Andrew Cuomo lost it when he said he was going to take on the unions. Who needs a Democrat for that? Isn't that what Republicans are for?
President Barack Obama declined to name Linda Darling-Hammond US Education Secretary. Instead, he selected Arne Duncan, who ran a failed "reform" program in Chicago. Why? Because his buds at DFER liked Arne better. Is that enough? No?
How about when he applauds a whole staff of teachers being fired in Rhode Island? Does it make a difference that a good deal of the kids they taught didn't even know English yet? Did they deserve that based on test scores of these kids? Should that make him think twice before applauding more, or indeed any Americans out of work? Should that make a teacher think twice before supporting him?
Then there's his failure to push for, let alone pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would enable working people to unionize more easily via card check. His promise to push that was one thing that made me vote for him in 08. There was also his promise to end the Bush tax cuts, which he never did.
There is the argument that a Republican could be worse, and that may be true. Nonetheless, I'd rather see a Republican doing what Republicans do than a faux-Democrat doing the same thing. Obama promised to find a pair of comfortable shoes and march with labor when it was in trouble. Frankly, I feel more like he donned a hobnailed boot and kicked us where the sun doesn't shine.
That's why it's so, so disappointing that the AFT could endorse him. If we don't stand against the nonsense he's enabled, we stand for very little indeed. Obama fooled me once, but I will not vote for him again. I don't care what a swell guy the AFT Prez finds him. I will likely support the Green candidate for President.
And yes, maybe I'm naive, maybe I don't understand the intricacies of politics, maybe I expect too much, but it breaks my heart that our national union would fail to stand up against a corporatist President who cares more about Bill Gates and Eli Broad than the people who teach our children, the people who are our children, and the people who will grow up to teach their children.
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