Where Did the 47% Go?

 Mitt Romney’s little gaffe involving a remark about 47% of voters he supposedly “doesn’t care about” was MIA during Wednesday’s debate. It was supposed to be Obama’s biggest bullet and it was noticeably absent, which came as a shock to O’Reilly, Rasmussen, Gutfeld, Krauthammer, and other pundits. Everyone's got a theory as to why this didn't happen. My thoughts on this are because maybe:

-       Obama didn’t use it because it was a clean fight and he didn’t want to be the first to bring the mud…(“look who just got nasty first”)

-       And/or he felt like starting the mud-slinging meant that more would come back and he didn’t want to answer for his own mud… (“Let’s talk about your video at Jeremiah Wright’s church”)

-       Obama felt like Mitt was doing well enough that he could defeat the attack on the 47%, and Obama would have attacked in vain. Mitt was on his game and could simply roll right over it, and thus render future “47%” usage pointless. ("Didn't we talk about this last time?")

-       Obama felt like the first debate was a wash anyway, (and historically this is true), so why waste a good attack on a lost cause?

It's possibly that many of these reasons come down to a conscious choice on Barack’s part to leave it alone. If so, why? Because it would have hurt him more than it helped him. Whether this is by means of missing the mark entirely, starting a fight that was more damaging than successful, or wasting a good attack…well, who knows? But the honest truth is that it’s potentially a great attack. Given Obama’s position, the urge to use it next time has got to be pretty strong. Obama needs to perfect the attack (simply mentioning “the 47%” won’t cut it), and Romney needs a killer deflection and an even better counter attack. So expect to see attempts for each of these strategies from each contender next time in Kentucky—because after that the shelf life may leave the issue a bit stale. If Obama mentions it on the 16^th it will be three, maybe even four weeks old at the time—which is an eternity in our ADD culture. Obama has to use it or lose it, and it’s possible that the expiration date is looming for him. Either way, Mitt should be beyond prepared for the question and Barack better make it a good one. Odds are, you’ll see it on the 16^th or not at all.

A Parable of Idiocy: The Chicago Teacher’s Strike

            Let’s pretend for a moment that you read a story in a newspaper. The story goes something like this: “Pleasant Valley Hospital doctors demands a 35% wage increase for their services at the hospital.” You skip down a few lines in the article and stumble upon this sentence: “The doctors at the Pleasant Valley Hospital have only had a 20% success rate with their treatments. They say that if their wage increase is granted, their success rate will probably go up.” What’s your response? It’s probably not sympathetic to the doctors, is it? More pay, for sub-par results? Yet that’s exactly what’s happening in Chicago.

            The average wage for teachers in the Chicago district is $71,000 or so, according to ABC News. That’s just shy of 75% more than the national average wage of $41,000, according to SSA.gov. Keep in mind, these teachers don’t work 12 months a year, but make a lot more than what most year-round workers make. There are a lot of underpaid and under appreciated teachers in the nation, but the teachers of Chicago aren’t in that group.

            What is more damning of this strike is the results of the teacher’s work: 79-80% of Chicago 8^th graders are not proficient in either math or reading according to the US Department of Education. ThinkProgress.org reports that the elementary schools in Chicago have a school day that is less than 6 hours long, and that many students attend 10 less days a year than the national average.

            Put it all in perspective, it looks like this: A Chicago teacher makes 73% more than the average worker, works fewer days than the average worker, and teaches a shorter class than other teachers. This teacher turns out students of whom 8-out-of-10 are ill prepared in the most basic subjects, and this same teacher is demanding a 35% raise which would pay them nearly $100,000 a year. Because the raise wasn’t granted, they ditched a third of a million children who desperately need education to pursue their own demands of “need”. This is sheer idiocy and why the entire strike is a sad and bitter joke about our educational system.

If the Chicago students were in the top one percentile it would be a pay raise based on the ability of the teachers to produce exceptional students. Even that makes sense for $100,000 a year—being the best teachers and producing the best students anywhere. But there are far better teachers making far less money in other states, and turning out far better students. I should know…I sat in their classrooms. Education News reports the average pay for our local college instructors is $53,000 a year—and they’re grateful for their jobs…unlike some people.

…you stay classy Chicago.