krebscycle

Watching the discussions of lefty pedants on line is an education in naive cynicism. Consider Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention.  Here’s Corey Robin:

Last night at the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama defined “the very best of the American spirit” as “teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay.”

Work without pay: it’s certainly American.

And Digby:

It was a very well written and well-delivered speech, personal and yet political, subtly showing the differences between the Obama worldview and the Romney worldview.

Sadly, they aren’t that different in some respects:

Last night at the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama defined “the very best of the American spirit” as “teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay.”

That’s actually not the best of America. It’s desperation. I get what she was saying, but it’s a sad comment on our time that (for different reasons) both parties embrace the “spirit” of teachers working for free.

Do they think Michelle Obama applauds not paying teachers? The actual message of Mrs. Obama’s speech was not that different from Julian Castro’s earlier speech and I suspect they both went over some people’s heads. The message was that people can be heroic despite the gross unfairness of the world and society.  The message was, here is this narrow narrow door you might be able to squeeze through or push your children through, we’re trying to push it open a little. Most of the audience understood that it’s not fair that the door is so narrow. Most of the audience understood that the Republicans are doing their damndest to slam the door shut. Most of the audience understood that even the President of the United States cannot snap his fingers and repair the world.

One often gets the impression that some critics believe that the system is fundamentally just – that all it would take is some gumption on the part of the Obamas to save the day. Those of us who think the forces of privilege and power are deeply dug in, that both the formal organization of the government and the hidden workings of power are stacked in favor of the rich and powerful and work to frustrate change see a very different world. In our world, teachers who keep a bankrupt school going are holding the door open. 

There are, of course, reasons to critique the Obama administration. I’m not a big fan of their education policies, but they have tried very hard to add federal dollars to education budgets despite the intransigence of state and national republican opponents.