Al Sharpton Rocks the RNC
By Rob Anderson - Sep 2nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
The Rev. Al Sharpton, of all people, just brought a cheering crowd to its feet here at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The setting was a panel on the American education system organized by the non-partisan group American Solutions for Winning the Future. All of the speakers–Sharpton, as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings–agreed that the education system here in the United States is faltering and that it needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.
While bi-partisan panels like this oftentimes end up being contrived and unrealistically hopeful, this one felt different. Everyone seemed willing to set aside partisan differences in order to make, in Gingrich’s words, “profound changes” to our education system. “We have to come together and be a team,” Pawlenty stressed. “I don’t think that we are so far apart that we can’t work together–including our friends in the teachers’ unions.” He wasn’t the only one to bring up the unions–which are viewed by many as the largest barrier to education reform. One surprise, however, was that is was the Republicans who went out of their way to praise the unions and Sharpton who offered the strongest critique of them.
Which, of course, may have been why the Republicans in the room were so happy to give the Reverend a standing ovation. (They also may have been thankful that his lively speaking style and energy had broken up an otherwise monotonous presentation.)
Before Sharpton left the stage, Gingrich summoned all of the speakers to gather for a photo op. Standing side by side with a one-time Democratic presidential candidate, the former Republican speaker of the House declared, “We have just witnessed a historic moment.” Only time will tell if this moment was the beginning of meaningful, bi-partisan education reform, or just another political exercise in the art of empty promises.
That lineup (especially Romer and Gingrich) appears similar to the group behind ED in 08, a very well financed single issue campaign that is also known as Strong American Schools. Was there any talk about that campaign there?
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pmThere was, yes. They were a co-sponsor.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm[...] Al Sharpton Rocks the RNC posted on September 2, 2008 at 6:06 pm [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm[...] at an RNC jawboning panel, Al Sharpton offered a sharp critique of teachers’ unions–which seemingly puts him to the right of Barack Obama, whose education policy as mentioned in [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm