Obama - tougher than we thought

[Fast_Eddie]

I read this article this morning at, of all places, Rasmussen. They're not quick to publish any praise of Obama.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ...less_after_all

It's an interesting read and if you go into it with an open mind you may come out with more respect for our president. I'll be honest, when they voted "41" into the Senate, I was a little dissapointed in the lack of action from the adnimistration. But I'll be damned if he hasn't come back swinging.

There's a lot of political garbage out there, but if you really look at what the man is doing you have to give him some credit.

[Grumpy]

I do respect him a lot more then I did before the election but thats not saying much. He is still a shitty politician, playing the game.

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

I do respect him a lot more then I did before the election but thats not saying much. He is still a shitty politician, playing the game.

You and I may disagree on this one, but the last guy who didn't "play the game" was Carter. Didn't work out so well for him. In fact, a lot of people said Obama would be another Carter, but I don't think so. Yup, he's slicker than snot, but if you're not you're not going to get anything done. Getting congress to do anything is like hearding cats. Not going to do it with good intentions. It's recently been shown yet again that doing nothing can be the best course of action for a politician. So doing something takes some work.

[BlueStreak]

Just posted it to my Facebook page. I'm sure I will be roundly hated for it, but I honestly couldn't care less anymore.

Dave

[d-ray657]

It's hard for a right leaning political publication to not agree with toughness on immigration or union-bashing. The efforts at healthcare reform warranted only one sentence, simply acknowledging his craftiness. It' not clear at all whether the author agreed with the ends of the political action with respect to that issue.

I have serious reservations about approving any mass firing. I would want to know more details about the events before I would agree with the President on this one. If these were changes that the teachers were asked to make in the middle of a contract, there would certainly be good reason to resist them. (As I understand it, contract rights are property rights. I doubt there are many other property rights that conservatives would enjoy seeing summarily denied.) Similarly, I have to question the legitimacy of a mass firing of tenured teachers, assuming that jurisdiction has a teacher tenure statute. I would expect that the administrator was simply trying to flex his muscles, but that the terminations would not stand.

On the other hand, I agree with targeting employers of illegal immigrants as a means of enforcing the immigration laws. I've often heard it said that as long as there is a market for cheap labor, immigration laws would be ineffective. If employers know that there is a significant risk in hiring illegals, they might wonder how cheap their cheap labor will be.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

I have serious reservations about approving any mass firing. I would want to know more details about the events before I would agree with the President on this one.

We had a similar situation here in Denver. Then Superintendant, now Senator Michael Bennet fired every person at a high school here and shut it down for a year. Everyone was welcome to apply for their old job, but no guarantee was made that they would get it. It was the only way to get rid of some folks who needed gotten rid of under the Union contract as I understand it.

My parents were both in education. There are teachers who need to be gone and almost no way to get rid of them. Sometimes it take a big swing. The teacher's union would do better, in my opinion, to work with administration on getting poor performers out the door.

[BlueStreak]

The point of my sticking it on my FB page was that there are hard right leaning folks there who believe Obama is the opposite of everything this article describes him as.
And having it come from Rassmussen just adds that touch of irony. Probably the same reason Ed posted it here.

Just my way of throwing a wrench in their gears.

Dave

[Charles]

The conventional wisdom is that Rasmussen is a right of center polling organization. If that is the case, I wonder why they're printing an article by Froma Harrop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froma_Harrop

Rasmussen does have a reputation of being one of the most accurate polls.

If the Obama Administration actually is cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, I'll give him a feather for his cap. As this is the first I've heard of it, I'll take Ms Harrop's information with a grain of salt.

To be honest, I have a hard time taking any journalist seriously whenever they feel compelled to use Spidy Man as a metaphor. I would have preferred Dick Tracy, or at least Bullwinkle the Moose.

Chas

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by Fast_Eddie

We had a similar situation here in Denver. Then Superintendant, now Senator Michael Bennet fired every person at a high school here and shut it down for a year. Everyone was welcome to apply for their old job, but no guarantee was made that they would get it. It was the only way to get rid of some folks who needed gotten rid of under the Union contract as I understand it.

My parents were both in education. There are teachers who need to be gone and almost no way to get rid of them. Sometimes it take a big swing. The teacher's union would do better, in my opinion, to work with administration on getting poor performers out the door.

I'm not sure how the teacher tenure laws work in all states, but Missouri's is pretty reasonable. Once a teacher is tenured (after 5 or 6 years in a district) certain protections kick in. If there are believed to be deficiencies in the teaching performance, the district is required to provide the teacher with specific notice of the deficiencies and develop a plan to correct those deficiencies. If a tenured teacher has adequate notice of deficiencies and is given a reasonable opportunity to correct them, but fails to do so, the School Board may terminate the tenured contract. Simply put, once the teacher performs well enough at a professional level for an extended period of time, he or she develops a property interest in the teaching position, which can be negated only after following adequate procedures. These protections apply whether the teacher is represented by a union or not. Having experienced union officials to assist the teacher with the procedural aspects of the tenure act, and to provide coverage for legal fees to protect the teacher's interest certainly places union-represented teachers at an advantage, but the job security comes from the statute.

Administrators who follow the statute can successfully remove unqualified teachers, even if the teachers have a number of years of experience. Wholesale firings simply represent an administration that is too lazy, or too lacking in competent administrators, to adequately address real deficiencies in teaching.

Regards,

D-Ray

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Charles

The conventional wisdom is that Rasmussen is a right of center polling organization. If that is the case, I wonder why they're printing an article by Froma Harrop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froma_Harrop

Rasmussen does have a reputation of being one of the most accurate polls.

If the Obama Administration actually is cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, I'll give him a feather for his cap. As this is the first I've heard of it, I'll take Ms Harrop's information with a grain of salt.

To be honest, I have a hard time taking any journalist seriously whenever they feel compelled to use Spidy Man as a metaphor. I would have preferred Dick Tracy, or at least Bullwinkle the Moose.

Chas

I agree Chas. The "Spidy Man" things sound a bit, ummmm, "Gay" perhaps?

Dave