Finally, an Obama Policy Provides Common Ground

By Kim

One of the hallmarks of the Obama administration has been the blatant Alinsky tactic of divide and conquer. Progressives have perfected this art of fragmenting Americans by sparking domestic spats. From constant use of the race card, to the war on women, to gay rights’ disputes, our heads are spinning.  If the distractions are outrageous and numerous, perhaps the majority will not notice the realities of the economy, the actual jobs’ numbers, the disastrous Obamacare implementation, or the many scandals that surround this administration.

Saul Alinsky provided the rules; Obama and his progressive cronies are the radicals using them: Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

Emboldened with his reelection and equipped with a pen and a phone, there appears to be nothing currently stopping Obama’s progressive agenda. Every day the hits keep coming and fighting ensues over global warming (or is it climate change), how many have “signed up” versus “enrolled and paid” for Obamacare, and are Benghazi and IRS targeting real or pseudo scandals.

Just when it seems all hope is lost and Republicans/Conservatives and Democrats/Liberals cannot agree on anything, in walks a stinkburger called Common Core. This controversial revamping of America’s K-12 educational standards at the federal level began in 2008, but, much like Obamacare, it was developed in secret. Now on the eve of its implementation, conservative and liberal parents and teachers are getting a taste of Common Core, and they do not like it.

The argument from a conservative parent is easy to understand. The federal government has no constitutional right to meddle with education. State and local governments should have sovereignty over secondary education. Combined with their liberal counterparts, alarm bells are sounding as parents are beginning to see Common Core as a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach, drafted in private, that ignores how teachers teach and how children learn.

Generally, liberals fear the curriculum, and the standardized evaluations, will amplify the high-pressure, high-stakes atmosphere that No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush's education initiative, helped create. In already high-performing school districts in “blue states” like New York -- which Obama won by 26 points in 2012 -- some parents and teachers think a new set of standards will drag down test scores, undermining their children’s futures; others worry it will push classroom “electives” like music and art further to the sidelines.

Political ideology aside, however, perhaps the most vocal push-back to Common Core has come from teachers, who approve of the concept but hate its implementation. They complain the curriculum, created without teacher input, is inflexible, its installation has been disorganized, and administrators and parents will blame them if student test scores implode 

The Common Core pushback is gaining momentum as parents are voicing their opinions at school board and town hall meetings and on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Even celebrity/comedian and parent Louis C. K. recently took to Twitter and the Late Show with David Letterman to vent:

My kids used to love math.  Now it makes them cry.  Thanks standardized testing and common core!
— Louis C.K. (@louisck) April 28, 2014

FYI - Louis C.K. is no closet conservative. In an amusingly evasive interview with Vanity Fair, Louis C.K.  . . . was asked “Who are your heroes in real life?” the famed comedian answered: “I really love Barack Obama. Sorry if that’s like ‘Ew. The president. That’s lame.’ ” He went on to call the president “a great man” and said he considered himself lucky to have voted for him.