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I started out my day in suburban Alexandria, VA where Barack Obama was holding an education roundtable followed by a townhall meeting at a local high school. I had a friend of mine, who lives locally, come with me -- she'd never seen Barack speak before, and as she'd gotten there before me, she called me very worried we wouldn't get in -- the line snaked well down the street and the traffic was blocked up for a mile. I assured her that we, as bloggers, would be able to go in the media entrance and not to worry (I should stop here just to note how outstanding the access the campaigns have granted bloggers has been -- really great, much thanks to both campaigns.)As is always the case with Obama events, the crowd was diverse in every way, age- (although on the younger side) and race-wise (probably a little less than 2 to 1 white, fairly consistent with Virginia's voting population.) As we got into the gymnasium, attendees were seated in the stands -- I'd guess the gym seated around 1-2,000 -- and as entertainment, were led in "Obama!" and "Yes We Can!" chants. Even if the crowd had never seen Obama in person before, they seemed to be almost familiar with the drill, as though they'd heard from their friends how these things went, or maybe they've just caught enough on TV. There was the sense that people had come to see an old friend as opposed to a month ago when you sort of felt as though people had come to see a curiosity.
About an hour after arriving, the media was escorted to the school cafeteria where Barack would sit down with group of five local concerned citizens to discuss education. Barack began by giving a brief statement to the gathered media, but other than us, it was really just the six of them sitting around a table as they do in a sitcom: with everyone seated around 3 of the sides of the table, leaving the 4th open for the cameras to get a view.
I guess what was so striking about it was how unremarkable it all was. Obama was low key, not seeking to make news really, nor really trying to overly impress -- he certainly betrayed a quiet confidence and the feeling that he considers the issue of education as larger than just a campaign theme. The event did have an air of political theatre to it, however, which these things inevitably do. No one really thinks the participants' questions and the issues they were raising were surprises to Obama. But ultimately he engaged them in an easy conversation about education that was almost as though the cameras weren't even there; it lasted about a half hour.
In the discussion, Obama addressed making college more affordable, improving teacher pay, his support for pre-K for all, English as a second language training, the importance of math and science literacy and of course No Child Left Behind. It was probably most interesting to hear him talk with the participants about certain aspects of education that people don't usually think about impacting educational success, such as mandatory PhysEd, which leads to better test scores overall and music education, which improves students' math performance. They also talked about how important a kid's home life is and that it starts with parents, but they also talked about the role both the school and the government have in helping kids reach their full potential, both from 0-3, when kids do the most learning, and once they're in the public education system. One woman, a social worker for non-English speaking students and another who had a special needs child, drove the conversation in interesting directions as well.
Obama took the opportunity to discuss health care, which he sees as intertwined with a child's educational success. As for what he can do immediately for kids, he said that while his "universal health care plan may take a year to get passed, right away we can expand S-Chip." This statement alone offered a reminder of the very real rewards our country will be able to reap fairly quickly from having a Democratic president; wow, I can't wait. At the same time, I was also disturbed at Obama's continued use of the term "universal" to refer to a plan that by definition does not cover everyone. His claim that reducing costs will make people who don't have insurance suddenly go out and get it seems mighty naive; if healthy people are not compelled to buy health insurance, why would they suddenly go out and purchase it? I understand that enforcing a mandate has its own problems, but not requiring everyone to buy-in by definition makes reducing costs more difficult. But no matter where one stands on the issue of mandates, what's indisputable is that Obama's calling his healthcare plan "universal" is deceiving.
The problems I have with Obama on healthcare aside, from what I could tell about his remarks on education today, he's strong on the issue and, as with other issues, approaches it with a welcome complexity and a deep belief and trust in government to improve our country's institutions, which under Bush have been failing us miserably.
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