When Obama was campaigning in Wisconsin prior to the primary there, he stated that he would consider supporting school vouchers if empirical evidence showed that they were beneficial. Well, just as he’s flip flopped on every other major issue Obama now says that he doesn’t support school vouchers no matter what.
Senator Obama apparently felt free enough from obligations to the American Federation of Teachers, which is meeting in his home city of Chicago, that he skipped their convention and appeared by video. The AFT had endorsed Mr. Obama’s opponent, Senator Clinton, in the Democratic primary. Too bad Mr. Obama doesn’t feel free enough to deviate from the union’s policy agenda.
That he is captive to it was made clear by his prepared remarks. "What I do oppose is using public money for private school vouchers. We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools; not throwing our hands up and walking away from them," Mr. Obama said. During the primary campaign, in Wisconsin, Mr. Obama had suggested he would be open to vouchers if empirical research showed that they improved educational outcomes. His new stance — the latest in what seems like a never-ending series of flip-flops — seems to foreclose any support of vouchers, ever, no matter what the research shows.
This is a major issue, particularly for minorities. Without school vouchers, which permit minority children to get out of failing schools, they will have a far greater likelihood of getting a poor education, and having difficulty succeeding in life. John McCain has been a strong proponent of school choice for years. If McCain can draw the distinction between himself and Obama on this issue he should be able successfully compete with Obama for the votes of Hispanic voters.
Just because private school students score better and do better in life is no proof. We need empirical evidence! Like global warming – just because the temperatures are dropping is no proof! We have a consensus, which is even better than empirical evidence.
Right, but it wouldn’t matter what the evidence or consensus was regarding school vouchers. Obama will be against them because the teachers unions are against them. Just as it doesn’t matter to Obama that the surge in troops in Iraq has worked. Obama said the surge wouldn’t work, says the surge hasn’t worked, and there’s no way he’s going to change his mind and say anything different. It would be funny except that this guy might actually con enough people to let him win the Presidency.