For Thee, But Not For Me

It can’t possibly come as a surprise to anyone that Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to send their two young daughters to attend an exclusive private school when they move to DC, in fact the very same school (Sidwell Friends) that Bill and Hillary Clinton sent Chelsea to back in 1993.

Not that Barack and Michelle have anything against public schools, heaven knows! A spokesman for Obama said and I quote “Mrs. Obama is the product of public education on the South Side of Chicago and she believes strongly in the importance of good public schools for all kids.” However, the Obama girls also went to a private school in the Windy City, despite how well Ms. Permanent Frown turned out.

The spokesman also said that ” the Obamas felt that a private school was in the best interest of their children” and I have no doubt that a truer statement was never made. It is glaringly obvious that the future President and First Lady have made this decision for the simple reason that they love their kids and want what is best for them. What decent parents don’t? And what is best is clearly not turning them over to the tender mercies of the District of Columbia public school system, which, despite spending more per capita on its students than any other jurisdiction in the country, balances that out by having the worst student achievement test scores as well.

The new superintendent of schools, Michelle Rhee, is doing her best to try to change this dismal situation, but despite my admiration for the lady, I wouldn’t entrust any of my children to the tender mercies of this product of one of the strongest “teachers” unions in the country until Ms. Rhee has been in charge at least a decade.

So I don’t blame Barack and Michelle for their decision, but I do blame them and others of their ilk for denying others who are less financially gifted the same choice they have. For Senator and Mrs. Obama have, like all liberal Democrats, resolutely opposed any efforts to allow the use of vouchers or any other form of government subsidies to assist poorer taxpayers to send their beloved children to the private school of their choice.

Why? Because the liberals are so dependent on the “teachers” unions for support for their causes that they cannot afford to offend them in the slightest and the unions are against any measure that would break their monopoly to provide the worst education in the world to the children under their control.

Another one of these Democrat hypocrites was just elected as the new Senator from my home state, Virginia, Mark Warner, also known as “Governor Liar” for being elected on a “no new taxes” pledge which he promptly broke when he was elected to the Old Dominion state house. When Warner was running for governor, he was another “theoretical” supporter of the glories of public education—but of course his kids attended private institutions of learning. When the Republicans made timid attempts to point out this apparent contradiction, they were howled down by the mainstream media (notably “The Washington Post“) and promptly shut up. The failure of the Virginia GOP to press this entirely legitimate point is one example of why my local Republican party is in such a mess today.