While McCain dispatches Lisa Graham Keegan to talk to education reporters (see below), Timesman David Brooks accuses Obama of being all carrot, no stick on education. “He’s politically astute — giving everybody the impression he’s on their side — but substantively vague. Change just isn’t that easy.”
Brooks frames his column with the Times overly facile take that this week’s dueling ed reform manifestos boils down to warring camps within the Democratic party. But regardless, it’s worth asking, as Brooks does, what Obama believes:
When you look at the actual proposals Obama offers, he’s doesn’t really address the core issues. He’s for the vast panoply of pre-K and after-school programs that most of us are for. But the crucial issues are: What do you do with teachers and administrators who are failing? How rigorously do you enforce accountability? Obama doesn’t engage the thorny, substantive matters that separate the two camps.
Obama’s education remarks “give the impression of a candidate who wants to be for big change without actually incurring the political costs inherent in that enterprise,” Brooks concludes.
