There’s a lot of chatter about the Common Core education curriculum here in the Gret Stet of Louisiana. Governor PBJ was for it before he was against it. Sound familiar, sports fans?
Now that it’s unpopular on the planet Wingnuttia, PBJ has flip flopped and turned vehemently against Common Core. He’s now suing the Marxist Nazi Mau Mau administration as well as various state guvmint agencies, which are, of course, headed up by his own appointees. Btw, I have no dog in this hunt, and do not have a strong opinion about Common Core other than my innate suspicion of and, distaste for, education “reformers.” Any time I hear the word reform, I check my wallet to make sure I haven’t been pickpocketed.
Jindal’s “change of heart” is driven, like everything else, by his pathological desire to be President. Right now, he’s borrowing a page from Flip Wilson’s and saying “the devil made me do it.” The devil is the President of the United States who is allegedly running roughshod over the states. This has caused PBJ to clutch his Barbara Bush Republican pearls and stomp off to Federal Court whilst holding his breath and turning blue. It’s a political tantrum for the ages, y’all.
Blogger, former high level press flack, and LSU Professor Bob Mann has already done an excellent job explaining this turn of events, so I’ll let him fill you in:
If there was ever a politically motivated, frivolous lawsuit, it would be the thinly veiled campaign document that Gov. Bobby Jindal filed in federal court on Wednesday, alleging that the federal government coerced states like Louisiana to participate in Common Core.
In his suit, Jindal seems to say that he and other governors were forced by President Obama to apply for federal funds and join a national consortium, all of which supported the implementation of the Common Core standards in their states.
“In short, through regulatory and rule making authority, Defendants [the federal government] have constructed a scheme that effectively forces States down a path toward a national curriculum by requiring, as a condition of funding under the President’s Race to the Top programs, that States join ‘consortia of states’ and agree to adopt a common set of content standards and to implement the assessment protocols and policies created by that consortium, all under the direction of the United States Department of Education,”Jindal says in his suit. “It is impossible to square the executive actions at issue with settled Congressional authority or the Tenth Amendment.”
Funny, but that’s not what Jindal said in 2009, when he eagerly applied for the “Race to the Top” money. If he was being coerced into applying, he had an odd way of showing his displeasure.
“We are excited about the opportunity for our schools to ‘Race to the Top’ and attract more funding to help students succeed,” Jindal said in a press release on Nov. 5, 2009. “The strategies promoted in this competitive grant program are a step in the right direction and will provide the resources needed to support a sustainable model of growth.
“While participation in this new initiative is voluntary, the Department of Education is encouraging local school boards and superintendents across the state to strongly consider this opportunity to provide flexible funds to our schools. [Emphasis added] Our children only have one chance to grow up and get the skills they need to succeed. We must take advantage of every opportunity we have to strengthen our education system and provide more opportunities for Louisiana children.”
Jindal also proudly put his signature on the documents which formalized Louisiana’s participation in the consortia that drew up the Common Core standards. He now claims he was coerced. If so, he must have been bound and gagged afterwards, because he never registered a complaint at the time.
From the day he decided to throw Louisiana’s educational system into chaos in order to build a national following over his newfound opposition to Common Core, Jindal has struggled to square his cheerleading for Common Core with his current hostility.
His federal lawsuit, however, strains credulity. To suggest he was coerced into participation means he was a fool in 2009 or he was misleading Louisiana voters.
He was a dupe or liar. Either way, it’s difficult to see how this helps Jindal construct an image as a decisive, well-informed leader.
The next question, of course, for Jindal is who is paying for this lawsuit, because it’s not a legitimate lawsuit. It’s a blatant campaign statement, designed for a presidential campaign and disguised as a legal document.
Like Common Core, Jindal has now apparently changed his position on frivolous lawsuits.
That was a much longer quote that I ordinarily use, but the good Perfesser nails our part time Governor to the wall for his transparently political motives. Jindal’s *entire* second term has been an exercise in cynicism and political narcissism. Everything he has done has been about furthering his own delusional national ambitions.
I have no earthly idea what PBJ believes in except for Bobby Jindal. The primary reason that he’s turned his back on Common Core is that he lacks a political core. He is, quite simply, a hardcore malaka with a messiah complex. I wish he’d resign the Governorship and devote his time to campaigning in Iowa and hanging out with the bigoted beardos of Duck Dynasty on his rare visits to Louisiana.
I seem to have the devil on my mind, so I’ll give the last word to Ella Fitzgerald:
You are spot on about the good governor and his ilk. Money always talks load and clear to bullshitters like Jindal. He no more cared for Common Core then than he does now except the political wind shifted once the fundies discovered that the Usurper-in-Chief™ was behind it.
CC remains a decent idea, but fewer and fewer endorse it once they see what it entails. Though I disagree with the mouth breathers who despise all things Obama, I hope this version of that idea goes the way of privatizing Medicare and Social Security. And I hope somebody can revive it with a large part of the input coming from those who have to implement it; i.e. teachers.
If Governor Jindal were sincerely against the objectionable aspects* of Common Core, he could meet with bona fide teachers and union members (not union executives but rank-and-file) in his state, or anywhere. He could work with Democrats who haven’t been compromised by Wall Street and corruption. There are plenty of real Democrats who don’t want Teach for America, nor privatization of our public schools. Most of the privatizers are in NY, CA or Washington State, so Jindal should be able to find their opponents closer to home in Louisiana.
He is a governor. If he were sincere and courageous, he could do a lot of good. I am still waiting though.
* There are many objectionable aspects of Common Core starting with its genesis and design by ALEC, NGA and NYC hedge funds.