{"id":850,"date":"2014-01-08T09:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T16:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/?p=850"},"modified":"2014-01-08T09:49:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T16:49:08","slug":"the-conversation-i-didnt-have-with-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/?p=850","title":{"rendered":"The Conversation I didn’t Have with Barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Obama<\/a>

Obama Bobblehead meets Chuck on the beach<\/p><\/div>\n

12\/31\/13 Kailua, Hawaii: <\/b>I\u2019ve been working on an Obama sighting for several days now.\u00a0 He\u2019s vacationing here, and we jog on the same beach\u2026just not at the same time.\u00a0 But a rum-punch inspired dream conjured up this conversation:<\/p>\n

CTK:\u00a0 Nice day, Mr. President.<\/p>\n

BHO: Chuck!\u00a0 Fancy meeting you here.<\/p>\n

CTK: Just vacationing with my family.<\/p>\n

BHO: Me too.\u00a0 (waving at another runner) It\u2019s friendlier here than in Washington.<\/p>\n

CTK: (noticing that the runner smiled and waved with a full hand)\u00a0 I can see that.\u00a0 They\u2019ve even got a welcome banner down at the Island Snow place.<\/p>\n

BHO: They should, after all the business I\u2019ve sent their way.\u00a0 Who would have thought you could make a living on shave ice? People follow the motorcade when we go there.\u00a0 The stuff is full of sugar, but it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

CTK:\u00a0 The root beer?<\/p>\n

BHO: Yea, root beer rules\u2026. So, Chuck, tell me what you\u2019re thinking.<\/p>\n

CTK: Inequality, Mr. President.\u00a0 I loved your speech.\u00a0 Stay with it.<\/p>\n

BHO: Is anyone other than Robert Reich and the New York Times <\/i>paying attention?<\/p>\n

CTK: Not too many, but remember the Occupy Movement.<\/p>\n

BHO: Only barely, and that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n

CTK: Hang in there, Mr. President, inequality is the civil rights issue of this generation.\u00a0 You know the stats as well as I do.<\/p>\n

BHO: But how do I get people to pay attention.<\/p>\n

CTK: Bully pulpit.\u00a0 Do what TR did and make friends with journalists who want to go after the story.<\/p>\n

BHO: It\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n

CTK: Personalize the attack.\u00a0 Over and over.<\/p>\n

BHO: That\u2019s risky.<\/p>\n

CTK: So is losing.\u00a0 Do you really think that the republic will hold together without a solid middle class and a working class who has hope for the future?\u00a0 What happened to that campaign organization?\u00a0 All I get from Democrats is scare pitches for money.<\/p>\n

BHO: So, I thought that you were supposed to be interested in education policy; why not start with schools as the great equalizer?<\/p>\n

CTK: Schools can\u2019t help kids when opportunity is limited to the top 10 percent. \u00a0But I do have an education policy plea.<\/p>\n

BHO: Yes.<\/p>\n

CTK: You gotta\u2019 realize that Duncan\u2019s plan isn\u2019t working.\u00a0 He\u2019s lost the Red states over federal intrusion.\u00a0 He\u2019s lost California over teacher evaluation.\u00a0 He could have had anything he wanted in an ESEA revision, but he wasted his political capital on Race to the Top, and now he\u2019s piddling around with waivers.\u00a0 That\u2019s not accomplishing anything.<\/p>\n

BHO: So what should we do?<\/p>\n

CTK: Give everybody a waiver.\u00a0 That will kill off No Child Left Behind and let the Common Core of Standards and its assessments kick in.<\/p>\n

BHO: That\u2019s it?<\/p>\n

CTK: That\u2019s about all Duncan can do.<\/p>\n

BHO: But schools are still failing our students, particularly poor Black and Latino kids.<\/p>\n

CTK: I know.\u00a0 It turns my stomach and troubles my soul. But the federal tool kit is not all that large, and your administration is running out of time.<\/p>\n

BHO: That\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

CTK: The Trojan horse in education reform is to change how students learn.\u00a0 When your girls want to look up something what to they do?<\/p>\n

BHO: They Google it, of course.<\/p>\n

CTK: That\u2019s my point about education.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019d take the remaining Race to the Top money and focus it on getting learning tools in the hands of students.\u00a0 Kids could carry around machines that would teach them algebra or history?<\/p>\n

BHO: Nah, they\u2019d just play games.<\/p>\n

CTK: What if the games taught them algebra or history?<\/p>\n

BHO: Possibly. Can we talk more later?\u00a0 Hey, Happy New Year.\u00a0 Gotta\u2019 run.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Dr. Leanne Kerchner enters).\u00a0 Wake up Chuck, you\u2019re talking in your sleep again.<\/p>\n

CTK: I just had a great conversation with Obama.<\/p>\n

LBK: In your dreams.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12\/31\/13 Kailua, Hawaii: I\u2019ve been working on an Obama sighting for several days now.\u00a0 He\u2019s vacationing here, and we jog on the same beach\u2026just not at the same time.\u00a0 But a rum-punch inspired dream conjured up this conversation: CTK:\u00a0 Nice day, Mr. President. BHO: Chuck!\u00a0 Fancy meeting you here. CTK: Just vacationing with my family. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/charlestkerchner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}