Timorous Barack

A timorous Sen. Barack Obama gets pulled into the maw of the NEA, the rotten core of the Democrat party, chewed up and spit out at the mere mention of merit pay. Ruth Marcus, WaPo and no conservative:

You might expect more from a candidate who sneers at "slogans without substance," as he told the delegates, and presents himself as being above tired ideological divides. Still, Obama may be what passes for brave among a fainthearted bunch. [snip]

But so far, anyway, the Democrats who would be president are happy to propose more spending on education but are reluctant to impose any demands in return -- in other words, they are happy to sound like the same old Democratic Party, permissive and beholden.

Yes, teachers are an important Democratic constituency, but aren't parents Democratic voters, too -- parents who might welcome a message about accountability and expectations? If, that is, one of the candidates were willing to deliver it.

Obama has been backpedaling on anything substantive to improve schools, and on school choice, for some time. Documented by Jeff Berkowitz, who interviewed him early in his run for Senate.

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