Yonivore
10-08-2011, 03:15 PM
...only because it highlights a practice in which this President has engaged, repeatedly. It's almost as if they are unable to find real people to fit the sad stories they wish to weave into their narrative.
Tale of Hub teacher’s job struggle stretches truth (http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1371584)
It is technically true that Obama had a chance to meet Baroz. But the closest Baroz actually got to Obama was the front row of a Rose Garden press conference. . . .
Baroz has in fact received three pink slips in four years, but in each case, his job was saved, either through stimulus funds or the 2010 Congressional Jobs Bill. He now works as a literacy and data coach at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain, analyzing MCAS data and applying it to teachers' everyday lessons.
So Obama didn't meet Baroz, Baroz didn't get fired, and he's a "literacy and data coach," which seems to be something other than a teacher. But he approves of the story Obama spun:
Baroz . . . doesn't mind if the president--or his speechwriters--took some liberties with the facts. It was all in aid of a higher truth, he said.
"People who want to fuss over the word choice are missing the point. It's about our investing in education and in communities," Baroz said. "It was technically correct; yes, I did lose my position three times within four years in the Boston Public Schools. To me, the question he posed to the people was a rhetorical question. The emphasis was on 'like Robert.' It's people who are like me, highly qualified, and are not working. That's the spirit of it."
Which begs the question, where are the teachers "like Robert," and why didn't Obama use one of them as an example? Is he just lazy or do they not exist?
Also, the question he posed was "Why wouldn't we want to pass a bill that puts somebody like Robert back in the classroom teaching our kids?" Rhetorical or not, I'd answer it as follows: Because it would be better to have somebody in the classroom who teaches your kids that lying is wrong.
I want to say I remember Obama doing this during the Obamacare debate but, I can't recall enough about the incident to find the story.
Tale of Hub teacher’s job struggle stretches truth (http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1371584)
It is technically true that Obama had a chance to meet Baroz. But the closest Baroz actually got to Obama was the front row of a Rose Garden press conference. . . .
Baroz has in fact received three pink slips in four years, but in each case, his job was saved, either through stimulus funds or the 2010 Congressional Jobs Bill. He now works as a literacy and data coach at the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain, analyzing MCAS data and applying it to teachers' everyday lessons.
So Obama didn't meet Baroz, Baroz didn't get fired, and he's a "literacy and data coach," which seems to be something other than a teacher. But he approves of the story Obama spun:
Baroz . . . doesn't mind if the president--or his speechwriters--took some liberties with the facts. It was all in aid of a higher truth, he said.
"People who want to fuss over the word choice are missing the point. It's about our investing in education and in communities," Baroz said. "It was technically correct; yes, I did lose my position three times within four years in the Boston Public Schools. To me, the question he posed to the people was a rhetorical question. The emphasis was on 'like Robert.' It's people who are like me, highly qualified, and are not working. That's the spirit of it."
Which begs the question, where are the teachers "like Robert," and why didn't Obama use one of them as an example? Is he just lazy or do they not exist?
Also, the question he posed was "Why wouldn't we want to pass a bill that puts somebody like Robert back in the classroom teaching our kids?" Rhetorical or not, I'd answer it as follows: Because it would be better to have somebody in the classroom who teaches your kids that lying is wrong.
I want to say I remember Obama doing this during the Obamacare debate but, I can't recall enough about the incident to find the story.