BlogWonks

Earlier in this campaign, Barack Obama stated  that he was against school choice because he believed it would hurt certain failing schools  if parents were able to take their children out and move them to schools where they could get a better education. Here’s Obama talking to Jake Tapper of ABC News:

TAPPER: You talked about the need to change the status quo in education today.

OBAMA: Right.

TAPPER: But one of the ways that proponents of school choice say that the best way to change the status quo is to give parents, inner-city parents a choice. Why not?

OBAMA: Well, the problem is, is that, you know, although it might benefit some kids at the top, what you’re going to do is leave a lot of kids at the bottom. We don’t have enough slots for every child to go into a parochial school or a private school. And what you would see is a huge drain of resources out of the public schools.

So what I’ve said is let’s foster competition within the public school system. Let’s make sure that charter schools are up and running. Let’s make sure that kids who are in failing schools, in local school districts, have an option to go to schools that are doing well.

But, that was then. Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in a slow death spiral, Obama’s reversing himself and supporting Charter Schools.

Barack Obama is promising to double funding for charter schools and replace inferior teachers, embracing education reform proposals normally more popular with Republican candidates.

The Democratic presidential nominee says both parties must work together to improve education, according to remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday at a suburban high school gymnasium. The pitch was an appeal to moderate voters in this presidential election swing state, where the fight over education reform has been the focus of a longtime partisan battle.

Another day, another Barack Obama flip flop. And this one is really gonna piss off the teachers unions.