January 3, 2009
Was The NCLB Wool Pulled Over The Right's Eyes?
Just before the holidays, when we were all burping up eggnog, Mike Petrilli and Rick Hess argued that history will show that in terms of education policy (namely NCLB), President Bush was practically a tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, VW Bug-driving, bong-sharing lefty who gave in to pressure from the civil rights community.
Mike and Rick went so far as to call Bush the "hall monitor for the civil rights lobby"...
It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that Bush permitted himself to become the “hall monitor for the civil rights lobby” - taking the hits from angry suburbanites and the blame for an unpopular law, while civil rights groups basked in their new status and doubled down by pushing for new and more aggressive federal programs.
I agree with both of them, and it is one of the few things for which I will give the president due credit. (Though the president had a uncanny tendency to go back to his conservative roots whenever it actually came time to pay for NCLB...)
As Mike noted in his blog post, DFER has been a vocal supporter of this particular vast left-wing conspiracy. You can read DFER's top-secret, unrated, uncensored version of Charlie Barone's white paper on this topic here.
Andy Rotherham is here, suggesting that the search is on for the heart and soul of the Republican Party's education agenda. Not to get all depressing or anything, but Petrilli's response to Andy's post is a reminder how much work lies ahead:
Liberals and conservatives didn’t compromise to hatch No Child Left Behind; conservatives followed President Bush’s lead and got on board a liberal agenda. With Bush headed out of town, expect Republicans to vacate this position, and to act like a center-right party again.
