All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Reverend Al Sharpton, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have teamed up for a national tour to spotlight education reform, and the trio stopped by "Washington Unplugged" Monday to discuss why their efforts to encourage cooperation on the issue.

"I think you guys think if nobody walks away [with] a black eye that we did not have a meeting," Sharpton joked to CBS News' Fernando Suarez.

"When you have Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich show up to talk about an issue together you tend to get a lot more attention than if either one of us shows up buy oursleves," Gingrich said. "And that's led already around the country to a conversation about education reform."

Read full post…

Next Tuesday at noon, President Obama will be delivering what the White House is billing as "a national address to the students of America."

"During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school," according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning."

The Department of Education encouraged teachers to build lesson plans around the speech and offered "educators a menu of classroom activities…to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education."

The Department also recommended that students be asked to write a letter to themselves on "how to help the president."

All this did not sit well with Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Greer released a blistering statement earlier this week claiming that the president is trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

Read full post…

Four members of President Obama's cabinet headed to Alaska today as a part of the administration's "Rural Tour."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan (at left in the photo), Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu stopped in Bethel and Hooper Bay in in effort to improve rural communities and states. A statement released by the White House noted that the four secretaries make up the largest Cabinet-level delegation to visit Alaska.

Donovan announced $132 million in grants to Native American and Native Alaska communities across the country today, the Anchorage Daily News reports. This includes $32 million in stimulus funds to tribal and native organizations in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington.

Read full post…

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sat down with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer as part of the Aspen Ideas Festival this week. The administration's point person to fix failing schools had plenty to say on No Child Left Behind.

"The one thing I will always give the previous administration great credit for is really shining great spotlight on the achievement gap," he said.

Duncan said that the Bush administration dove into the previously taboo subject of educational disparity.

"As a country we used to sweep that achievement gap under the rug, it was uncomfortable to talk about," he said.

"What no child left behind I think got fundamentally wrong on the standards side is it allowed fifty states to do their own banks," Duncan said.

He said that children that are "quote, unquote meeting a standard" are in fact underachieving.

Duncan argued that the time for education reform is now since both unions and business are begging for it.

"Everyone is saying what we are doing for children isn't good enough," he said. "We have to stop lying, we have to stop dumbing things down."

Also in today's show, don't miss Bob Schieffer getting a lecture on going to church from comedian Lewis Black.

Asked about separation of church and state, Lewis said he breaks it down like so, "if you live in Washington… you better go to church."

Schieffer said he has an excuse for not attending – he hosts "Face the Nation" on Sunday mornings.

"What? Do you send a note?" Lewis joked.

Watch both interviews below and then go behind the scenes in the preparations for the national mall's 4th of July celebration on "Washington Unplugged."


Watch CBS Videos Online

President-elect Barack Obama held a news conference to announce his choice for education secretary, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, but he was also asked about other topics in the news -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the economy.

On the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Mr. Obama, the president-elect reiterated statements made yesterday that there were no inappropriate contacts between his staff and the governor's staff. But he would not go into more detail, saying that the results of the internal investigation would be released next week. He cut off a reporter who sought to ask about reports that incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was on the wiretap tapes, saying he has not confirmed the reports and would not comment on them.

Mr. Obama also deflected whether he supports a special election to fill his seat, saying it was the choice of the Illinois legislature.

On the economy, Mr. Obama sidestepped a question about whether he approved of actions by the Federal Reserve and chairman Ben Bernanke regarding interest rates. He said the Fed is an independent agency and that it's not the place of either the president or the president-elect to comment. But he did say that the Fed was "running out of the traditional ammunition" to deal with a recession and that it was time for the other branches of government to "step up."

But on a lighthearted topic, Mr. Obama did make a direct statement that Duncan, the education pick, did have a better jump shot than him. For more on the president-elect and the basketball prowess of his Cabinet picks, read this earlier post by Robert Hendin.

Read full post…

A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

President-elect OBAMA holds a news conference at 11:45am ET today at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago to unveil his choice for Education Secretary. CBS News has confirmed that Mr. Obama will announce Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan as his choice.

***Chicago Tribune, “Duncan to join Obama cabinet”: “Since Mayor Richard Daley plucked Duncan from obscurity to head the country's third-largest school district in 2001, Duncan has gained a reputation as a reformer who isn't afraid to rankle the teachers union or punish underperforming schools. His decisions to pay students for good grades, back an unrealized plan for a gay-friendly high school and consider boarding schools often polarized the community while bolstering his renegade image.”

***NY Times, “Chicago Schools Chief Is Obama’s Education Pick”: “Mr. Duncan, a 44-year-old Harvard graduate, has raised achievement in the nation’s third-largest school district and often faced the ticklish challenge of shuttering failing schools and replacing ineffective teachers, usually with improved results. He represents a compromise choice in the debate that has divided Democrats in recent months over the proper course for public-school policy after the Bush years. In June, rival nationwide groups of educators circulated competing educational manifestos, with one group espousing a get-tough policy based on pushing teachers and administrators harder to raise achievement, and another arguing that schools alone could not close the racial achievement gap and urging new investments in school-based health clinics and other social programs to help poor students learn. Mr. Duncan was the only big-city superintendent to sign both manifestos. He argued that the nation’s schools needed to be held accountable for student progress, but also needed major new investments, new talent and new teacher-training efforts. In straddling the two camps, Mr. Duncan seemed to reflect Mr. Obama’s own impatience with what he has called ‘tired educational debates.’”

Read full post…

A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

President-elect Obama holds a news conference at 11:45am ET today at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago to unveil his choice for Education Secretary. CBS News has confirmed that Mr. Obama will announce Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan as his choice.

***Chicago Tribune, “Duncan to join Obama cabinet”: “Since Mayor Richard Daley plucked Duncan from obscurity to head the country's third-largest school district in 2001, Duncan has gained a reputation as a reformer who isn't afraid to rankle the teachers union or punish underperforming schools. His decisions to pay students for good grades, back an unrealized plan for a gay-friendly high school and consider boarding schools often polarized the community while bolstering his renegade image.”

***NY Times, “Chicago Schools Chief Is Obama’s Education Pick”: “Mr. Duncan, a 44-year-old Harvard graduate, has raised achievement in the nation’s third-largest school district and often faced the ticklish challenge of shuttering failing schools and replacing ineffective teachers, usually with improved results. He represents a compromise choice in the debate that has divided Democrats in recent months over the proper course for public-school policy after the Bush years. In June, rival nationwide groups of educators circulated competing educational manifestos, with one group espousing a get-tough policy based on pushing teachers and administrators harder to raise achievement, and another arguing that schools alone could not close the racial achievement gap and urging new investments in school-based health clinics and other social programs to help poor students learn. Mr. Duncan was the only big-city superintendent to sign both manifestos. He argued that the nation’s schools needed to be held accountable for student progress, but also needed major new investments, new talent and new teacher-training efforts. In straddling the two camps, Mr. Duncan seemed to reflect Mr. Obama’s own impatience with what he has called ‘tired educational debates.’”

Read full post…

From CBS News' Marc Ambinder:

A senior transition official confirms to CBS News' Marc Ambinder that Obama will nominate Arne Duncan to be Education Secretary tomorrow at his 11:45 am ET news conference in Chicago. Duncan has worked in the Chicago Public Schools for ten years and was named CEO of the system by Mayor Richard Daley in 2001. He supports merit pay for administrators and teachers, but he also supports money for teacher retraining, recruitment and classroom infrastructure. Duncan is on the record as favoring No Child Left Behind, although, like Obama, he favors significant reforms.

Ambinder reports that the Teachers Union is pleased with Obama's selection, a sentiment the group's president shared with the President-elect.

Chicago is not the only connection to the President-elect, the presumed appointee once played professional basketball in Australia.