Hoary Old Chestnuts Roasting....

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On Hardball Wednesday, the discussion turned to education, and Salon's Joan Walsh pointed out that John Boehner's sad, sad tears about children mean nothing compared to the lack of action and effort by Boehner to actually improve the lives of children. Right on cue, Michelle Bernard trotted out yet again the magic word of conservative ideologues everywhere: vouchers.

Please.

What good's a voucher going to do for a poor kid whose tuition would be thousands of dollars more than the value of a voucher? What good's a voucher going to do when the next nearest school to the rural combined school is twenty miles away on country highways covered with ice and snow this year.

Walsh had it right. Vouchers are a panacea. The typical grab-a-buzz-word tactic of the right. Shallow. Clipped. About as much value as my spaniel's toenails.

So maybe Boehner ought to dry his poor-poor-me-I-have-to-see-what-I-should-be-doing tears. Pack away the golf clubs and the country club memberships. Visit schools every single week.

And Michelle Bernard. Maybe she ought to chip her manicure a bit by going into a DC school with a paintbrush.

Teachers unions aren't the problem, as follow-up guest Michelle Rhee noted. They're doing their job. It's the rest of us that aren't doing ours.

So to Boehner and Bernard and the ideologues on the right, how about taking in a holiday movie this Christmas season. Waiting for Superman.

Education means all the kids...fix the problems. Don't just divide and favor the vouchered few.
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL