The Sun never shines on education

I am only somewhat puzzled and surprised by The Sun's editorial this morning on the positions of Senator McCain and Obama on Education.

First off, the editorial notes the following truism about the boondoggle known as No Child Left Behind:

Senators Obama and McCain also both acknowledge that the federal No Child Left Behind Act passed under the Bush administration is inadequate. The law requires schools to make steady improvements in instructional quality each year as measured by student performance on standardized achievement tests. But it doesn't provide money for schools to hire better teachers, upgrade curriculum and equipment or create after-school enrichment programs. The law is a classic example of an unfunded mandate that leaves struggling states and local governments to pick up the tab for costly federal initiatives.

Yes, everybody on both sides can agree that No Child Left Behind is a cataclysmic failure of trying to solve local-level problems with national-level solutions. And I will concede that NCLB is a large unfunded mandate that is really putting a crimp into budgets at the state and local level.

And then, the Sun goes off the reservation:

And that's where the main difference between the candidates lies: Senator Obama promises to fully fund the NCLB law and make quality public education available to every child.

It is completely illogical (other than nothing that the fact that the Sun is in the bag for Obama) to insinuate that Obama clearly has a workable plan. Just one paragraph before, the Sun alluded to the fact that NCLB is a failure. Now, somehow, through the magic of The One, NCLB will suddenly work solely because he will "fully fund" it, whatever that means. Pay no mind to the fact that it is an unworkable, liberal solution to the problem that was strangely championed by George W. Bush. Never mind the fact that both conservatives and liberals dislike this law. The Sun somehow thinks that fully funding it will create a magic solution for education, and that money will make NCLB's problems vanish.

Of course Obama's plan goes a little beyond that, proposing all sorts of feel-good programs that will bankrupt the budget, including compulsory pre-school and a national "Zero-to-Five" education plan that sounds like federalized education taken to all its Marxist glory.

So naturally, when Senator McCain proposes something really different, the Sun throws him under the bus:

Senator McCain, by contrast, says the law's shortcomings merely show that parents should have more choice about where to send their children to school; that's why he favors giving money directly to parents, in the form of vouchers, to pay for private school tuition

God forbid Senator McCain and those in favor of school choice actually want to get kids, you know, educated. But the editorial was not content to stop there, no, the race and class card was next out of the deck:

In a city such as Baltimore, the problem with Mr. McCain's plan is obvious. Even if substantial numbers of parents took advantage of vouchers to flee to private schools, there still would be tens of thousands of children trapped in troubled or failing public schools. And those schools would have less hope than ever of getting federal help to get better. In a reprise of the racially segregated school systems of the past, such a plan would re-create a dual school system, based on class and funded by taxpayer dollars, that would benefit a lucky few at the expense of the vast majority.

Of course, what the ivory tower crowd fails to realize is that there is already a dual school system; private schools for those who can afford it, public schools for those who can't. And guess what? Those private schools are, currently, benefiting a "lucky few" even while those parents still have to pay taxes to fund the schools attended by the vast majority. And her is an interesting quote from Senator McCain's website which should really illuminate the issue for everybody:

If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.

Does it not make more sense to ensure that more children have the opportunity to improve their station in life? Isn't it more important to provide more opportunities for children to learn, succeed, and avoid being drawn in to urban drug culture and criminality? Apparently not to the Sun's editorial board, who would rather continue throwing money at policies and programs that don't work as opposed to trying something to benefit the children.

The Sun should be ashamed for expressing support for Obama's so-called education plan. Continuing what has failed generations of school children sentences a new generation of students to the continued acceptance of failure in the public classroom....and it's certainly not a change that anybody can believe in. Senator McCain's plan is certainly not a panacea, but it does not accept continued failure in the classroom as an option, which Barack Obama seems content with.

The Palin Pick: THIS is Change we can actually believe in

Six months ago I wrote this:

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin brings a lot of things to a potential national ticket. First off, she already has a record as a reformer. She challenged a Governor of her own party in a competitive primary and defeated him easily. She also brings a different demographic to the ticket. While Senator McCain can easily be portrayed as an old Washington insider, scarred from battles both real and political, Governor Palin will give voters something different. A feeling of vibrancy, of renewal. About as far away from being a Washington insider as you can possibly get. She's so popular, both inside and outside of Alaska, that a Draft Palin for VP movement has existed on the internet for over a year....

...The people of Alaska probably don't want to lose Governor Palin yet, given that she has just started her work as their Governor. However, I'm not sure there are many other choices Senator McCain can make that would energy the base as much as the selection of Governor Palin would. I hope that Senator McCain calls her to serve her country, something she would do admirably

So needless to say, I am downright giddy today. So you can consider this and the shoutout Media Superstar Mark Newgent gave me on WBAL today as part of my Victory Lap.

Needless to say, I am surprised, and I shocked, I am ecstatic, and I am extremely enthusiastic about this pick. Sarah Palin is the future of the Republican Party. She's both conservative's conservative, and a reformer. She took on the corrupt Stevens/Young/Murkowski wing of the Alaska State GOP and has succeeded in changing her state and her party for the better. THIS is the type of change that Barack Obama wishes he could bring; Sarah Palin has been there, and she's done that already.

What's best is the fact that it seems like the Palin Pick left Team HopeChangeHope in complete disarray, with the Obama Camp launching an insulting attack on Governor Palin's experience (never mind the fact that she has more experience than Tim Kaine, an Obama shortlister, plus they skewered small town America to boot) before Obama himself had to try and smooth over the damage prior to the start of his three day campaign trip through several swing states. The left blogosphere is reacting poorly too. America's biggest hatesite, DailyKos, is laying into Governor Palin, with posters there calling her selection unserious, a distraction, the worst VP pick ever, and asserting that her husband is the "Shadow Governor." So much for supporting the equality of the sexes fellas.

Obviously, Senator McCain did something right in order to get the Obama folks in a panic and the leftroots in a lather.

The Maryland leftroots have not reacted too poorly to date, though I want to point out something Isaac said:

I think we can also discard the question of whether the candidates have enough experience, since Palin has even less political experience than Barack Obama.

Except it doesn't. Sarah Palin has more experience in government than Barack Obama does. She has no less foreign policy experience than he does. And, unlike Obama, she is the # 2 on the ticket. Obama's glaring lack of experience to be President still shines through. Friends, this is what we have been waiting for. This is what we have wanted to see all along. We have had our ideological issues with Senator McCain, but he has selected as his running mate somebody who most embodies the conservative movement and the movement of reform. I wrote a while back:

the problem with Republican politics in the 21st century is not the ideology of conservatism, but leadership that itself is not conservative. Once we figure out how to fix that, Republicans will reassume the mantle of ascendancy that we lost when Congressional leadership went native a few years back.

THIS is the first step back. Governor Palin is a conservative reformer, and one with results to boot. This is how we are going to restore conservatism in the Republican Party. Senator McCain did us and the nation a great service through her selection.

Barack Obama talks about change, but who wants the failed liberalism of the past thirty years disguised as change? Barack Obama is the posterchild for identity politics and the politics of failure. McCain-Palin is the ticket that will truly be able to reform Washington.

Sarah Palin represents change that we can actually believe in...

Yowzah

Just watch it (H/T Ed Morrissey)

Why # 2 Matters

Back during the primaries, the McCain Campaign floated a trial balloon about John McCain only serving one term as President. So it was only a matter of time before that idea resurfaced as it did this weekend:

John McCain's White House campaign manager refused to be pinned down Sunday on whether the 71-year-old Republican might commit to serve only one term as president if he is elected in November.

Rick Davis, interviewed on Fox News Sunday, was asked if the Arizona senator might pledge at next month's Republican convention to serve a single term and decline to run for re-election in four years' time.

"You're going to have to come to the Republican convention to find out what's going to happen there," Davis said ahead of the September 1-4 gathering in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota.

Asked if he was ruling out the idea or not, the campaign manager said: "I'm not talking about it at all."

Obviously, Davis' refusal to talk about it means, at the very least, they have considered it in the past. Perhaps the campaign's refusal to go into details it to maintain an element of strategy and surprise, but still the idea has obviously been discussed within the campaign braintrust.

But if Senator McCain is going to do this, he is going to have to do what is right for the country and for the party, not just what is right for the election. Clearly, moreso than even the usual situation for a running mate, McCain's selection will clearly be the frontrunner in 2012. It means that McCain's selection of a running mate needs to be a conservative that we can trust to govern, and not just the right guy who happens to be from a swing state.

If Senator McCain is to only serve one term as President, he needs to select somebody in the mold of a Jindal, Palin, or Cantor moreso than the mold of a Crist or Pawlenty. If he is going to make such a bold announcement, he needs to make the right choice to serve as Vice-President. He owes that to the people who support him.

No, No, No

There is nothing that could possibly be any worse for the Republican brand than this:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he'd like to be John McCain's running mate.

"There's no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain," said Huckabee, who was a stronger than expected challenger against McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "All during the campaign when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately. ... I still wanted to win, but if I couldn't, John McCain was always the guy I would have supported and have now supported.

I'm glad that Huckabee wants to be a team player and all, but there is no possible scenario in which the presence of Huckabee on the ticket enhances McCain's chances in November. There is a pretty widespread consensus that McCain needs to put a conservative on the ticket to balance on his more moderate credentials. Having Huckabee on the ticket gives the party two big-government Republicans on the ticket, and that is something which could make the doom and gloom scenarios surrounding Bob Barr's candidacy prophetic.

Huckabee, though, would probably do best to suspend his campaign for the 2012 or 2016 nomination that he seems to be running right now...

McCain should pick Palin

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin brings a lot of things to a potential national ticket. First off, she already has a record as a reformer. She challenged a Governor of her own party in a competitive primary and defeated him easily. She also brings a different demographic to the ticket. While Senator McCain can easily be portrayed as an old Washington insider, scarred from battles both real and political, Governor Palin will give voters something different. A feeling of vibrancy, of renewal. About as far away from being a Washington insider as you can possibly get. She's so popular, both inside and outside of Alaska, that a Draft Palin for VP movement has existed on the internet for over a year.

And don't let her looks and vibrancy fool you; she is also a conservative's conservative. She believes in limited government, in rooting out corruption, the Second Amendment, and in fiscal responsibility. Governor Palin represents a lot of the things that we as conservative Republicans have been concerned that Senator McCain is not.

You can take a look for yourself how impressive Governor Palin is by checking out this video from washingtonpost.com:



It's refreshing that somebody would actually admit on the record that she would be interested in serving her country in such a capacity.

The people of Alaska probably don't want to lose Governor Palin yet, given that she has just started her work as their Governor. However, I'm not sure there are many other choices Senator McCain can make that would energy the base as much as the selection of Governor Palin would. I hope that Senator McCain calls her to serve her country, something she would do admirably.

My honorable mention choices include Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, and JC Watts.