Bill criticizes Hillary

WJC blasts No Child Left Behind, which HRC voted for and still supports in principle, in contrast with Obama, who sees the real problems: bad inadequate tests and unrealistic goals.

I think the two-headed Billary monster just shot itself in the foot.

AP:

Former President Clinton said that if his wife is elected president she would radically change the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which he described as an education disaster initially supported not only by President Bush, but liberal icon Ted Kennedy.

Clinton’s association of Kennedy with the No Child Left Behind Act _ a federal education law unpopular with public school teachers, a key Democratic party constituency _ came just days after the Massachusetts senator passed over Hillary Rodham Clinton to endorse her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama.

“I want you to think about this, and I have to say, this was a train wreck that was not intended. No Child Left Behind was supported by George Bush and Senator Ted Kennedy and everybody in between. Why? Because they didn’t talk to enough teachers before they did that,” Clinton told more than 2,400 people in a speech Thursday night at Arizona State University.

Now, lemme see, wasn’t the junior Senator from New York one of those “in between” who voted for NCLB? And who still says “I believe in the principles behind the landmark law”? All she complains about is failure to deliver on the budgetary end of the deal.

I guess she didn’t talk to enough teachers first, and hasn’t talked to enough teachers yet. But I’m proud of her husband for having the honesty to subject her to the criticism she deserves.

By contrast, Barack Obama isn’t just annoyed about the schools’ getting cheated out of the money. Obama goes directly at the basic problems: inadequate assessment tools, and unrealistic goals that states can meet only by cheating.,

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com