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Honestly, he really, REALLY reminds me of how I spent my one and only year teaching high school. I had all the seniors in the school (small school--four classes covered them all). I came in in October, replacing someone who'd been there quite a few years but who had run, screaming, to a more sensible district up the road. I also was really young--closer in age to the students than their parents--and correspondingly stupid (that's where Obama and I differ). So I decided to be honest about the situation and make the students my allies (but not my buddies). I appealed to the fact that they had been in the district all their lives, but I was new--I asked for their help, and I treated them like the adults they were supposed to be, expecting them to rise to the occasion. Some did, but many didn't. (Most tried to stay neutral and blend into the woodwork.) The ones who didn't were bitter about having a new teacher, and some of the girls were jealous because I was young and they saw me as "competition" (yeah right :eyes:). Sound familiar?
Honestly, when he said in the SOTU "I don't quit", it reminded me of the day my students waged a particularly nasty onslaught and I responded quite sharply, "I'm not going anywhere, so don't waste your energy."
Anyway, speaking from experience, I can say that Obama is still trying to get the repubs to join in of their own free will--still giving them a chance to act like adults and play nice. If he doesn't give them enough of a chance, they'll go running to Faux Snooz and whine that he's cutting them out of the government. If he gives them too much of a chance, they'll act like my nasty students--bite the hand that feeds them, take advantage...and go running to Faux Snooz and whine that he doesn't know what he's doing (which they have been doing already). Now, if he's smart, he'll have consequences in place to employ if they don't step up soon.
Me, I quit after the first year. But Obama is far, far smarter than I am, and far more tenacious. It's gonna get interesting, I think.
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