A thought just occurred to me - the current momentum swing coincides with everyone talking about McCain/Palin, who are actively running on her biography. The sooner Obama can bring the debate back to issues, and his solutions to our problems, the sooner it becomes obvious that McCain/Palin aren't running on issues, and I suspect don't have solutions. It's time for the race to be about issues again.

From the DOE website...

ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ED's 4,200 employees and $68.6 billion budget are dedicated to:

• Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.

• Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research.

• Focusing national attention on key educational issues.

• Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.

I read the number of employees versus the tasking, it sure sounds like an enormously bloated organization to me. Education is controlled at the local level anyway, as anyone who has ever been around a school board knows.

What is remarkable about the latest ads is that they are both hard hitting and not personal attacks -- they are about policies and/or principles. You can both attack and take the high road.

WRT SJRSM: The US is falling far short of other developed and developing nations on literacy, both reading and mathematical, as well as science education. All are necessary to have a competitive work force. Some national leadership would help to alleviate some of the gross inequities of the US property-tax funded system (or at least one can hope).
Moreover, higher education is not locally controlled. College education costs have skyrocketed while federal grants and student loans have been slowly curtailed. The federal government has a role to play in providing opportunities for higher ed (perhaps in exchange for service, like ROTC or public service loan forgiveness programs).Plans are best achieved with sound policy.

I read the number of employees versus the tasking, it sure sounds like an enormously bloated organization to me. Education is controlled at the local level anyway, as anyone who has ever been around a school board knows.

How typically dishonest of Red State Mike. Note how he compares the budget versus the number of employees to call the organization "bloated," but then drops the notion of funding to point out that education is controlled at the local level. He's thus able to get in his right-wing crank talking points and hope no one notices how the DoE's budget goes to supplement local funding.

We noticed, Mike. Shame on you.

Also check out the very subtle hint at McCain's age at the end of the ad (Obama is hanging out with his YOUNG family). It's a heart-warming shot, but it also reminds that McCain, by contrast, is OLD.

I like this ad.

But riffing off Ben @ 1, I don't think issues alone will win this. They need to use guns and butter.

Guns: Smash Palin on her lies, and link those lies to the erosion of American values. In other words: Forceful and clever attack ads.

Butter: Ads like this one that show a grasp of the issues, concern for middle class voters, and the erosion of America's standing in the world under McSame.

Note: Even the butter must have bullets.

That thump you heard was an ice tray smackin' ol' Johnnie on the noggin'.

More to come. I hear Obama revving up the pneumatic socket wrench.

McCain brought up -- almost in a throwaway line -- this "education is the civil rights debate of this century" meme.

Code word for "school choice."

Which is code word for "taxpayer funded religious education."

Now that Obama has brought this up, expect to hear more from McCain about how we have to pay for Johnny Wingnut to go to Jesus School.

SJRSM ... then McCain should run with this, right?

This is fine for a front runner, but not when you're trying to catch up. Education as an issue is just plain boring.

The McCain surge is even more inexplicable in its success than the Iraq surge. I can't understand how 20,000 extra troops could have made such a dramatic difference.

But McCain hasn't done anything, and he's shot past Obama, and shows no signs of slowing down. It began weeks before he brought Palin into the picture, but she's clearly bolstering his campaign nevertheless.

Obama needs something big. I don't know what it is, but I sure know what it isn't. And this ad is an example of the latter.

WRT SJRSM: The US is falling far short of other developed and developing nations on literacy, both reading and mathematical, as well as science education. All are necessary to have a competitive work force.

I'm down with that. Who's against better education?

But we already have school boards locally, and state departments of education. School boards are all about local control and letting the parents control the education process. Boards will gladly take money, of course.

We have had a national Dept of Education since 1980, and as you point out, we continued to fall short. Keep doing the same thing? I seem to recall NCLB getting poo-pooed here on a regular basis. Would Obama work to get rid of it?

At 4,200 employees that is about 80 employees per state. What the heck are they all doing?

Moreover, higher education is not locally controlled. College education costs have skyrocketed while federal grants and student loans have been slowly curtailed. The federal government has a role to play in providing opportunities for higher ed (perhaps in exchange for service, like ROTC or public service loan forgiveness programs).Plans are best achieved with sound policy.
Posted by: lisainvan

Again, I am down with sound policy. I work and teach at a major research university, and tuition has outpaced inflation for a lot of years. But ROTC and VA Benefits are administered through their own pipeline, not through DOE. Similar with others. I didn't see huge $$$ in the FY09 DOE budget for higher ed.

Only a right wing nut job would be against the government taking steps to create an atmosphere in which the youth of our nation are well educated to fill the societal roles they will fill as adults. It wouldn't hurt to be as smart as our competitors, would it?

Oh wait, I forgot. right wingers need to have a dumbed down population. After all, isn't that the name of their game? the rich elitist class reaping the benefits at the behest of the working poor? Plus, the smarter you are, the more likely you'll vote democratic. Couldn't have that now, could we?

WTF?

Have you seen the banner ad at the top of your page, for McCain? What the hell is a "complinace fund", and what am I complying to?

Phantom (The)

P.S. Take Kevin's name off this comments box: if he ain't here, he don't get the cred.

back in 1994, McCain told CNN, "I would certainly favor doing away with the Department of Energy and I think that given the origins of the Department of Education, I would favor doing away with it as well."

1994? Give me a break. Steve, you're like that firstbaseman stretching for long throw from shortstop on this one. McCain has an easy out. NCLB now ensures the $$$ follow the results, so it's not just a giveaway now.

(You still see Kevin's name when you click 'preview' to check your post.)

I just want to thank all the loyal Americans here for supporting my deeply flawed candidacy. I'm less than the sum of my parts, I'm an empty vessel into which you can pour your racist fears, and I stand for things that are so far from the mainstream that I might as well be from another country -- like Russia, which is real close to where I live!

America: what a country!

SJRSM, you seem to have a pretty sarcastic tone here. It appears you are laying the blame of failed education policy on a bloated bureaucracy. As you cited 1980, so will I. Now, in those 28 years, how many years were republicans in the WH? Democrats? 20 out of the last 28 years a republican has been in control of the WH. Now, why didn't they do something about it when they had a chance? They had control of congress for 12 years, both houses, from '94 to '06. What was done about it then?

we may be in agreement that somethings broken, but you are, in a typically republican manner, placing the blame elsewhere. Still no accountability from you people whatsoever.

As for NCLB, well, I think most people in education would argue that it doesn't work. This program was basically designed by right wing power brokers with an eye towards profit (imagine that!). it's no coincidence that after it's implementation, the companies that got contracts for testing material and so forth were... hold your breath... republican backers of Bu$h.

SJRSM is my kind of American! Go SJRSM!

Don't ever offer any solutions yourself! Just shoot down the opposition! Be part of the problem! I was before the Bridge To Nowhere before I was against it! Now I'm for whatever John McCain tells me I'm for, even if I was against it as a governor or as a woman!

SJRSM is right! We need to give control of our lives to the Republican party because they don't ever do anything wrong! How could Bill Clinton have gotten us so bogged down in Iraq!

Vote Hillary! Vote for me! Vote for more of the same! I am woman! Hear me subordinate myself to the will of a bunch of white men!

I see this blog has been taken over by concern trolls. Nice. Convention bounces happen and Palin bumped McCain's numbers a little higher. Bounces also tend to deflate -- ask Kerry. Obama got a bounce, McCain got a bounce. We will see how long it lasts. As for Palin, it takes a little while for the counter-meme to work. There is a pretty good one brewing right now in teh MSM -- She's a liar; and can't stray far from her script. There were a number of newspapers today painting her in a pretty negative light. Her record is not particularly accomplished. Rendell said he'd get impeached with her record. That needs to continue to be encouraged. Obama's ads are better, even the ed add. But in the end, its about those middle 8-10% of the voters that have decided the last few elections, and its also about mobilizing your base. So, Obama's campaign has to figure out how to appeal to the independents, our job is to mobilize the base. Viewing the number of posts (not including the stupid trolls), we are acting too much like Democrates. Stop beating up Obama (and I am pointing the finger at me too). No, he wasn't great on Olbermann, no he doesn't do particularly well at the one-liners, but he's our candidate and he is far superior to what the Repugs are selling. Hasn't anyone on this blog ever played a competitive sport. Complaining to the refs doesn't win games. Play hard, play dirty if you have to, but playing your fucking heart out does. We need to ask ourselves whether we really want this badly enough. So, anyone who hasn't broken out the pocketbook for Obama its show time. Don't tell me you're for Obama when you haven't dropped any coin. Actions not words.
As for the trolls, fuck off.
Posted by: Scott F. on September 9, 2008 at 2:23 PM | PERMALINK

It's hard for a president to pass legislation when the opposition party obstructs virtually every bill presented before them. I'll give you that one. The one thing I can hope for is an Obama administration would have the backing of a democratic congress and would actually pass meaningful, efficient changes. As for throwing money away, well, until you stop supporting a party that spends 10 billion a month in Iraq on no bid contracts to politically connected companies, and continues to bail out failed corporations with taxpayer money, you really have no argument there.

And I do stand by my NCLB claim, in that is was simply another profiteering scheme cooked up by right wing power brokers to line the pockets of the companies that were contracted to provide the testing and materials, etc.

That last comment was directed at SJRSM by the way...

I like Palin, and I don't judge her too harshly for some of her past actions.

But her recent claims too often belie those actions.

Far too reminiscent of Bush/Cheney 2000 for me.

Oops, to quick to stick (like the truth). Another nice advert, these play to the audience and challenge the opposition. Very good!

"So, anyone who hasn't broken out the pocketbook for Obama its show time. Don't tell me you're for Obama when you haven't dropped any coin."

I'll tell you whatever I want. I am for Obama, and I'm not sending a single penny his way. Wanna know why? Because I can't afford to. My husband and I are broke as a potato chip. My support for Obama is as much practical as idealistic, because he will help *me* and my family far more than McBush will. Maybe in the future I will have enough to send support to his re-election campaign, but I'm not stressing my already-stressed budget any further right now.

So kindly keep your lectures about how to show my support to yourself. I'm doing the best I can with what I have.

McCain should eliminate the Orwellian-named Department of Defense, if he wants to really cut the "pork" out of the federal budget.

After all, we don't really have any national defense, since we couldn't even scramble one fighter plane in time to shoot down an airliner hijacked by a few men armed with boxcutters. It should be renamed the Department of Aggression and Multinational Corporation Support, since all of our money is squandered to support the rights of big companies to exploit the Third World and to forward power project. I cringe when I hear simple-minded Americans say that some soldier died in Iraq "for our freedom" - like anyone in Iraq wanted to take away our freedom or could, even if they wanted to! Iraq doesn't even have a navy, for God's sake. No, our soldiers died in Iraq so that Chevron and ExxonMobil could extract Iraq's petroleum. No other reason.

There is no bigger waste of taxpayer dollars than the Pentagon.

I was at this speech today. Small crowd, 600 - 700 people, invite only. I thought it was very good, lot's of substance. Did it get much coverage on the news programs?

I was at this speech today. Small crowd, 600 - 700 people, invite only. I thought it was very good, lot's of substance. Did it get much coverage on the news programs?

Education IS important, but if the dems lose this election we're going to be on a rapid slide down the slippery slope that the repubs have put this country on. This country is overrun with people in need of a better education; most of them are McCain supporters. It's too late to educate them. For now, Obama needs to borrow a page from the Bill Clinton playbook. It's the economy stupid!!The economy, the economy, the economy. Beat the people over the head with it until they figure out that there's a big difference between the candidates on this issue. Screw education, screw health care, screw the environment; any time Obama mentions one of these issues, he HAS to show how his plans in these areas are going to create good jobs and put more money into people's pockets. He can't get bogged down arguing about charter schools, vouchers, or any details--just throw out the figures that show better educated people make more money and that he's going to make education a priority SO PEOPLE CAN MAKE MORE MONEY. Don't bring an intelligent argument to a stupid crowd.

I was at this speech today. Small crowd, 600 - 700 people, invite only. I thought it was very good, lot's of substance. Did it get much coverage on the news programs?

MSNBC ran a big chunk of Obama's speech today live-- I think because he's taking the lead in and giving them something different to talk about. He sounded really good in his speech AND he sounded great in the speech he made in response to Bush's annoucnement about bringing home a few thousand troops from Iraq and sending more to Afghanistan. Additionally, Obama actually fielded questions from the press!!! Imagine that!

He's changing tactics-- changing the conversation to policy, making himself available to the press and speaking at "town hall" venues. It's truly bizarre how their roles have changed.

zoe's post reminds me to ask: Is McCain taking any questions lately, or is he playing the control-the-message-by-hiding game, too? It's pretty funny how he and Palin have to campaign together, as though she can't be trusted on her own and he can't get a crowd without her. But is he answering any questions the past few days?

As a Florida teacher, I can assure you that NCLB is not working!
Of course, it sounds great to the general public. After all, who doesn't want to "leave no child behind." As Obama stated, there are some positives. We are disaggregating data to take a closer look at the achievement of all subgroups. The problem is that all we do is test! We have our FCAT tests and constantly have to take practice tests. The AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) target goals continue to rise each year, so the majority of our Title I schools in this state can't meet these goals. By 2013, all of our students are expected to be at grade level, including Exceptional Ed students and ESOL (speakers of other languages.) The authors of NCLB had to know that these expections are virtually impossible to meet. I am a believer in high expectations ... just not unreasonable expectations. Every year we don't make AYP, more of our Title I dollars are pumped into the private sector to private tutoring companies, many of which were formed just to take advantage of the chance to cash in on this money. They don't care about or know our kids!
I truly believe that the real goal of NCLB was to funnel the money from Title I into the private sector. More privatization from the Repubs! Sorry for such a long post.