Another town hall meeting, another embarrassing gaffe by President Obama. But this time, the President’s honesty revealed an arrogant defiance toward poor, mostly African-American parents trying to provide a better life for their children.
While President Obama was conducting a town hall meeting on MSNBC this morning with Matt Lauer, he was asked (by a parent in the crowd) if he thought his children could get the same education in a DC Public School vs. the elite private school he sends them to now.
His bombshell hypocritical answer caused no ripple and nary a peep from the national media. What a shock…
The following is an abbreviated transcript via the NBCWashington.com.
Parent Kelly Burnett:
“I wanted to know if Malia and Sasha would get the same high-quality, rigorous education in a D.C. public school as compared to their very elite private academy they’re attending now?”
President Obama:
“I’ll be blunt with you. The answer is ‘no’ right now,” Obama said. “The D.C. Public School systems are struggling. They have made some important strides over the past several years to move in the direction of reform. There are some terrific individual schools in the D.C. system….
“I’ll be very honest with you. Given my position, if I wanted to find a great public school for them to be in, we could probably maneuver to do it. The broader problem is that for a mom or dad who are working hard and who don’t have a bunch of connections, don’t have a lot of choice in where they live, they should be getting the same quality education for their kids as anybody else.”
An amazing moment since President Obama killed the DC Opportunity Scholarship program last year and denied 216 low-income parents from sending their children to a better school. These 216 kids are being forced to attend a poor performing public school – something Obama doesn’t impose on his own children.
And why would he?
But this spit-in-your-face hypocrisy is not only jaw dropping, it’s incredibly sad for the 216 D.C. parents who don’t have the power of the Presidency to force a better education onto their children.
Education reform is finally gaining its legs with the release of David Guggenheim’s documentary “Waiting for Superman”. But this movement is not about putting one foot in and keeping the other out. We must be all-in to save the next generation.
I only wish the question today came from a parent of the 216 he denied in the schoolhouse door. What a shameful moment for our President and this country.
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