( - promoted by Fong)
He may be a Constitutional scholar, but President Obama is showing by the day he's no historian and there is much he could have learned his Democratic predecessors - if it isn't already too late:President Obama is asking the CEOs of Time Warner, AT&T, and other major companies in a meeting today to funnel money into the nation's public schools, which are facing steep budget cuts on the state level this year.
The Wall Street Journal's Stephanie Banchero writes that both Bank of America and Microsoft will announce new investments in K-12 education after the meeting: $50 million for programs to prepare low-income students for college and a $15 million investment in video-game technology for the classroom, respectively.
According to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers, 18 states cut spending for K-12 instruction in fiscal year 2011 by $1.8 billion. Proposed cuts for the next fiscal year are much steeper: They total $2.5 billion for K-12 schools. He may get some slight investments from corporations who hope to eventually earn a profit from their minor good will. He may even replace the horrible multi-billion-dollar cuts, but it's doubtful. Most CEO's would choke at the thought of a no-strings-attached disbursement from their corporate coffers into the public domain.
Republicans will attack this idea and accuse the man as they've done since before Day 1 of his presidency. Obama's been playing nice while others have taken advantage of his naivaté. They have expressed their hatred of him, and by extension us, in a multitude of ways. As of last night Obama was still praising the ideal of bipartisanship with those who are working non-stop to make him fail. At some point he needs to take up their challenge and take them on with the facts and the backing of the American people.
He should welcome the hatred of the CEO, the Oligarch, the Reactionary and the Radical. He'd have Joe Sixpack on his side. He'd have me on his side, for what it's worth. It might be uncomfortable at first, but he would warm to it, and he could easily win re-election from a public still yearning for his leadership.
Many, including I, had projected a bit of FDR onto Obama as he came into office. I'm beyond hoping for that much at this point. I hope we're not all beyond such feelings.
UPDATE: More FDR here: FDR Address at Forbes Field in 1936
Even more FDR here: FDR speech warning of the "smooth evasions" of Republicans who lie about their plans for Social Security, etc.....
Live and Learn, Barack! |
