War on teachers began with the DLC's stance on charter schools in 2000.

[madfloridian]

I guess we should have seen the war on teachers coming down the road. I think it was bound to happen, not because our party really intended to scapegoat teachers....but because they were in the way of financial profit. Things got out of hand when Arne Duncan was appointed and given free rein to make changes. Now it's like a steamroller.

It is actually a result of the rightward turn taken by the Democratic party leaders, which was led by the think tanks like the DLC (The Democratic Leadership Council).

Al From announced in 2000 that charter schools were the way to go.

"New Democrats" Call for School Choice

The issue of school choice has for years caused fissures in the Democratic Party, which receives significant support from labor unions including the anti-school choice Michigan Education Association (MEA).

However, the voices for greater competition in education are increasingly being heard from within the party.

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) is now calling for reforms including school choice and merit pay for teachers.

In addition to school choice and merit pay, From's reforms include the establishment of performance goals for individual schools, national standards and testing, a national teacher corps, character education, and post-secondary vocational programs. Other proposals include lengthening the school year and day, ensuring access to preschool, and allowing experts who lack certification to teach.

Those things are now happening.

The rightward turn was very obvious when that group held a press conference in 2003 to announce that Howard Dean should not be president.

The 'D' in DLC Doesn't Stand for Dean (David Von Drehle, May 15, 2003, Washington Post)

More than 50 centrist Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, met here yesterday to plot strategy for the "New Democrat" movement. To help get the ball rolling they read a memo by Al From and Bruce Reed, the chairman and president of the Democratic Leadership Council. The memo dismissed Dean as an elitist liberal from the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the party -- "the wing that lost 49 states in two elections, and transformed Democrats from a strong national party into a much weaker regional one."

...."We are increasingly confident that President Bush can be beaten next year, but Dean is not the man to do it," Reed and From wrote. "Most Democrats aren't elitists who think they know better than everyone else."

Then came the new young New Democrats speaking out about how we needed to get away from the New Deal mindset. This article is from 2004.

It's time to pass torch, younger Dems say

They certainly did not mean to pass that torch to a more liberal generation.

"This generation is looking for ways to participate because we're tired of losing," says Jamal Simmons, 33, a consultant who has worked for presidential hopeful Wesley Clark and several other Southern candidates.

Simmons and his fellow "Young Turks" worry about the Democratic Party's dependence on interest groups, their relations with minority groups, the stereotypes that they are weak on defense and values, the Republican appropriation of the "reformer" label and the swaths of America that Democrats seem to have written off.

"We respect the struggles of the feminist movement, the civil rights movement and Vietnam, but (we) are not defined by those struggles," says Kirsten Powers, 37, a New York-based strategist and commentator for Fox News. "We want to take what is good in liberalism and make it better, and get rid of what is not working."

...Simmons, Powers and New York City-based consultant Dan Gerstein have been three of the bluntest commentators. "The party in certain respects is fossilized," says Gerstein, 37. "It's trapped in the last vestiges of the New Deal coalition. That coalition is no longer an electoral majority or even close to it."

A former aide to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Gerstein wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Democrats have "fallen right back into the elitist, weak-kneed, brain-dead trap" they thought they'd escaped with Bill Clinton.

When Harry Reid and other Democrats called for George Bush's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, to resign because he called teachers unions terrorist organizations....one would have thought it would set the tone for the future.

I don't want to link to CNS news, but it is from July 2008.

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's second ranking Democrat, said Thursday that Education Secretary Rod Paige should resign for comments he made earlier this week describing the National Education Association as a "terrorist organization."

"I met with the governors who were there, and Secretary Paige did not say once that the National Education Association was a 'terrorist organization,' he said it twice," Reid told CNSNews.com. "I think it's despicable. I personally think the secretary should resign."

Reid, the Senate's minority whip, joins a growing chorus of lawmakers advocating Paige's resignation. Over the course of the week, Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) and Reps. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) have voiced criticism of the education chief.

Funny thing though, there are no Democrats standing up for teachers' unions now. Not even as teachers are having the contracts and due process rights taken from them by legal actions.

Of course it is not just public education that is on the firing line now. And that we should have seen for sure, many did and spoke out.

Matt Stoller in 2007 at MyDD told of what really happened when when new trade deals were announced publicly by Nancy Pelosi.

Well this is interesting. On the day of a massive series of votes on Iraq and the day after a DoD Authorization mark-up in which habeas was struck, there's a huge press conference announcing a bipartisan free trade deal with increased labor and environmental standards. Labor is flipping out, apparently unsure of what to do. I've made three or four calls and the details are somewhat murky. One person I spoke with was Peter Chandler of Congressman Mike Michaud's office. Michaud signed a letter that someone else slipped to me from six Democrats (the others are Allen, Ryan, Kildee, Hare, Linda Sanchez) asking for an internal caucus discussion of an impending deal. Forty minutes after they sent this letter came the press conference.

Peter told me that no one except the people in the room had seen the language, so the caucus at large is not ok with it yet. He's suspicious because a big announcement is made suddenly with the Republican leadership on Ways and Means, and Democratic caucus members have very little information about it. Fair Trade Democrats wanted to be partners in the effort to make sure the new deal is a complete departure from the NAFTA trade deal, but they were apparently boxed out by leadership, including Rangel. I heard from a someone less reliable source that Rangel promised labor they would have a chance to see the language in the agreement and discuss it before an announcement, but that didn't happen.

There are a lot of murky details, and more is going to come out. But let's just look at who was in the room for the announcement.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus
House Ways & Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel
House Ways & Means Ranking Member Jim McCrery
New Democrat Coalition Leadership:
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Rep. Adam Smith. Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Rep. Ron Kind, Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coaltion
Rep. Artur Davis, Vice-Chair, New Democrat Coalition
Rep. Joe Crowley, Vice-Chair and Whip, New Democrat Coaltion

The DLC warned for years about the dangers of liberals getting too much power in the party.

Al From is wrong again.

Recently, Al From, founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, used a front page New York Times story to warn Senator Obama and other Democratic leaders that, "the antiwar people cannot define the Democratic Party."

Al From is wrong, again.

For years, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) has been warning the Democratic Party about the dangers of being associated with progressive values, ideas and policies. Time and again, their advice has proven disastrous.

In 2003 Democratic senator Evan Bayh said these words:

n 2003 Evan Bayh had some powerful words about "the left". He was afraid we would take over the party.

Bayh under Fire

Bayh has a history of sparring with the left in his party. As chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council in 2003, he warned of then-rising presidential campaign of Howard Dean. “The Democratic Party is at risk of being taken over by the far left,” he told DLC members in 2003. “We have an important choice to make: Do we want to vent, or do we want to govern?”

In 2009 Bruce Reed, the then chairman, in an interview with CQ Politics said the mission of the DLC was complete. The link appears to be dead, but I saved his words.

“The political mission of the DLC has been largely accomplished,” said Reed, who’s had the group’s No. 2 post since 2001. “Twenty-five years ago, the forgotten middle class had serious doubts about Democrats, and now Democrats are winning the middle class, suburban voters, moderates by handsome margins. Our next challenge is to deliver on that promise and earn those votes for years to come.”

The DLC disbanded I think in 2011, and the above mentioned Kirsten Powers announced that the Third Way was taking its place. I guess that makes them the new policy shop for the Democrats.

[madfloridian]

1. Amazing what big money can accomplish.

How the DLC does it.

..."Privately funded and operating as an extraparty organization without official Democratic sanction, and calling themselves “New Democrats,” the DLC sought nothing less than the miraculous: the transubstantiation of America’s oldest political party. Though the DLC painted itself using the palette of the liberal left--as “an effort to revive the Democratic Party’s progressive tradition,” with New Democrats being the “trustees of the real tradition of the Democratic Party"--its mission was far more confrontational. With few resources, and taking heavy flak from the big guns of the Democratic left, the DLC proclaimed its intention, Mighty Mouse–style, to rescue the Democratic Party from the influence of 1960s-era activists and the AFL-CIO, to ease its identification with hot-button social issues, and, perhaps most centrally, to reinvent the party as one pledged to fiscal restraint, less government, and a pro-business, pro–free market outlook.

It’s hard to argue that they haven’t succeeded.

[leftstreet]

2. DURec

God these people are sickening

[madfloridian]

7. .....

Thanks for the rec. They are hard to come by around here anymore.

[wyldwolf]

3. Except that isn't true

You really believe the war on teachers (and public education) began in 2000??

Reagan? http://www.pacificresearch.org/education/education-article-detail/ronald-reagans-education-legacy/

The right's forever hate affair with public education?

Despite your effort to convince otherwise, it simply isn't true.

[madfloridian]

4. I should say the Democrat's war on teachers began then.

But I was trying to be rather nice about the whole mess.

[wyldwolf]

6. Howard Dean - champion of school choice

"There’s some things I don’t like about the charter school movement. They’re not all created equal. For profit charters are clearly worse than non profit charters. But the charter school movement is transforming inner city education. It is getting kids through high school with diplomas that never would have had a chance even five years ago.” - Howard Dean (video at the link)

Elizabeth Warren, too:

"An all-voucher system would be a shock to the educational system,” she said in previous comments that resurfaced last week in The New Yorker. “But the shakeout might be just what the system needs.” -

See more at: http://www.redefinedonline.org/2014/04/howard-dean-school-choice-guy/#sthash.pTXm3lI7.dpuf

[madfloridian]

8. Don't get me started on Howard Dean's recent insults to teachers.

All Democrats are for charter schools. Wherever they live, wherever they are....it's a rule. Some of them are more for them than others...and they are for them in various degrees.

Some give lip service to the policy, others like Howard Dean have gone so far as to turn against public school teachers.

[betterdemsonly]

10. Diane Ravitch says Warren has changed her mind

The quote was from a book Warren wrote over 10 years ago. Ravitch met with Warren and Warren assured her she supports public schools, not charters or vouchers.

I have recently read that Senator Elizabeth Warren is a supporter of school vouchers. This made people who despise public schools, like certain hedge fund managers, tingle with joy. At last, a progressive who is as contemptuous of public education as they are! At last, someone who will support their efforts to dismantle our nation’s precious democratic institution whose doors are open to all.

About a month ago, I visited Senator Warren in her office in Washington, and she said without reservation that this was untrue.

She told me that she was, like me, a graduate of public schools. Without public education, she said, she would not be where she is today.

I gave her a copy of “Reign of Error,” which she promi.............

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/16/elizabeth-warren-and-i/

[wyldwolf]

11. I'll certainly give her the benefit of the doubt...

... I mean, she wouldn't just say that to pander... would she?

[betterdemsonly]

12. She has a record of making lefties happy unlike other potential

candidates. When you consistantly follow through on things you build trust. When you don't. Well things break eventually including relationships.

[wyldwolf]

13. how has she followed through?

She says the right things and then... says things again. Has she introduced and helped pass any legislation on these issues?

[betterdemsonly]

15. Her legislative record on such things as consumer protections

and student loans is already pretty extensive, though she has not been in congress long.

http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=sponsored_legislation

[madfloridian]

14. Oh, BTW I would quote some of Dean's twitter stuff....but he has made his feed private.

I saved a few when I linked to them, but don't want to do a search right now.

I probably saved the hashtag feed. Will look it up....ooops that won't work once it's private.

Easy way out.

[Teamster Jeff]

5. Dem leadership has given up on labor

When labor (union and non union) finally gives up on Dems it's going to get ugly.

[madfloridian]

9. You are right.

Teachers unions are not happy at all right now. Teachers are usually pretty good at staying calm about things because often their jobs are on the line if they speak out. But they are getting more outspoken all the time.

[madfloridian]

16. Power couple Campbell Brown and Dan Senor..Arne must be so proud they're on his side.

Muckety takes a look at their connections as they begin to tackle the tenure of New York's public school teachers.

I am not able to embed or save the image of the Muckety connections map, so be sure to take a good look.

http://news.muckety.com/2014/07/02/brown-and-senor-take-on-new-york-teachers/47161

Brown, a former CNN anchor, is the founder of Partnership for Educational Justice, which wants to abolish teacher tenure in New York.

She is also a director of Success Academy Charter Schools, a charter school network that has tangled with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Her husband, Senor, is a former adviser to the Romney campaign and spokesman for the Bush administration’s Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Senor is on the board of StudentsFirstNY, another group that has faced off against the teachers unions. The organization is an affiliate of StudentsFirst, founded by former DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee.

The couple’s school connections overlap in many ways, as illustrated in the interactive Muckety map above. StudentsFirst and Success Academy share funders and board members, including billionaire hedge funder Daniel Loeb.

Public schools have become targets for enterprising couples.

[xocet]

17. K & R n/t

[Wilms]

18. ^

[Starry Messenger]

19. K&R

[Smarmie Doofus]

20. K and R. Thanks for putting that together n/t

[madfloridian]

21. Just noticed that DLC announced charter schools at....the Mackinac Center website.

Can't believe he aligned himself and the DLC by using that website.