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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2008 > September > 09
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Olbermann Overboard about Palin
I found myself watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC last night (Monday), something I never do. Wow. He was — choosing this word carefully — apoplectic about all manner of alleged horrors stories relating to Sarah Palin’s religious views.
He was fascinated and unmistakably appalled at the revelation that people in her church speak in tongues. But the church in question is the one she grew up in and has left. So what’s the issue?
He was all excited about the fact that a YouTube video shows her asking her current church to pray that problems involving a pipeline in the works for Alaska be worked out. But that pipeline is God and country in Alaska. Everybody is for it. To ask people to pray for it is like asking them to pray for the troops or for military victory.
And Olbermann referred to an upcoming story about something that was said from the pulpit of Palin’s new church. But it turned out to have been said by a visiting speaker (a Jews for Jesus spokesman saying Israel was paying the price for angering God). Surely the Obama people don’t want to start holding Palin responsible for things that are said (by a visitor, no less) from the pulpit of her church, after all the Obama people have been through.
I can’t remember if it was Olbermann, but somebody during the evening was upset about a YouTube video showing Palin saying something about God’s will and Iraq. As I listened to it, all she seemed to be saying was that people should pray or hope that we are doing the right thing there by God. Hard to see what’s so offensive about that.
The media do have to go at the Palin story hard, of course. Out of the blue, she is put forth for the heartbeat-awayship. If anything ever screamed out for aggressive investigative reporting, this is it. But there’s a right way and a wrong way. Olbermann got it wrong that night. (And MSNBC got it right in taking him — and Chris Matthews — off anchoring duties at events such as conventions. Let’s not kid ourselves about who he is.)
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Both candidates need to be specific about education plans
Sens. McCain and Obama Tuesday
Here’s a sneak preview of Wednesday’s editorial about visits to the Dayton area by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain:
At Stebbins High School on Tuesday, Sept. 9, Sen. Obama pitched mostly ideas he has supported in the past — more money for early childhood education, teacher pay, college tax credits and classroom technology upgrades.
But to make a big difference in any of those areas would require a major financial commitment. “We can do all this for the cost of just a few days in Iraq,” was all he said about how to pay for it. That’s easier said than done.
And Sen. Obama got wild applause from a crowd thick with teachers in blue union T-shirts when he mocked No Child Left Behind as only preparing kids to “fill in bubbles on a standardized test.” But he doesn’t offer a better way to evaluate student achievement beyond a vague promise that teachers should help develop “new assessments.”
What kinds of assessments does Sen. Obama have in mind, and why would they be any better?
For his part, Sen. McCain is actually even less specific about his education plans. His position can be summed up pretty simply — he (and Sen. Obama) would focus more federal money on needy pre-schoolers, and he supports expanding school choice. In Sen. Barack Obama could have picked any city in the country for Tuesday’s speech on education, but it was fitting that he chose to embrace charter schools in the Dayton area.
Arguably, this is the charter school capital of the country. From 2001 to 2006, Dayton was No. 1 in the nation for the percentage of schoolchildren attending charter schools, and the city slipped to No. 2 in recent years only because New Orleans is rebuilding its schools after Hurricane Katrina with a largely charter school system.
By saying he supports doubling federal support for charter schools — increasing that spending to $400 million — Sen. Obama moved closer to his opponen’s position. And he is disagreeing with the prevailing view among public school teachers and the National Education Association, which are among the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters.
Coincidentally, Sen. John McCain was speaking just 25 miles to the south in Lebanon. Sen. Obama’s new affection for charter schools followed Sen. McCain’s convention speech last week in which he touted his allegiance to school choice as the primary plank of his education plan.
So both candidates favor charter schools. But voters still don’t know what either really would try to accomplish when it comes to schools, because neither has been specific.
Sen. McCain’s case, choice includes vouchers that allow students to attend private schools using tax dollars. Sen. Obama has embraced public school choice through charters, but not private school vouchers.
In opinion polls, education always ranks among the issues voters most care about. But this election season, it has been overshadowed by the economy and the war.
There’s still time for both candidates to be more direct. Now that the race has entered the home stretch, voters are listening.
(Image credits: Teesha McClam and Nick Daggy, Cox News Service)
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Charters big in Obama education plan
At Stebbins High School Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama promised to double to $400 million federal funding for charter schools. For a complete report on the speech, visit Get on the Bus.
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What will Obama say about education at Stebbins?
For excerpts from Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s upcoming speech this morning at Stebbins High School touting charter schools, teacher performance pay and after school programs, hop over to the Get on the Bus education blog.
What is Barack Obama’s take on education? That’s not as easy to explain as you might think. To learn more about the battle within the Democratic Party’s two big education camps for Obama’s allegiance, go here.
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