Christian Science Monitor: Why is Obama taking on teachers' unions right before midterms?

[madfloridian]

I know I have been feeling some very deep anger recently about the attacks on teachers by our party leaders. I also know it is not just me. I am retired, but lately some of those who are still teaching are reaching out in frustration. Some I have not talked to in years have called, simply confused and hurting from the negativity. What is being done so publicly is having effects locally on teachers, and most simply do not deserve it.

Interesting question and article from the Christian Science Monitor:

Why is Obama taking on teachers' unions right before Election 2010?

The teachers' union vote is reliably Democratic. Yet before Election 2010, widely seen as a difficult one for Democrats, teachers feel that Obama is antagonizing them with his reform agenda.

Why is President Obama pushing so hard against teachers right now, weeks before the election?

..."He also pushed for a longer school year and admitted that his daughters would not get as good an education in the Washington, D.C., public schools as they get at Sidwell Friends, the private school they attend.

“I’ll be blunt with you. The answer is ‘no’ right now,” he said, when asked by a Florida woman whether Sasha and Malia could get the same quality education at a Washington school. He added that “there are some terrific individual schools in the D.C. system” but said that it is “struggling.”

And while Obama emphasized the importance of teachers – and announced plans to recruit 10,000 science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM) teachers over the next few years – he clearly seemed prepared to ruffle some union feathers.

“You’ve got to have radical change, and radical change is something that’s in the interest of students,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to identify teachers who are doing well ... and ultimately, if some teachers aren’t doing a good job, they’ve got to go.”

Radical change is wrong if it is not good for the children. Turning education over to billionaires who donate money to get things done their way is radical for sure, but it is wrong.

There is no crisis in education, yet this administration has turned it into a critical situation.

It is reminiscent of the days when there was no crisis in Iraq, yet we invaded them anyway. It reminds me of those days because only the powerful voices are being heard, and the true experts are ignored.

I worry about the anger that is building in the education community. I worry even more because our own party seems totally unaware of it, and in fact is stoking it publicly.

[madfloridian]

1. I worry also that when good and sincere teachers try to express their fears...

they are treated more with contempt than understanding.

[Deep13]

2. Psst, Mr. President, before we conclude that throwing money at the problem...

...won't work, why don't we try throwing money at the problem? Ya know, rather than dismantling the public school system that has supported this country for centuries.

[madfloridian]

35. Good point. Too often education has been getting less and less funding.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

3. This is the Democrats' version of the invasion of Arizona

when immigration has been flat for nearly three years.

[speppin]

4. he is hedging his bets--may get disgruntled independents is

his goal. --and leaving the base behind.??

[madfloridian]

5. You are actually right. Playing to the right.

[Fumesucker]

6. You can't go too far wrong in American politics by punching Hippies..

"Hippies" of course being a code for anyone to the left of center right..

That's American center right of course, which by the standards of most of the rest of the world would be far, far right..

Edited for speling.

[madfloridian]

34. Heh heh ain't that the truth?

:hi:

[DJ13]

7. Maybe the WH doesnt want to win in November?

They would get less political resistance for moderate right policies if Congress moved to the right.

That would foster the bipartisanship** Obama seems to crave.

(** Caving in to the right because its the position he wants to take.)

[flyarm]

14. Ding Ding Ding!! Bingo!!..look what hapened to the numbers and the election results when Clinton

lost the mid terms..just go look at the numbers thennnnnnnnnnn............

[TBF]

22. I'm convinced they want to lose.

They've been very aggressive toward the left wing of the party, including the direct criticism of the "professional left", teachers, and going so far as having their DOJ raid the homes of anti-war activists. This is not a team that wants anything to do with traditional democrats.

[glitch]

23. That would be quite 3d chessmaster, what we don't yet get is: we are the people being gamed.

If there's another way to look at the WH leftbashing I'd love to hear it.

Consider the possiblity that Obama actually is a true believer DLC corporatist following "reaganomics" and the full dismantling of the FDR "welfare" state.
Then get mad and get to work to deny him his corporatist majority: Get Out The Vote, and if you can give $ support to Democrats in trouble, like Feingold.

[DJ13]

24. Then get mad and get to work to deny him his corporatist majority

Thats my plan.

Im going to vote a straight Democratic ticket just to try and thwart the excuse that the WH has to work with the GOP after November so they can move further to the right.

[glitch]

25. Me as well. Ornery that way, Hoping all "old" aka biteme Dems feel the same. :) nt

[Individualist]

37. He already has his corporatist majority -

neocons + a DLC controlled party.

However, DLC wants a republican majority in Congress so Obama can have more excuses for failing to promote a progressive agenda.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

39. Just last week Bill Clinton --

mentioned that was able to get much more done with DEMS being in the minority - he was able to push through lots of "good" legislation with the GOPers. :puke: I think this Admin is working from the very same playbook.

From a letter I sent to O awhile back:

"Wow! For months I have been trying to pry the many knives out of my back you so graciously placed there and now I have to deal with the very large, very public dump Robert Gibbs took on me in his interview with The Hill. Since I have not heard that Mr. Gibbs was forced to pull his vehicle over to immediatele issue his resignation I can only conclude that the comments have your full backing.

How special.

I can see only two reasons for Mr. Gibb's actions:

1) You wanted to polish your "moderate/pro-corporate" cred (and fundraising) before the midterms and feel completely comfortable shitting on your base because you are confident they will take it and still show up to vote for the Democrats come November and 2012. After all, where else do they have to go? Right?

2) You want liberals to be discourage and to stay home. Why? I dunno, maybe it's because it is easier to be in the minority -- easier to explain away why you can't get a solid Democratic agenda (that perhaps was unwanted in the first place) through Congress, easier to huff and puff about how bad the GOP is without having to actually accomplish anything futher or, worse, easier to sell out traditional Democratic values in order to get the GOP support you would then need to get anything through. "


Think of all the "good" legislation O could get through with the help of the GOPers -- Social Security "reform" is a comin', I can feel it! :puke:

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Because the new dogma of the neo liberal state is

quite bluntly... that the public sector don't do anything right, not even war... that's why.

And the train left the station. It will be privatized... don't matter what you, me or the left handed widget wants. The decision was taken, and now it is just a matter of doing it... PERIOD.

I am so damn glad I don't have kids... yes, it is that simple...

When the US falls apart, it is coming, some of the successor states will rebuild a public system, others... lets just say the dystopia is just starting.

And it gets votes from those who will 'ways distrust them teachers, 'specially them commie liberal teachers that are indoctrinating our kids 'way from Jesus and true morals!

(And if you read the fine print with Obama and many in the Conservative wing of the democratic Party, you'd be all but shocked about this. They believe this too.)

[speppin]

11. The mantra of the neoliberals is CHOICE. --it applies

to education as in school choice. or health care as in choose your physician. It can be applied to most things. even Social security==choose to invest the money your self. etc etc. works for both the right and left.

[madfloridian]

33. It is definitely being used in education...but doesn't mean choice of public schools.

That's how they are introducing charters into the mix.

[xchrom]

13. Spot on. Nt

[ladjf]

9. Dumb. nt

[walldude]

10. "Stoking it publicly"

You know you have hit on something here. It seems like this Administration just loves to hang it's laundry outside. Whether it be teachers, the "professional left" the far left, anyone on the left, or anyone who makes three right turns, or whatever, they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time publicly airing out their complaints. Now, finally, we are seeing Obama start to take on Republicans too but c'mon where are the attack ads? They are spending time attacking teachers instead of attacking Republicans :crazy:

I'm still waiting for the ads that tell the American people exactly what the Republicans stand for. So far in the past few months Republicans have voted against pay raises for soldiers, against health care for 9/11 emergency responders, and they voted down the defense spending bill in order to keep gays out of the military. What the hell are the Democrats waiting for?

Where is the ad that shows Republicans talking about supporting the Military and our Troops while the scroll at the bottom shows their miserable voting record?

Where is the ad that shows Republicans voting against financing for health care for 9/11 first responders so they could keep foreign corporation tax loopholes in place. I mean here we have a Republican party screaming about the size of the government and about spending and deficits and yet they want to keep health care from 9/11 workers so foreign companies can do business in the US without playing taxes? And the Dems don't have an ad running 24 hours a day stating as much? WTF? Dems need some new PR people...

Sorry if I ranted.

[madfloridian]

12. You make some good points.

They never had to make teachers a scapegoat at all. Most were in the Democrats' corner from the start. It was done on purpose, and I can only speculate why.

[flyarm]

15. Not a very hard speculation at that! eom

[DeltaLitProf]

18. Probably a lot of reasons

Here's a few I can think of:

1) busting teachers' unions means you can then cut teachers' salaries and keep experienced teachers from earning raises up to middle class status
2) cutting salary and benefit costs means cutting the drain on federal, state and local budgets
3) cutting that drain means you can then cut taxes to the rich and to the corporations bankrolling these "reforms"
4) politicians who champion "reform" will be in a position to collect more campaign donations from corporations who push for "reform"
5) Democrats get to be seen as "standing up to teachers' unions" which appeals to the more irrational independents
6) Republicans get to be seen as "interested in education" which appeals to the more rational but low information independents
7) Democrats get to exact revenge against teachers' unions and other education officials they have been publicly scolded by for past policies
8) Certain corporations in a position to profit from the privatization of functions that used to be done by schools would benefit and pass the gratitude down to the politicians who steer favorable legislation through committees.

[bbgrunt]

19. #8 is definitely a winner! If they can't get their

hands on soc sec, why not go after the huge education expenditures? Or better yet, get both.

[wcast]

21. You are so right

I support this President, but I'll be honest. When it comes to elections, I will vote my job. Or not vote, as the case may be. I can not hold my nose and vote for someone who doesn't value me, my profession, or thinks that I don't deserve what compensation I get. I hear that enough from my own community, I don't need it from a man I worked hard to elect, as did many teachers. It's nice that he was able to attend top private schools, as does his daughters, for high school. Maybe that's why he doesn't understand the state of public education and just seems to believe the rhetoric.

[madfloridian]

29. #5 is a pretty good bet.

Appealing to the independents, not to the traditional base because we are now "post partisan".

[Starry Messenger]

32. That tallies with my list. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

16. Since 1992 Democratic presidents have been advised

to pander to the mighty-right while dissing the loser-left. That way we look weak and spineless but if the Republicans manage to scare the living crap out of everyone, we can win a national election.

[WinkyDink]

17. Just how would he KNOW his daughters wouldn't get as good an education? I mean KNOW?

Has Obama spent time in the DC schools? Spoken to staff, looked at their credentials?

DOES THIS MAN HAVE CLUE ONE ABOUT EITHER SCHOOL'S CURRICULUM?

[dkf]

27. When he got elected they did look at putting the kids in public school.

[chimpymustgo]

28. They did not, in a serious way. And the girls could have gotten as good an education at some

of the public elementary and middle schools - and a couple of the high schools.

[Whisp]

20. .

[fascisthunter]

26. "I am a Robot... privatize, privatize, privatize..."

tilt...

[RedCloud]

30. Conservatives want to get rich off their dumbed down education ideas.

Maybe he has seen the light of some money floating his way.

[madfloridian]

31. I guess they figure that pleasing the right is more important.

It never used to bother me until the last few years. It bothers me since 2003, and I am having a lot of trouble seeing teachers treated like this.

[Diane R]

36. What on earth is so threatening about "if some teachers aren’t doing a good job, they’ve got to go.”

You can't be serious: "There is no crisis in Education". My local school district has a 33% dropout rate. I call that a crisis.

Honestly. This daily hysteria about protecting bad teachers.

Kudos to Obama. He wants every child to have a good teacher, and so do I. Teacher's unions have got to get on the bandwagon with this and help figure out how to weed out bad teachers. Sure, occasionally some teachers are removed. But far too many remain in their classrooms for decades. Scores of bright young and capable new teachers don't have a hope of getting hired, while burned out educators hang in for their benefits and pensions (I know some personally).

[Dr.Phool]

38. I'd settle for some good political leaders.

Teachers are the cream of the crop compared to our elected and appointed misfits. Seems all they know how to do is pander and whine to keep their jobs.

If teachers were as big of fuck-ups and politicians, you might have a case.

[ooglymoogly]

42. +1

[Diane R]

50. I've seen more than a few teachers that were far from 'the cream of the crop".

[ooglymoogly]

41. Ahhh and now the simplistic approach.

The talking point extraordinaire; As if that is the only thing that is of note.

There is nothing wrong with getting rid of bad teachers and I don't believe any good teacher would counter that.

Our public school system has produced some of the greatest men and women this country and the world has known.

Public schools and public libraries are purposely grossly underfunded; These are bulwarks of our society and its competence and standing in the world. While police are drowning in funding while moving fast toward fascism.

Nothing is perfect. There are so many bad cops for instance, that shoot folks for looking funny; Perhaps that is where O should be placing his heavy foot; Particularly the heavy foot that can send its offspring to elite private schools.

There are bad military personnel, particularly in the ruling ranks that are promoting wars and annihilation of the planet. Hey what about an investigation into that.

Privatizing our school system is so dangerous it begs credulity.

It is so stupid it begs credulity.

Are our leaders really this ignorant and so viciously stupid.

The anger of the common sensed is boiling over at such dullard actions that are so rampant from this administration it is bordering near revolution. The anger at such stupidity to lose heavily in the coming elections and it will not be because of progressives; And all they can say to us is "stop whining"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; "Never mind our stupidity" "We are doing a fine job"

Vacuous at best; Downright scary at worst;

For it is the stupidity of this administration that will lose heavily in the coming elections.

[Diane R]

49. I agree with your statement: "Nothing wrong with getting rid of bad teachers and good teachers .....

would not counter that.

If we could all agree on that, and teachers could help devise a process for removing bad teachers, we could probably come to an agreement on a lot of the rest.

[Iris]

44. How do you know the teachers are the problem?

I've been involved in various levels of education for most of my professional life and have seen some HORRIFIC administrative problems that adversely affect students and teachers. How about looking at the people running the show? No. It's too easy for them to dump on teachers and now the American public is willing to pile on because if they aint' gotta pension they don't want anyone else to have one either, no matter how low a person's salary may be.

I agree bad teachers need to be weeded out. They need to be weeded out BEFORE they become bad administrators. But who's going to do it? The bad admins?

[EFerrari]

46. There is a national campaign to pin nearly 40 years of underfunding on teachers.

Obama and Duncan are promoting a "reform" that has failed for twenty years and you're COMPLAINING about career teachers working to retirement?

[JDPriestly]

51. If the list in the LA Times is any indication of the evidence the

school reformers are working from, they are on the wrong track. I am familiar with a lot of the schools on that list. Schools in wealthy areas have high scores and show a lot of improvement. Schools in poor areas do not. That list says very little about the performance of the teachers and a lot about the performance of our society. Poor kids do not have equal opportunity. A few of them can break away and succeed. But most of them have no chance from the get-go. That's what nobody wants to admit. It's just too shameful.

And it's just too big a problem. There will be no easy answers. You can't just reorganize the schools and improve performance. It will work in the beginning, but the nagging inequities in our society will eventually prevail over all the well meant reform plans.

[roody]

59. This country has always had at least a 25% dropout rate.

[Jax]

60. Show your profile Diane

Be serious and transparent.

What you demand.


Now.

[leveymg]

40. The White House and Congressional leaders have systematically alienated every key Dem constituency

Teachers, Hispanics, gays, organized labor, progressives, civil liberties activists, etc., etc.

Who's making these terrible decisions to triangulate, delay or cancel votes, and on whose advice? Answer: a handful of the usual suspects beholden to corporate cash, often the same figures and advisors who have lost elections for Democrats over and over again.

[ecstatic]

43. Trust me, he knows he pissed the unions off

He knows more about what makes liberals tick than anyone on DU.

[Freddie Stubbs]

45. He is going after an ever bigger constituency: Parents

[EFerrari]

48. Right. Setting teachers and parents against each other will benefit

who, exactly?

[Freddie Stubbs]

54. Students

[EFerrari]

55. Nope. Teachers and parents have to work together

to help students. Setting up scapegoats just divides the community.

[Freddie Stubbs]

62. Of course they do. But the teachers who won't, or can't need to go

[Iris]

68. How many teachers like that do you think are actually out there?

When a parent can come in to a school and nit-pick assignments until their child's grade gets pushed up to an A, then how can you blame teachers when kids don't learn?

[Freddie Stubbs]

73. The proof is in student's scores in standardized tests, not just grades

[Iris]

75. That's such bullshit. Take a look around at the culture we live in.

I just heard 2 students today say they had to get a "piece of paper" in order to make a "good salary." No concept at all that employers might actually expect them to have some kind of skill to offer. No one truly values education in this country. It's treated as a way to "make money" and I've yet to find a job taking standardized tests. If there were such a job, I'd be rich b/c I'm a good test taker.

[Iris]

57. Are you serious?

[Freddie Stubbs]

63. As serious as President Obama is on this subject

[Iris]

67. Nice. Then students will be accountable for nothing.

I just heard from a friend who is a teacher whose principal caves to parents who come in and complain over points lost on individual assignments, even when the terms of the assignment are spelled out in terms like "You will receive 5 points for..."

[Freddie Stubbs]

72. Which is exactly why standardized testing is necessary

[Iris]

76. except you're saying it's ok fo rthe parents to create a situation where students don't even have to

do assignments given to them by their teachers, but then when they fail standardized tests it's the teacher's fault?

[Diane R]

53. Exactly. Parents upset about the quality of their children's instruction will cheer these reforms.

I firmly believe in public education, and I have three well educated children who attended state supported schools right on through a doctorate degree. But any parent clearly knows that the system needs to be fixed. Inequitable funding, politicized curriculum, and substandard instructors are all just pieces that need reform.

I hope Obama can fight off the special interests and make long overdue changes.

A teacher who is threatened by policies that concerned parents support has no business teaching children.

[Jax]

61. Show your hidden agenda against teachers profile Diane R

[Iris]

77. Then maybe the others who would follow suit.

[Citizen Worker]

47. Several years ago I worked on a civil case involving three public school teachers.

Their allegations were, age, gender and racial discrimination. Two were white and one Black. Two settled prior to trial but the third refused settlement insisting that she wanted her case to be put before the public. She did prevail but the jury award was an outright insult.

The school district was using a teacher performance evaluation called Peer Assistance Review with the full cooperation of the local NEA affiliate. PAR was developed by a group of teachers with the intent of "professionalizing the evaluation process." A new superintendent recognized that he could use PAR to circumvent well defined state law when it comes to teacher discipline and set about developing a "hit list" although he maintained throughout that he had no direct involvement in the PAR program. It would be proven at trial that he and other administrators perjured themselves. I still have some of the emails exchanged between the "independent" PAR panel members and the superintendent. The local NEA affiliate had a vote, with veto power, on the PAR panel and could at any time turned thumbs down on placing a teacher in PAR but didn't. A despicable display of acquiescence and capitulation by the Union.

Once a teacher was placed in the PAR program the immediate effect was isolation by their peers lest they too end up in PAR. The objective of PAR was to force the teacher to resign and it worked with chilling success. Once a teacher made it to the "hit list" a peer would be sent into the classroom to "evaluate" the teacher's performance. Frequently the peer evaluator had no background in the subject matter and in all cases the peer evaluator was younger and had far less teaching experience. Some of the targeted teachers had 30 years experience and many had received national awards for teaching. That however, didn't matter. What was the common thread in this headhunting? The average age was, as I recall, 54.6 years. And these teachers were at the top of the pay scale.

In all I interviewed 55 teachers and a mere handful of principals and assistant principals who had left the district. One assistant principal told me how one of the assistant superintendents reacted when he was told that an award winning English teacher with more than 35 years experience submitted her resignation. He danced around his desk gleefully clapping his hands. The assistant principal resigned to take a job in another district.

During the trail we needed to find a parent who would testify to the ability of the plaintiff. I began going through a list of parents and calling to ask for their opinion of the teacher. Being that it was the middle of the day there weren't many at home. Finally, I found a mother who told me that had it not been for _______ my son would have been in a group home many years sooner. I asked if she would be willing to come to court that afternoon and testify. She said, "I've just put a roast in the oven for dinner but I would do anything for _______, she helped my son so much." The mother, with two youngsters in tow and dinner on hold, arrived at the courthouse around 2:30 p.m., and she told the court exactly what she had told me over the phone. Her testimony nailed it for the plaintiff.

It took several more months with many late nights but a small committed group of us organizing among the teachers forced the Union to vote on whether or not to kill PAR. I don't remember the vote total but we prevailed by a mere 7 votes. PAR was dead and teachers could breathe easier. A few years later the superintendent resigned in the middle of his contract year. A few months after taking the new job with a foundation he was found dead on the floor of his apartment.

Working on this case gave me an up close view of teachers and the hard work they do each and every day. I came away from each interview personally enriched by the experience and with a deeper respect for teachers and their profession.

The attack on public school teachers is, I believe, much more egregious than meets the eye. It is an all out attack on working class institutions and thus the working class itself. It is incumbent upon all of us who believe in public education and thus the preservation of working class institutions to join the battle and fight like hell!

[JDPriestly]

52. Someone needs to analyze the list in the LA Times to determine

just how great the correlation is between the economic and social status in a neighborhood and the performance of the school. Another factor that should be compared is the amount of funding including private funding and donations from parents for each school. Some of the charter schools are getting injections of cash that permit them to offer an education that simply could not be provided with just tax funds. That skews the test results. There are a lot of factors that skew the results. If you know of someone who could analyze that list critically, it would be great.

[kwassa]

71. I was placed in PAR

though the outcome was very different than your story. In my case I was a new teacher in training who was victimized by the older teacher who felt threatened by me. This teacher had certain issues, and a good deal of power as the departmental resource teacher. He was a a completely "behind the back" person that was spreading lies to my consulting teacher, who chose to believe them. Neither talked with me about any concerns with my performance before I was placed in PAR.

I worked my way out of PAR and am now tenured, only because I got a new job in another school, and a new consulting teacher, and was far away from the original teacher. I have never receieved less than outstanding grades and observation in any other aspect of my teaching career.

I have seen teachers abused, however, by principals and others who have had power in their lives, which is the strongest argument possible for the importance of teacher unions. Of course, the union has to do its job, and not lie down and play dead, like the DC union did for Michele Rhee.

[YvonneCa]

74. Please share your information ...

...with Diane Ravitch.

http://twitter.com/DianeRavitch


What you describe is not unique to that district.

[madfloridian]

78. Thank you for your post.

I much agree with you when you say it is "an all out attack on working class institutions and thus the working class itself"

It is indeed.

And those of us who speak out are called whiners.

[Jim Sagle]

56. He's a Republican agent, THAT'S why.

[roody]

58. If you want to know if a teacher is doing well,

observe their class. Duh.

[Freddie Stubbs]

66. Do teachers teach exactly the same way when they are being observed as when they are not?

[roody]

79. Yes.

[Bullet1987]

64. There are a lot of things this administration is doing that doesn't make logical sense

Unless the administration's intention all along has been to be a corporate trojan horse. If that was their plan, then everything is going as planned.

[olegramps]

65. Its a grand strategy when your administration has been a complete flop.

I hate to say it, but Obama has been proven that he was totally unable to grasp the most simple situation that he faced. Even when the Republicans publicly stated that they had no intention of cooperating with this administration and were dedicated to destroying him. What was Obama's response? A ridiculous attempt at bipartisanship when the enemy had publicly told him go fuck himself.

Now that he has dug his own grave, he is looking for a scapegoat to resurrect his failure to pass effective legislation. His God Send will be a solidly Republican Congress that he can blame for his inability to lead. Hilary summed it up nicely, he makes pretty speeches. He had all the capital to make significant changes and he squandered it. These politicians think we are a nothing but ignoramuses and perhaps they are right for once in their life. The one thing that did the most in creating the Middle Class was the repeal of laws outlawing unions. The unions created the prosperous working class that could actually share in the profits. What happened was very simple. The workers bought the corporate propaganda that unions were their enemy and management would take good care of them. They took good care of them. They outsourced their jobs, cut pensions and canceled their health insurance. Strong unions were able to elect representatives that actually represented their interest and to demand legislation that was protected their jobs. Just admit it the workers screwed themselves and will continue to do so until they are once again living in abject poverty.

[sonomak]

69. Because they try to get love from Republicans

looking for love in all the wrong places

[kenny blankenship]

70. He's showing what he meant when he said he admired Reagan?

Reagan started the high profile bashing of the unions. Repukes always wanted to, Reagan showed them how.

It's highly telling that the ONE policy area where Barack Obama says he's for "radical change" is bashing a union. Everywhere else it's "We have a traditional way of doing things in this country", and "baby steps!", or "Not right now - maybe later". But when it comes to undercutting the middle class by bashing unions, Obama is willing to publicly call for quote, "radical" action to accomplish it. Ronald Reagan is his real father.