simple question for him: why can't we choose these schools?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

I was thrilled that he knew he was wading into hostile territory, and did it anyway. He stood up before the largest national teacher assembly in the country and announced, in effect, that while he admires teachers and wants badly to help schools, the union agenda sometimes gets in the way. And it does.

Unions first took hold in the United States because they were the only countervailing force to monstrous practices of America’s growing Big-Business. Only by banding together could workers unions force management to the bargaining table. There, unions won such rights as we take for granted now — the 40-hour work week, safety regulations and fair treatment of the 50-year-old whom management wants to replace with a young buck.

But now, in public education, there is no real countervailing force to the unions. The taxpayers have some representation at the bargaining table, but kids and parents have none. Families will never have the kind of monolithic power that can fight in contract negotiations because they’ll never become a bureaucracy in their own right. Nor should they have to. But more than anything, a well-established union is a bureaucracy. Teachers unions came into being to stop the exploitation of teachers, but grew into private businesses whose main concern is to support themselves. And bureaucracies that outlive their usefulness fight like piranhas to stay alive.

So Obama wooed the teachers, but did not woo the union bureaucracy.

By supporting the parents’ right to choose where their children go to school, just as an example, Obama signaled that he was willing to shift some power back to the families who have too long been left out of the education equation. Mandating parents to send their child to a school they don’t like serves no one but the bureaucracy protecting the employees’ paychecks. Empowering parents with options gives weight to a countervailing force that would, at last, bring the kids’ interests into a better balance with the grown-ups’. The interests of students and teachers should never be divided, and if unions cannot serve and nourish the common goals of teachers, families and taxpayers, they deserve to go away.

Here’s hoping that Obama’s momentum will inspire the Democratic Party to examine, finally, and fix this very broken part of its own machine.

----------------------

Obama may make parents a stronger player in education

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 9, 2008

http://www.projo.com/education/juliasteiny/content/se_educationwatch09_11-09-08_J9C68DD_v9.26fe058.html

Last summer, presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the National Education Association’s annual convention, by way of video stream projected onto a big screen. A YouTube version of the speech, with reaction shots of the massive audience of teachers union delegates, was posted soon after the July 5 event. It’s still up, if you’re curious. It has surprises. It gave me some hope.

Obama and Our Schools

2008-11-14T18:44:00.003-05:00

Nick Kristof with a great article calling on Obama to focus (and spend political capital) on education reform:

So let’s break for a quiz: Quick, what’s the source of America’s greatness?

Is it a tradition of market-friendly capitalism? The diligence of its people? The cornucopia of natural resources? Great presidents?

No, a fair amount of evidence suggests that the crucial factor is our school system — which, for most of our history, was the best in the world but has foundered over the last few decades. The message for Mr. Obama is that improving schools must be on the front burner...

...No family underscores the power of education more than Mr. Obama’s. His father began as a goat-herd in a remote village in Kenya, but his studies carried him to the University of Hawaii. And Mr. Obama himself has ridden the education escalator to the White House.

So Mr. Obama, let’s give others the chance to board the escalator that you and your father enjoyed. Let’s pick up where we left off in the 1970s and mount a national campaign to make high-school graduation truly universal, and to make a college education routine.

----------------------

November 13, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

Obama and Our Schools

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/opinion/13kristof.html

President-elect Barack Obama and his aides are sending signals that education may be on the back burner at the beginning of the new administration. He ranked it fifth among his priorities, and if it is being downplayed, that’s a mistake.

We can’t meaningfully address poverty or grow the economy as long as urban schools are failing. Mr. Obama talks boldly about starting new high-tech green industries, but where will the workers come from unless students reliably learn science and math?

The United States is the only country in the industrialized world where children are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were, according to a new study by the Education Trust, an advocacy group based in Washington.

Obama and the War on Brains

2008-11-14T18:44:00.001-05:00

Another brilliant column by Kristof:

Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual.

Maybe, just maybe, the result will be a step away from the anti-intellectualism that has long been a strain in American life. Smart and educated leadership is no panacea, but we’ve seen recently that the converse — a White House that scorns expertise and shrugs at nuance — doesn’t get very far either.

We can’t solve our educational challenges when, according to polls, Americans are approximately as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution, and when one-fifth of Americans believe that the sun orbits the Earth.

Almost half of young Americans said in a 2006 poll that it was not necessary to know the locations of countries where important news was made. That must be a relief to Sarah Palin, who, according to Fox News, didn’t realize that Africa was a continent rather than a country.

Perhaps John Kennedy was the last president who was unapologetic about his intellect and about luring the best minds to his cabinet. More recently, we’ve had some smart and well-educated presidents who scrambled to hide it. Richard Nixon was a self-loathing intellectual, and Bill Clinton camouflaged a fulgent brain behind folksy Arkansas aphorisms about hogs.

As for President Bush, he adopted anti-intellectualism as administration policy, repeatedly rejecting expertise (from Middle East experts, climate scientists and reproductive health specialists). Mr. Bush is smart in the sense of remembering facts and faces, yet I can’t think of anybody I’ve ever interviewed who appeared so uninterested in ideas.

----------------------

November 9, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

Obama and the War on Brains

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09kristof.html

Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual.

Maybe, just maybe, the result will be a step away from the anti-intellectualism that has long been a strain in American life. Smart and educated leadership is no panacea, but we’ve seen recently that the converse — a White House that scorns expertise and shrugs at nuance — doesn’t get very far either.

Obama Is Expected to Put Education Overhaul on Back Burner

2008-11-14T18:43:00.001-05:00

Let's hope this article is wrong about Obama's priorities. A key litmus test of whether he's serious about reform is who he picks to be Sec. of Education (more thoughts on this later):

Critics of the Bush administration's education policies had hoped that putting a Democrat in the White House would mean dramatic changes, including the potential scrapping of the No Child Left Behind law and its reliance on standardized testing, as well as more federal dollars for schools.

But with the financial crisis and other priorities bearing down, President-elect Barack Obama's education initiatives -- at least early in his term -- are expected to be more about tinkering than bold change.

Although he has said education is an issue close to his heart, in an interview late last month with CNN he listed it as fifth among his priorities, after the economy, energy independence, a health-care overhaul and tax cuts for the middle class.

As American students fall behind many of their peers abroad, business leaders and others have said education must be a top priority if the nation is to produce a work force that is more competitive.

----------------------

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Obama Is Expected to Put Education Overhaul on Back Burner

By ROBERT TOMSHO and JOHN HECHINGER

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636225053515663.html

Critics of the Bush administration's education policies had hoped that putting a Democrat in the White House would mean dramatic changes, including the potential scrapping of the No Child Left Behind law and its reliance on standardized testing, as well as more federal dollars for schools.

But with the financial crisis and other priorities bearing down, President-elect Barack Obama's education initiatives -- at least early in his term -- are expected to be more about tinkering than bold change.

School of choice for Obama girls?

2008-11-14T18:42:00.003-05:00

A USA Today article about the school choices the Obamas have:

How about a charter school? Obama has championed these publicly funded, privately run schools, bragging that he doubled the number of charters in Illinois.

There's a great charter school just four blocks north of the White House: SAIL, the School for Arts in Learning. But it's for "children with learning differences." There are plenty more choices, though.

In a sense, the Obamas face a dilemma that many upper-middle-class families do in most big cities: Open, egalitarian systems offer lots of school choices - but the best ones fill up fast (and admission each fall is by lottery if applicants outnumber slots). Still, few can match the offerings of pricey private schools...

...It's unlikely the Obamas will choose a charter school, but if they do, says Brian Jones of the city's Public Charter School Board, the first family would have to tread lightly to avoid the impression that they "inappropriately jumped the line" to score two slots.

This year, 1,900 D.C. kids attend private schools with a congressional voucher that faces the chopping block. What if the Obama girls go the private school route, as many predict? Would President Obama soften his stance against it? Jones hopes so: "I'd love to see President Obama stand up and support the D.C. voucher law so that low-income kids in the city could have that same opportunity."

----------------------

School of choice for Obama girls?

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-11-10-obama-school_N.htm

WASHINGTON - Great news for the Obamas: If they want to strike a populist note and send their two daughters to a District of Columbia public school, there are lots of choices.

But will they have to get in line like everyone else for the most sought-after schools?

A Crucial Decision For the Obamas: Public or Private?

2008-11-14T18:42:00.001-05:00

Jay Mathews with another article on this topic -- and some wise comments from Michelle Rhee:

Like many parents moving their children to Washington, Barack and Michelle Obama will be told to avoid D.C. public schools. Is that good advice?

This is a tricky subject. School choice is very personal. The president-elect's fifth-grade daughter, Malia, and second-grade daughter, Sasha, have been attending the first-rate, private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. I bet they transfer to Georgetown Day School, a good fit because of its similarity to their current school, its historic role as the city's first racially integrated school and the presence of Obama senior legal adviser Eric H. Holder Jr. on its board of trustees. It would be a sensible decision by two smart, caring people.

But it wouldn't hurt to look around first. Georgetown Day, like other private schools, would charge them nearly $56,000 a year for two kids. Why not see what their tax dollars are paying for? One educational gem happens to be the closest public school to their new home...

...The last president to send a child to a D.C. public school was Jimmy Carter. He was so hot on the subject that he had a line in his 1976 Democratic convention acceptance speech about the political and economic elite who "when the public schools are inferior or torn by strife" send their children "to exclusive private schools." Amy Carter did fine at Thaddeus Stevens Elementary and Hardy Middle schools, but education experts think it's better to focus on training teachers to raise achievement rather than tweaking famous parents about their school choices.

Even D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, with two children at a D.C public school, says she does not believe "in people sending their kids to either public schools or a particular public school because they want to make a political statement." The D.C. schools have options for the Obamas "that are incredibly compelling," she said, but they should follow their own instincts and send their children to a school "they are fully confident is going to ensure that those kids get a great education."

----------------------

A Crucial Decision For the Obamas: Public or Private?

By Jay Mathews
Monday, November 10, 2008; B02

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110901937_pf.html

Like many parents moving their children to Washington, Barack and Michelle Obama will be told to avoid D.C. public schools. Is that good advice?

Yes, I'm OK and no, I'm not being considered for a position in the Obama administration

2008-11-14T14:48:00.003-05:00

After being an Obama emailing/blogging machine for the past few months, I took a rest after the sweetest victory ever! Apparently it was too long of a rest because today I got an email from a friend wondering if I was OK -- or if I was being so quiet because I was being vetted for a position in the Obama administration. LOL! Yes, I'm fine -- just exhausted (being in the money management business these days is no picnic!) -- and it's way too early in my career to do public service full time; I'm waaaaay too busy with three businesses (investing, conferences and a newsletter, plus writing monthly columns for the Financial Times and Kiplinger's and book underway) and 11 nonprofit boards (seriously; I just counted them the other day -- I had no idea...). Maybe when Cory Booker is elected President (in 12 or 16 years I'd guess) I'll be ready to serve...

No articles in this email -- just more amazing, powerful, heartfelt emails from people I'm so proud to call my friends.

James Forman with a very powerful email

2008-11-14T14:48:00.001-05:00

James Forman with a very powerful email (all the way below) with a description of his day last Tuesday and his feelings:

Been so overwhelmed by the past week that I haven't written anything. Plus, what more is there to say really? My email inbox has literally exploded with heartfelt messages, congrats, stories from election day. Sorry if i haven't responded to yours, I did or will read it I promise.

I'm not sure that I have much to add to the deluge of words and emotions at this point, but here's my final diary of the campaign.

Monday, middle of the night
Up till 2AM after watching Obama speak to a crowd of 90,000 in Manassas (sweet irony there) VA. Obama tells us he has one word: tomorrow.

Tuesday night, 5pm
Canvassed all day in Alexandria VA. It's raining, i'm exhausted from last night, and i think i might be coming down with something. Obama team is sending me text messages (why did I give them my cell phone number?) saying that VA turnout is low, we need to push till 7pm. At the office at Grey Goose Lane we are deluged with volunteers, it's like one volunteer per voter, I joke to my mom that we should just each adopt a voter and sit on their stoop till we confirm they cast their ballot.

5:30pm
Turns out that's not a joke. Word comes from Tom Smith (love that I'm taking orders from my former student) that we should each take a list of voters and not come back to the office, just find the 5 or 6 left on our list that haven't voted and sit on their stoop, call them, do whatever it takes to confirm that they have voted. "You own this list!", Tom commands to each of us as we leave the office with a list of voters that we have yet to confirm. Jesus, I want to own the list, and I want to win, but mostly I want a drink.

6:45pm
Ify's sister Kiki and I have now confirmed 23 out of the 25 total voters on our list. These are all people who told the campaign in the months previously that they were Obama supporters, but they are all new voters or voters with a sporadic voting history, so they are our targets for today (by the way, I promise to vote in every election from now on if only to avoid the "sporadic" designation that will ensure the daily barrage of Obama volunteers on my doorstep if I don't). I think 23 out of 25 is pretty successful, but I'm afraid to face Tom back at the office and admit that 2 remain unconfirmed.

7pm
Polls close. No lines at the polls at closing. At least where we were, the long lines were all in the morning. Now we just wait.

8pm
We are at a victory party sponsored by Spencer Overton (I hold spencer personally responsible for all this. he emailed me ages ago and asked me to give money for a senate campaign of a law school friend of his with the ludicrous name barack obama). Kiki gets a good seat in front of the TV, and already we are pissed off because we are losing 8-3. KY's 8 for Mccain and all we have are Vermont's 3. We are trying to read the tea leaves from the announcers hints, but they are being obtuse and anyway I sure don't trust exit polls.

The unsurprising states are coming in. Every red state is met with a sneer from Kiki, who has pledged never to visit any of them. "Didn't want to go to Mississippi anyway," she says. I tell her that "there are no red states, no blue states, just the . . . . " She tells me to shut up.

The first big one is Pennsylvania. Our bar is going crazy . . . wasn't McCain's whole strategy built on PA? Can he win without it? Some more states I cannot remember and that don't seem to matter much come in, and then the big one, Ohio. I must say, of all the states Obama was leading in, the one I thought he was least likely to win was Ohio. Not just because I thought the primary org sucked, my car broke down, we got crushed by Clinton, etc., but that's big part of why. (and to speak of clinton, hated it at the time, but thanks for stretching obama to 50 states--we wouldn't have won indiana or ncarolina without the organizations built there in the primary. and much love to clinton for tremendous campaigning down the stretch for the ticket. anybody who hates on her now needs to ask themselves if they would have been woman enuf to suck it up and work that hard after losing a lifelong dream so narrowly.)

Anyway, who cares now . . . nobody in the bar will admit it, we're all too stressed and worried that they'll take it back like they did with FL, but it's over. VA is still close though, and I'm feeling some personal responsibility there. Maybe it was those 2 people we didn't talk to.

Then VA comes in and Obama is in the low 200s for electoral votes. The polls are going to close on the west coast in less than a minute, wait . . . people at the bar start doing math and shouting about CA's 55 and how they should be able to call Cali off the exits . . . . and maybe we're the last people in America to realize this but in like 30 seconds it is conceivable that Obama will be declared President, and then everyone is counting down 10, 9, 8, and then zero and the polls close on the west coast and CNN flashes up the image I thought I would never see and Obama is declared and we can't figure out what to do. I feel like Jimmy Valvano after NC State won the tourney and I'm running around finding people to hug, we're crying, taking photos, screaming and pretty much acting like what it feels like, the best day of our lives.

Later somebody tells me that I shouldn't tell my wife that part about this being the best day of my life, given our wedding and all, so I don't tell her, but she does get this email. Lucky for her she ignores a lot of my emails, but babe, if you read this one, sorry about that.

The speeches come on, McCain first. I cannot believe these shits boo Obama's name. I don't have the tape, but I remember watching Kerry's concession and some others, and I could be wrong, but I don't remember Dems booing the winner. McCain's speech is quite good, but the commentators seem a little too ga-ga over it. I mean, what did they expect McCain to say? My opponent, the dude you just elected, is a punk-ass terrorist socialist who wants to steal your money and has secret affiliations he is keeping from you? Oh right, ok.

The other thing that I don't like about McCain's speech is this bit about special pride for African Americans. I mean, yeah, I get that, but it seems to miss the larger point about the special pride for all Americans. But ok, I'm not going to hate.

Re special pride, it appears that chocolate city DC is now turning into a massive street party. Crowds are forming outside the White House. I sort of love that, but I'm also kind of hoping it is not too many black people out there. Talk about feeding America's worst fears. Let's at least wait till Jan. 20 before turning Pennsylvania Ave. into freaknik.

1AM
Text from my friend Lisa in Seattle. Lisa is white, and so is her daughter. Apparently they were watching the acceptance speech and her daughter saw the Obama family and daughters. She asked, "can a white girl grow up to have brown skin?" Shit, I start crying again.

2AM
Going to sleep. Only break in the euphoria are the results from GA. My peeps worked so hard down there, it was a pure volunteer effort, little help from the campaign, and the energy and spirit I heard from folks like Chrisitian, Mary, Sonya and Amy was so intense.

5AM
Tossing and turning in bed, really I need 8 hours of sleep, but I cannot do it. I have to go downstairs and see the paper, know it is official, it wasn't a dream.

6AM
Paper. The good news is they haven't taken it back. The bad news is that all the dirty dishes are still in the sink. Wow, so everything is not going to change with Obama. Still gotta wash my own dishes. A preview of disappointments to come.

8AM
Reading the paper and I cannot stop looking at the photos of the Obamas. I start thinking about my mom, how she decided to move to Atlanta when I was 11 and Chaka was 8. We didn't want to move, we were new york city kids. At the time she never came clean about why she had moved us. Only later, when we got older, did she tell us the whole story. About how she was a white mom raising 2 mixed-race black boys and our environment was mostly white. I was going to a mostly white school. She started to worry about a lot of things, including our racial identity. She had lived in Atlanta during the civil rights movement and knew it had a thriving black community and black elected leaders, a black mayor. She talked about how she wanted her black boys to open the paper and see pictures of black people running the city. To know that was possible for us in America. To have no shame in who we were.

My mom is sitting across the table, and I watch her with love and appreciation for her selfless decision to uproot us. Then Ify comes downstairs. She's got the little bump in her belly which is our baby to be, due in April. This baby will be born during an Obama presidency, and will take for granted that which seemed so unlikely to me and my generation, and which seemed utterly impossible to my parents'.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Love to you all, thanks for support and energy and emails, doing this together has been what has made it so fun, and since I do have a life and job and work to get back to, any suggestions that any of you have for how to kick the blog/TV/RachelMaddow/talkingpointsmemo/CNN/billmahrer/hardball/total-media-addiction are quite welcome, James

P.S. If I don't respond to emails pls forgive me, step one of curing myself of campaign addiction is less time on email.

From my friend Josh Porter, whose friend is Obama's speechwriter, Jon Favreau

2008-11-14T14:47:00.003-05:00

From my friend Josh Porter, whose friend is Obama's speechwriter, Jon Favreau:

So I usually hate when people send out these dopey mass emails and just BCC everyone. But so many people keep asking me what it was like to be there, and instead of trying to retell the story 30 times, I figured this would be easier, and BCC'ing you all would save everyone the trouble of a string of Reply All's in their inbox with (half) witty responses.

Let me start by saying that no matter how hard I try to put it into words, I don't think I can really truly describe what it was like to be there. Calling it 'historic,' or saying that it was a 'once-in-a-lifetime event,' is to make a cliché out of it.

We started the night in Jon's parent's hotel room on Michigan Ave, a short cab ride away from Grant Park, so we could watch the results live. Jon was obviously still at the office at this point, and the plan was to meet him at the park as soon as we knew the outcome. So there we all sat, (myself, Hawkes, Megan, Andy Favs, and Mark and Lil) starting at around 6:00 central time, freaking out over every single percentage point swing in every battleground state. After flipping from CNN, to MSNBC, to Fox, and back again, we settled in on CNN, since they had the most clear, logical graphics and stuck mainly with the states that mattered (i.e., where real Americans live. Thank you Sarah Palin). As the percentage points sometimes would take 10+% swings, we had to continually remind ourselves that with "<1% reporting", that was bound to happen. It didn't really work that well. We were a nervous wreck.

At around 7:00 central time, Jon sent me an email that just said, "PA!!!!" and we saw the margin of victory (55-44) for Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes, and started to realize that this was really about to happen. About an hour later, Jon sent a "you guys should start walking down if you're not there yet," email, but none of us could comfortably leave the hotel room without knowing for sure that it was over. A few minutes later (after one false alarm from Fox), Ohio was in the bag and the race was, for all intents and purposes, over. After a room full of screams and bear hugs, we made our way down to grab cabs and head to Grant Park.

A few minutes later, I got this email, which I'll probably print out and save for the rest of my life. In five words, he said exactly what an entire nation, and a good part of the world, was feeling the moment they heard the news. (That's probably why he writes speeches for a living):

From: Jon Favreau [mailto:jfavreau@barackobama.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 10:06 PM
To: Porter, Josh
Subject: Dude
We won

Oh my god
Sent from my wireless handheld device, a miracle made possible by John McCain
=======================================================================================

Jon had gotten us "Headquarters" credentials, (which he probably shouldn't have done, since none of us are really mature enough to handle carrying such a coveted ticket. Quote of the night from Andy: "I'm probably not even talking to anyone who doesn't have a credential tonight") so after passing through a pretty intensive security screening, we had access to the area right in front of the podium, in front of all the (couple hundred) press cameras. Again, I can't even describe the energy in the park, and the buzz in the crowd. You saw it on TV.

At that point, Jon and Tommy came over from headquarters and met us, and a few minutes later CNN finally made the call. On the screen next to the podium where Barack Obama was about to speak, it read 'PROJECTED WINNER: BARACK OBAMA.' As we all jumped around and hugged random strangers, you could hear a million people in Grant Park scream and let out a collective sigh of relief.

I won't get too much into the speech. You all watched it. It was amazing. And if you didn't have tears in your eyes as he spoke, then you're probably the type of person who also hates puppies and/or babies. I know from where we were all standing there wasn't a dry eye in the house. To be able to stand next to my best friend who wrote the speech that was probably moving a billion people around the globe to tears was something I'll never be able to put into context. I'll leave it at that.

WARNING, I'M ABOUT TO GET PARTISAN. IF YOU'D RATHER NOT READ A SHORT POLITICAL RANT, FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH!! Regardless of who you voted for Tuesday night, I think it was impossible not to get emotional as Barack spoke. This was a win for America. Men, women, and children all around the world were waving American flags and cheering. There were a million people in a park in Chicago at midnight on a Tuesday to watch a politician speak, and most of them were moved to tears. Little kids were begging to stay up past their bedtime to watch this. Mothers and fathers brought their infant children to see this, so they could tell them they were there once they're finally old enough to understand what happened. A generation of people who never really cared about politics now care. My 16 year old cousin was sending me text messages about electoral votes. If you don't think that's important, then I don't know what to tell you. On Wednesday morning, our standing and our image around the globe was significantly better off than it was on Monday morning. That's important. If you have to pay a higher marginal tax rate on your income over $250k a year, or on your dividends or capital gains or inheritance because of this, then I'm sorry. But I'm guessing you won't be pinching pennies or eating Ramen noodles to survive any time soon.

Once the speech was over, we all made our way over to the Underground for the afterparty. No, Barack Obama wasn't there. Turns out the President Elect has more important things to do than down Jaeger bombs with reporters, campaign staffers- who all looked like the weight of a 20 month campaign, and the expectations of a country, were finally off their back- and campaign groupies (i.e., myself, Hawkes, wil.i.am, Forrest Whitaker, Amarosa (like, really?), Common, DJ Cassidy, et al). The after-after party was held back at Jon and Tommy's house at 1724 N. Cleveland Ave. From the pictures I sent around, you can all guess how that went.

If you missed the pictures, let me know and I'll resend.

Josh

From Victor Ndu in London

2008-11-14T14:47:00.001-05:00

From Victor Ndu in London. His friend's video is very powerful: http://asule.webng.com/obama/

Hello,

It was my 31st birthday on the 6th of Nov and the 2 best presents I wished for came through -an Obama win and (as a big formula fan) Lewis Hamilton wining the Formula one Championship. A friend of mine, Ahmed Sule, an investor based in the UK put together a lovely picture essay which you can find in the link below. There is a picture of Ahmed in 0.44 and .11 in the video

Enjoy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ahmed Sule <suleao@aol.com>
Date: Sun, Nov 9, 2008 at 6:02 PM
Subject: Photo Documentary- Glass Barriers by Ahmed Sule
To: Ahmed Sule <suleao@aol.com>

All,

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend? I have just finished this photo documentary which I would like to share with you.

This documentary examines the concept and impact of glass ceilings especially in the light of Lewis Hamilton and Barack Obama's recent success.

There is a very nice song accompanying the documentary, so I suggest you put on your computer speakers so that you can listen to the music while watching the documentary.

I hope the documentary inspires you and if it does, feel free to share it especially with any your contacts and young ones.

http://asule.webng.com/obama/

Happy viewing.

Btw: Venus has just won the Doha WTA Championship and gets a cheque of $1,340,000.

Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."- Barack Obama

An appeal from my mom

2008-11-14T14:46:00.005-05:00

An email my mom sent last Monday to some friends and family who weren't sure they'd vote for Obama:

I know I am imposing on your privacy, but I will risk it because this is so important to me, to you and to our country. Whether you have already voted or plan to do so today, you need to read what I and others are thinking when we support Barack Obama. If he is so fortunate to win the presidency, I will not gloat, but simply be thankful that we will have a chance to mend America from the inside and begin to restore ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the world. We have been so divided as a nation and lost the respect of many people around the globe. As many now think, we are not people who care only about our own welfare and ignore others when they are having hard times. Americans are much better than that. Just witness how in our own family, we responded to the misfortune of the Iraqi man and his Iranian wife who are unjustly accused of helping terrorists. Rick and Blackie, I also know that you and other businessmen have supported all sorts of public efforts as well as constantly helping in our own families. Also, I still can’t believe how mother just gives and gives of her small pension to all the many solicitations that she receives even though we have told her that some of them are taking advantage of her. Her response to that is “It gives me pleasure to help.” And Americans, whatever their religious persuasion, give generously to those in need at home and in foreign countries. I am in constant contact with US citizens, many of whom are missionaries, who have given their whole lives to providing health and education opportunities to people in far flung places.

All of this is to tell you that I think Obama is someone who can bring Americans back to their core values of hard work, strong moral values and a shared commitment to our communities which now include not only our own neighborhoods, but the whole world. Like it or not, instant communication, ease of travel, and interdependent economies have made us all neighbors. Although we are often afraid of how those new “neighbors” behave, our only chance of getting along with them is to know them better and share with them the information and the resources to improve their lives. This does not mean that we have to be Mother Teresa, but it does mean that we acknowledge that they exist and have the same needs to take care of their families needs and aspire to a better life in each generation. It is when people give up hope and have little to lose that they cease to care about their own lives and mindlessly strike out. Think about how our own families in just a few generations have made the best of their opportunities – largely because they had the luck to be in America where we have free education, good health care and a system of government that offers protection and justice. I feel so incredibly lucky that my great grandparents migrated from Europe, took menial jobs (including Grandma Morrisey cleaning toilets), farmed, gained work in the civil service, worked at full times jobs and took part time work on the side, always stressed the importance of education, and generally scrimped and saved so that their children could have a better life than they had.

My first vote in a presidential election was for John Kennedy and I was truly inspired. But I have not been similarly stirred until now with the prospect of Obama being president. Although I have given money and constantly sent information about him to others by email, I really wanted to feel that I had done everything I could to ensure that he would win the election. So I stayed up until midnight yesterday in Kenya calling on Skype to 24 voters in Pennsylvania. Because we are eight hours behind, I had only a few hours of common calling time. It was quite an education – some people hung up, and I communicated with a lot of answering machines, but I did talk to about a dozen people who were very serious about their voting. Not all of them were supporting Obama, but in all cases it was clear that they were thoughtful and really cared about helping make America better for themselves and their families. One very touching call was to a 73 year old woman named Willie Mae who was bed ridden and was very upset that she could not vote for Obama. She said that someone had come to her house, but could not help her because it was too late to get an absentee ballot. She somehow thought that she couldn’t have voted anyway because she had never learned to read or write. I was so upset that I sent an email to Whit and my 30+ Americans (who live outside the US) list and asked them if they knew anyone in Pennsylvania who could help Willie Mae to vote.

This morning I received the two articles below from Whitney that further my commitment to an Obama presidency. The first one especially sums up my hopes.

So, thanks for reading this. I hope that I have not intruded too much on your privacy.

Jeremy Goldberg's comments

2008-11-14T14:46:00.003-05:00

From Jeremy Goldberg:

Hi everyone:

So it's taken me a few days to both finally sleep and collect my thoughts. Having heard from many of you, I know that you share my exitement, enthusiasm and wonder after Tuesday night.

I, for one, am still processing Obama's victory. On the one hand, you could say I expected it--both based on my conviction from the very beginning that he could and should win, and by the objective analysis anyone could read heading into Tuesday's election. On the other hand, I don't think I was really prepared for it to happen.

This campaign, and Obama's ultimate triumph, has led me to a few insights:

It is a remarkable thing when people mobilize behind a cause. I have been actively involved in the non-profit sector for almost eight years (ten, if you count my internet startup!). But this campaign experience is completely different from serving on a board or a benefits committee for an organization you believe in. It is special to watch people working together to change their country, and the selflessness, sacrifice, camaraderie, and dedication that such change requires.
One can only wonder what we could accomplish if you applied such a movement to some of the great challenges we face--such as education reform or conservation . This might be Obama's greatest opportunity: how to convert the legions of people he drew into the process to support a sustained effort to attack these challenges, which will require a change in behavior on the part of the American people. I think he will, and if the Obama supporters around me are any indication, I think they will respond to the call for action…
It has been remarkable to wach people from around the world react to Obama's victory. I've personally heard stories about the reaction of friends in England, Namibia, Cameroon, Kenya, Pakistan, Gaza, Ramallah, Turkey, Israel and Egypt. I believe in the notion of American exceptionalism (for good and bad), and this election was an example of an outcome that could really only happen in America. Despite all the Pew polls and other indicators of the extent of anger and frustration with the United States, the reaction to this election is evidence that the world wants to look to the US. This victory validates their faith in the American idea, even if they have lost faith in American practice. But unlike a JFK who similarly captured the world's attention, President Obama will be presiding over a world that is much more interconnected, and where the bully pulpit has much greater reach. He truly has a global constituency watching and evaluating his every move--a challenge and opportunity.
This election has restored my faith and belief in public service. Not because Obama won, though I'm certainly glad the country got this one right. But it has to do with the amazing experiences I had traveling the country for the campaign. I had the most powerful conversations in living rooms in Iowa, South Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is remarkable to me that these people even answered the door, let alone shared their opinions, stories and ideas. I saw desperate poverty, and the consequences of a failing education system and health care system that crystallized those problems for me like no book, tv special or congressional hearing could ever do. But I saw an enduring faith in the people I talked to that government could still help them, and a hunger for leadership that understood their plight.
My greatest satisfaction--beyond the ultimate victory, was in seeing the reaction of so many of my friends and colleagues who never seemed interested or engaged in politics before. To see many of you head down to PA, make phone calls, give money, poll watch, and attend debate watching parties was really moving and inspiring.

I want to thank everyone for understanding that I disappeared at times, and for tolerating a huge number of emails/appeals. I also really appreciate all the amazing phone calls and messages since Tuesday. I'm only now working my way through them. And if you sent me a text message, unfortunately, my blackberry deleted them all about midnight on election night, so txt me again (and let me know if you know how to stop my blackberry from regularly dumping my messages).

As for my plans. Stay tuned. I'm in the process of evaluating my options, with no decisions made. I'll be doing some consulting in the meantime on some projects/organizations of interest to me.

Onwards and upwards,
Jeremy

Jeremy S. Goldberg
M: 646.228.5338
jeremy@jeremysgoldberg.com

A highlight reel from election night

2008-11-14T14:46:00.001-05:00

Some eye candy – a ten minute highlight reel from Tuesday night: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qiRwCuQmZA

More comments

2008-11-10T20:41:00.000-05:00

1) This is from my sister, who runs a maternal health program in Pakistan, who captures beautifully how Americans living abroad feel (prior to Pakistan, she lived in Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and Sudan -- yes, I have an international family!):

We had an Obama victory party last night [in Karachi] and I was the only American -- everyone else was from probably 10 different countries and I toasted and spoke about what this moment meant to me – that I am from a generation born at the end of the civil rights movement and that we grew up in schools learning about the great things that were done by our parents generation to help change America for the better to end racial discrimination and we grew up learning about Martin Luther King and his I Have a Dream speech and to be proud of that, but that now I feel like I am part of a generation that is bringing change for the better to America.

For the first time in many many years I am actually proud to be American again. I have spent the better part of my whole career overseas hiding my head and dodging the question when people ask me where I’m from because I’m embarrassed about US government policy and how negatively the world has viewed the U.S. But last night I felt proud again to be American. I can lift my head up again because we have proven that we can correct our mistakes and because Obama makes us feel that truly anything is possible again in America. I was overwhelmed and was choking up. It was moving.

Others in the group also shared what it meant to them. A friend who is a gay British white man who has adopted 4 black African children from Sierra Leone told about how he woke up to show his 6-year-old son Obama on TV and could say to him: “Look at Obama – he is the President of the United States and he looks like you. You can be anything you want to be in life.” Others spoke about how they really never imagined that Americans would actually elect a black man to be president and placed bets against it -- and how astonished they were that America actually did elect a black man and how happy they were to be proven wrong. Others spoke about how growing up outside of America people have this perception that America is the land of opportunity and possibility, but that they had become skeptical, but that this election really showed to them that America is really truly the land where dreams can come true, where anything is possible. Many people said that they believe America is the only country on earth where this would have been possible. It was as if people were regaining faith in America. I was really moved by how much this means not only for Americans but for so many people around the world.

I woke up this morning and went downstairs and took Benjamin on my lap and said, “Benjamin, we have a new president and his name is Obama, and we are so happy and so proud of him, and we are proud of America and we are proud to be American” and I turned on the TV and showed him Obama and he gave a BIG smile and said “Obama!” J

The only sadness in the day was that California and a number of other states overturned the right to gay marriage. My dear friend Emma and her wonderful partner Sophie were married on November 2 so I would like to offer them my congratulations and then sorrow that not enough American’s are open minded and open hearted enough to give equal rights to everyone. I hope that the law is again overturned soon. And in the meantime, fight to retain your rights, and let us know how we can help.

2) From another friend:

I am ecstatic about Obama's victory.

For me, however, it is bittersweet. Just as Obamas victory marks the great advances on the path of social justice and equality... The loss of prop 8 in CA and other anti-gay ballot initiatives in the country show how far there still is to come. Never before has America taken away rights fairly won. Yet marriage won by the LGBT community in CA has now been stripped from us.

Please pass this along to your readers and ask their help in this new time.

3) From a friend who runs a network of highly successful charter schools:

This election was critically important to me -- as a loyal Democrat with a background in politics, but on a more important note, as one who has dedicated his life to serving minority communities and its children. My liberalism began in college in the 60's and has been strengthened by all that I've seen. The parents I work with have the same hopes and dreams for their children that my parents had for me and I have for my children. The difference is the struggles they face on a daily basis.

Their plight has worsened during the last eight years as with most Americans. Their future has a chance now, their children have a chance now-not because of one day, but because of what they have endured during the last eight years has been brought to an end.

I cried last night as did so many. As I told a board member today, I feel that my life is complete now.

More comments from my sister and two friends

2008-11-08T08:35:00.001-05:00

We had an Obama victory party last night [in Karachi] and I was the only American -- everyone else was from probably 10 different countries and I toasted and spoke about what this moment meant to me – that I am from a generation born at the end of the civil rights movement and that we grew up in schools learning about the great things that were done by our parents generation to help change America for the better to end racial discrimination and we grew up learning about Martin Luther King and his I Have a Dream speech and to be proud of that, but that now I feel like I am part of a generation that is bringing change for the better to America.

For the first time in many many years I am actually proud to be American again. I have spent the better part of my whole career overseas hiding my head and dodging the question when people ask me where I’m from because I’m embarrassed about US government policy and how negatively the world has viewed the U.S. But last night I felt proud again to be American. I can lift my head up again because we have proven that we can correct our mistakes and because Obama makes us feel that truly anything is possible again in America. I was overwhelmed and was choking up. It was moving.

Others in the group also shared what it meant to them. A friend who is a gay British white man who has adopted 4 black African children from Sierra Leone told about how he woke up to show his 6-year-old son Obama on TV and could say to him: “Look at Obama – he is the President of the United States and he looks like you. You can be anything you want to be in life.” Others spoke about how they really never imagined that Americans would actually elect a black man to be president and placed bets against it -- and how astonished they were that America actually did elect a black man and how happy they were to be proven wrong. Others spoke about how growing up outside of America people have this perception that America is the land of opportunity and possibility, but that they had become skeptical, but that this election really showed to them that America is really truly the land where dreams can come true, where anything is possible. Many people said that they believe America is the only country on earth where this would have been possible. It was as if people were regaining faith in America. I was really moved by how much this means not only for Americans but for so many people around the world.

I woke up this morning and went downstairs and took Benjamin on my lap and said, “Benjamin, we have a new president and his name is Obama, and we are so happy and so proud of him, and we are proud of America and we are proud to be American” and I turned on the TV and showed him Obama and he gave a BIG smile and said “Obama!” J

The only sadness in the day was that California and a number of other states overturned the right to gay marriage. My dear friend Emma and her wonderful partner Sophie were married on November 2 so I would like to offer them my congratulations and then sorrow that not enough American’s are open minded and open hearted enough to give equal rights to everyone. I hope that the law is again overturned soon. And in the meantime, fight to retain your rights, and let us know how we can help.

2) From another friend:

I am ecstatic about Obama's victory.

For me, however, it is bittersweet. Just as Obamas victory marks the great advances on the path of social justice and equality... The loss of prop 8 in CA and other anti-gay ballot initiatives in the country show how far there still is to come. Never before has America taken away rights fairly won. Yet marriage won by the LGBT community in CA has now been stripped from us.

Please pass this along to your readers and ask their help in this new time.

3) From a friend who runs a network of highly successful charter schools:

This election was critically important to me -- as a loyal Democrat with a background in politics, but on a more important note, as one who has dedicated his life to serving minority communities and its children. My liberalism began in college in the 60's and has been strengthened by all that I've seen. The parents I work with have the same hopes and dreams for their children that my parents had for me and I have for my children. The difference is the struggles they face on a daily basis.

Their plight has worsened during the last eight years as with most Americans. Their future has a chance now, their children have a chance now-not because of one day, but because of what they have endured during the last eight years has been brought to an end.

I cried last night as did so many. As I told a board member today, I feel that my life is complete now.

Cool collage of headlines from around the world

2008-11-08T08:34:00.001-05:00

Check out this cool collage of headlines from around the world: http://obama2008.s3.amazonaws.com/headlines.html

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

2008-11-08T08:33:00.003-05:00

Hilarious video from The Onion, "Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are": http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive

Obama's acceptance speech

2008-11-08T08:33:00.001-05:00

I admit that I was so deliriously happy on Tuesday night that I could hardly pay attention to Obama's acceptance speech, but it was a truly GREAT speech! Below is the transcript and here's a link to the video: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCVideo

To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

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