Obama won but if you listen closely to the right, you'll hear them chanting, "no mandate, no mandate, no mandate." Many conservatives are saying that Obama's slim victory does not provide him with a mandate.
“I think the real story here is that Obama won but he’s got no mandate,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News last night.
When it comes to education, Krauthammer and other conservatives (even Fox News) are entirely correct ( but likely for all the wrong reasons). Progressive educators across America (and around the world) supported Obama because when it came to education policy, Obama was the lesser of the two evils.
Don't confuse teacher support for Obama and their relief that Romney lost as a mandate to carry on with corporate reforms and standardized testing that undermines public education and teachers.
Like others, I'm glad Romney lost, but that doesn't even begin to explain whether I am happy that Obama won. These are two distinctly different feelings.
Alfie Kohn's tweet the day after Obama's win says it all:
It is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt once met with a group of activists who sought his support for legislation. He listened to their arguments for some time and then said, "You've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it." The spirit of Roosevelt's advice is likely what inspired Robert Reich to say, "Nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it happen."
What are you doing to make Obama rethink his education policies?
“I think the real story here is that Obama won but he’s got no mandate,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News last night.
When it comes to education, Krauthammer and other conservatives (even Fox News) are entirely correct ( but likely for all the wrong reasons). Progressive educators across America (and around the world) supported Obama because when it came to education policy, Obama was the lesser of the two evils.
Don't confuse teacher support for Obama and their relief that Romney lost as a mandate to carry on with corporate reforms and standardized testing that undermines public education and teachers.
Like others, I'm glad Romney lost, but that doesn't even begin to explain whether I am happy that Obama won. These are two distinctly different feelings.
Alfie Kohn's tweet the day after Obama's win says it all:
Mitt Romney could have been trusted to carry on and intensify Obama's current education policies, but only Obama can be trusted to be courageous enough to rethink his first term of cancerous education policies. Defeating Romney was necessary but Obama's victory will not be sufficient in saving and supporting public education.
It is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt once met with a group of activists who sought his support for legislation. He listened to their arguments for some time and then said, "You've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it." The spirit of Roosevelt's advice is likely what inspired Robert Reich to say, "Nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it happen."
What are you doing to make Obama rethink his education policies?
