Gingrich & Sharpton channel Village Square on Meet the Press
Newt Gingrich, Al Sharpton and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan were on Meet the Press this morning discussing their mutual effort to improve America’s educational performance as a part of Race to the Top, a national competition between schools for billions of dollars. The mutual effort of these strange bedfellows screams Village Square, so here’s a sampling from their appearance (emphasis added):
Newt Gingrich: “In a time when we have a liberal Democratic president willing to take on the establishment on education and is prepared to say every state should adopt drama bold reforms, and politics is the art of the possible, our children deserve a change to see us come together to put their future above partisanship and try to find a way to take on the establishment in both parties…”
Al Sharpton: We’ve got to find the common ground. What President Obama said to us in a meeting in May, if we agree on 70% can’t we achieve that? Can’t we move forward. The problem is, we’ve all stayed within our battle lines and the kids have suffered. When we have gone out in these cities so far, the kids don’t care that he’s a Republican and I’m a Democrat…”
Newt Gingrich: ‘I want to bring it down to what’s wrong with Washington today. The three of us are making a positive gamble. We’re each risking to some extent our reputation and our future to say “What if we come together? What if we achieve a breakthrough?” Now we not. But I think the country is tired of politicians finding a reason not to try to work together and not to try to gamble on the future. On this topic, the President has said publicly in speeches, which didn’t help him get the nomination, that he favored fundamental change in education even if it made the unions uncomfortable… but it does require the gamble on our part on good faith.’
Add comment November 15th, 2009
