Palast: Obama's "Way-to-Go, Brownie!" Moment?

[progressoid]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot moderator democratic underground)

Obama's "Way-to-Go, Brownie!" Moment?

by Greg Palast
for the Huffington Post

Has Barack Obama forgotten, "Way-to-go, Brownie"? Michael Brown was that guy from the Arabian Horse Association appointed by George Bush to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Brownie, not knowing the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain from the south end of a horse, let New Orleans drown. Bush's response was to give his buddy Brownie a "way to go!" thumbs up.

We thought Obama would go a very different way. You'd think the studious Senator from Illinois would avoid repeating the Bush regime's horror show of unqualified appointments, of picking politicos over professionals.

But here we go again. Trial balloons lofted in the Washington Post suggest President-elect Obama is about to select Joel Klein as Secretary of Education. If not Klein, then draft-choice number two is Arne Duncan, Obama's backyard basketball buddy in Chicago.

Say it ain't so, President O.

Let's begin with Joel Klein. Klein is a top notch anti-trust lawyer. What he isn't is an educator. Klein is as qualified to run the Department of Education as Dick Cheney is to dance in Swan Lake. While I've never seen Cheney in a tutu, I have seen Klein fumble about the stage as Chancellor of the New York City school system.

www.PalastInvestigativeFund.org

Subscribe to Palast's reports at www.GregPalast.com



:hide:

[ulysses]

1. duck.

[progressoid]

9. :)

I'm going to make some dinner now...
:yoiks:

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I'll wait and see who Obama picks for education

Some of the names thrown around I like, some of them I don't.

[bdamomma]

34. I would wait to see who he names than to speculate and assume.

:hi:

[Thrill]

3. More outrage over something that hasn't happened

And for what its worth.

Jonathan Alter said his money is on Obama picking Denver School Superintendent Michael Bennett

[progressoid]

7. agreed

Sometimes I just like to poke the beehive. :hide:

[Chulanowa]

21. hopefully, enough outrage and it won't happen

Starting to scratch my head over the lineups we may be seeing this january. i'm holding out until our guy's actually in office and making actual appointments - likely as not, this is the, ahem, "liberal media's" attempt to undermine obama before he even takes the oath.

But the fact i have patience doesn't keep me from being worried. Clear messages need to be sent. Especially in this case, and the case of some monsanto thug being talked up as Sec. of Agriculture. Railing to the heavens on DU is futile... but i for one ahve been writing letters and emails. It's not much but i like to think it helps

[anonymous171]

4. Now experience matters? lol I thought ideology was the only important factor.

[JNelson6563]

5. I absolutely love Greg Palast

and cite him often. I will not criticize Obama's pick for anything when it is merely in rumour stage though.

Even so, if he picks an up-till-now asshole, I'll wait a bit to see if it's an Obama agenda in that dept or an up-till-now asshole agenda before I don my shit flinging monkey suit.

Julie

[Phredicles]

10. Greg Palast has indeed done some magnificent work. But he's also

been needlessly, sensationally alarmist at times: remember "The Election is Already Stolen"?

[JNelson6563]

11. Yeah, I rolled my eyes at that too.

Really too bad to see one so magnificent as he go the drudge route from time to time. So beneath him.

Julie

[Eurobabe]

24. LOL, I love your siggie pic

Jean Luc :loveya:

[Doremus]

29. Yes. It's the hokey sensationalism that affects his credibility, imo.

The guy has been right about a lot of things but he's wrong often enough that I don't automatically accept as fact his every utterance.

[AtomicKitten]

6. I hope this preemptive criticism will be rendered moot by a better choice.

[tekisui]

8. Psst. Greg, it was 'Heck-of-a-job, Brownie'.

If you are going to compare Obama to chimpy, at least get it right.

:eyes:

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Ilive in NYc and agree 100% with Palast about Joel Klein. He would be a disaster.

I hope that P/E Obama chooses someone with a real background in education..not a lawyer whose hobby is education.

I have mentioned this in the past when the possibility of Klein arose.

[tbyg52]

13. I want someone who at some point has actually been in a classroom for at least a few years.

You don't know what it's like until you've been there.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. As a teacher or a pupil??

As a teacher, I can tell you that Klein is the worst thing to happen NYC education in decades..

[BrklynLiberal]

16. Have you taught in NYC?

[foo_bar]

17. my mom was board of Ed. in the 80s and 90s

JFK, originally, same place I got this wonderful "diploma" (unless they print 'em in Albany). But yeah, the pre-Klein era was pretty scary from a student's perspective, and a teacher/lab specialist's as well, but I had good health insurance if the shootings/overcrowding got to be an issue. And free breakfast in the teacher's cafeteria. So what was I talking about again? Your public education system at work. Seriously did things get much worse under Klein for reasons other than defunding/"no child"? I haven't followed the drama, I thought everyone considered "management" basically existed to make teaching more difficult.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. If the goal was to make teaching more difficult, then Klein succeeded.

[Daphne08]

40. You're right. I'm a former teacher and am so weary

of seeing education used as a political football by people who have had few if any years in the classroom!

I would say a person needs fifteen to twenty years of classroom teaching experience to really understand what learning and teaching entails.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. All this criticism is a good thing, remember.

You'll remember a lot of upset bloggers got whatshisname to withdraw from contention for that national security spot.

[berni_mccoy]

19. Most dip-shitiest thing Palast has ever written. Absolutely worthless.

[cali]

28. He's a hack. I know that's far from the prevailing view here

but I find him to be a sensationalist hack.

[mopinko]

20. greg, stick to what you know.

cuz you don't know shit about chicago schools. and to talk about raising test scores with no reference whatsoever to nclb is dishonest in the extreme.

chicago's school system is NOT A TRAIN WRECK. ritchie daley is not his old man. he is a great mayor, and a decent man. he took control of a system that was a wreck. i have a beef or 2 with arnie, but if he can bring to the nation's schools the kind of leaps and bounds improvements that he has brought to chicago's, they are gonna have to find room on the mall for another fucking statue.

did you even make any phone calls for this story, greg? i don't think so. you wanna come to chicago and look around? i will take a whole fucking week off to drive you.

edited to add-:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[book_worm]

22. I prefer to wait and see who is selected rather than speculate.

[HamdenRice]

23. I also live in NYC and Joel Klein would be an unmitigated disaster

Klein is hopelessly out of touch with regular families, their children and public schools. The "reforms" he instituted in New York were beyond idiotic, and included such "great ideas" as students having to apply to their local high schools as though they were applying to an elite prep school -- a massive, confusing, pointless annual clusterfuck process that basically ended up telling kids they're not wanted anywhere. This is because Klein, as a wealthy lawyer, only had experience with elite prep schools.

Call or write or blog about this because Klein would destroy the nation's educational system if appointed.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. What happened - thought he was going to go w/ Colin Powell

[Scriptor Ignotus]

26. Michael Brown let New Orleans drown?

really? he had the ability to fix ALL the levees from the time he got on the job until Hurricane Katrina? Because I was under the impression that was the army corps of engineers' job.

Brown didn't fucking help matters, but to say Brown let NO drown is akin to saying Obama supports infanticide with his pro-choice policies. It's a shameful distortion.

[NashVegas]

27. It Doesn't Really Matter

Until we can have an honest, national conversation about exactly what we want and expect from our public schools.

Some parents want schools that will give students an education grounded in the three Rs, and a little science, to lay the groundwork for college, and plan on handling the fun (arts, music, "life studies") on their own time and dime.

Some parents want schools that will give students a specialized education with skills they can use for future job-hunting (or go onto college and get more specialized training).

Some parents want schools that function as babysitters and keep their kids out of jail, while they work at their minimum-wage jobs.

Some educators see the reality that all children are not raised in equal homes and are trying to make up for the gap with "esteem" and life-skills classes.

Some educators see the reality that the people who keep them employed only care about churning out one small group of future business leaders, and a much larger group of wage slaves, with high enough grades to attract property tax payers.


Until we can all get on the same page and accept reality, we could stick a cow with a ruler in Education and it wouldn't matter.

[Occam Bandage]

30. Yes. I can see how potentially maybe considering someone Greg Palast doesn't like

is exactly the same as approving of a FEMA administrator's handling of a disaster in the middle of his absolute failure to deal with said disaster.

Also, it's "heck-of-a-job." Not "way-to-go." Dumbass.

[KittyWampus]

31. Greg Palast is a hack who caters to Reactionary Screamers on the Left. He doesn't does any unique

reporting (or very rarely).

All Palast has ever done is repackage information other people have found and make it look like he's the intrepid journalist.

He's a phony who knows exactly how to write to appeal to the disgruntled Far Left who dislike having to do things like govern as opposed to waving magic wands.

[Maven]

32. I agree with Palast 100% about Klein, but this is a false analogy.

Brown had no relevant job experience and was given a job he had no business taking.

Klein, while he has the wrong ideas about education, has relevant experience for the job. It's ridiculous to compare Obama considering Klein for the education job with Bush's installation of loyalist shills at important government posts.

[Fire_brand]

33. Isn't he the Chancellor of NY schools?

how is that no experience?

[Khaotic]

35. Washington Post ...

has this.

Department of Education

- Joel Klein, New York schools chancellor
- Colin Powell, Sec. of State under George W. Bush
- Arne Duncan, Chicago schools chief executive

It doesn't compare to Brownie.

Each person has experience.

Besides, he hasn't made the pick yet and none of these people might be picked.

We don't know.

Palst is showing his ass.

[Yukari Yakumo]

39. Klein has experience... and a record

And his record is almost all bad.

He's a constructivist buffoon and a proven failure. If you value the children's education, his appointment must be absolutely opposed.

[wyldwolf]

36. lol! I guess trashing the Clintons doesn't sell like it used to - on to President O!

[Yukari Yakumo]

37. Klein is a Constructivist moron, Math scores nosedived under him {nt}

[Romulox]

38. Surely his unqualified support of the TARP was his "Brownie's doing one hell of a job!" moment?