So Is Obama Still A Radical?

President Obama’s education speech today should be applauded by conservatives.  He wants to tie teachers’ pay to student performance, expand charter schools, and have longer school days and years.  These issues don’t always sit well with teachers’ unions, and yet Obama garnered praise.

“We finally have an education president,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers. “We really embrace the fact that he’s talked about both shared responsibility and making sure there is a voice for teachers, something that was totally lacking in the last eight years.”

The president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, Dennis van Roekel said, “President Obama always says he will do it with educators, not to them.”

“That is a wonderful feeling, for the president of the United States to acknowledge and respect the professional knowledge and skills that those educators bring to every job in the school,” van Roekel said.

Obama also highlighted the need to support early education programs, something Republicans have resisted.  But his emphasis on charter schools and tying pay to performance  should really warm the heart of conservatives, who often complain that Democrats care more about the unions than about quality education.  What happened to the radical leftist we were told would inhabit the White House and appoint Bill Ayers Secretary of Education? (not that that would be a bad choice).

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.