Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > December > 18 > Entry
Vilsack: A president who gets education?
Tom Vilsack
I just watched Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who’s now running for president, on the Daily Show. He did much better than I expected.
I met Vilsack and watched him speak last year at an event sponsored by the Hechinger Institute for Education and the Media. He completely wowed a room full of education reporters with his deep knowledge of issues in education.
But at the same time, I didn’t come away feeling he would make a strong national candidate.
My first thought was he needed to get some handlers. He showed up to this speech in Chicago, a sitting governor, with an amazingly small detail of one aide and one or two security guards. He was remarkably accessible. All that was quite refreshing.
But on the other hand, he didn’t seem very polished. He told a couple of long, rambling anecdotes and had a tendency to get super wonky discussing education. I cut him a break there since his audience was also quite edwonky. Plus Bill Clinton was notoriously wonky on policy and still played well in front of a crowd.
I just wasn’t sure Vilsack would connect with general audiences. But he was pretty good with Jon Stewart tonight, even cracking a couple decent jokes. Stewart pushed him on Iraq, which made Vilsack sound like he perhaps hadn’t completely thought out his positions. And there was, unfortunately, no discussion of education.
But still, I thought he did well overall. If you’re interested in education, Vilsack is one candidate to keep an eye on.
(Image credit: http://www.governor.state.ia.us/)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Schools and Politics
Comments
By Mary
December 20, 2006 6:33 AM | Link to this
If old prof is right, Vilsack probably won’t get my vote even if he survives the primaries.By Oldprof
December 19, 2006 7:51 AM | Link to this
Perhaps others here don’t know Vilsack’s programs? His solution is to throw money at it (an idea whose time has come); increase teacher salaries by over $10K, move away from overemphasis on standardized testing, 90/90 plan (90% of kids in preschool, 90% of Iowans completing 2 yrs. of college); reimburse property-poor districts with state dollars; merge administration in smaller districts to cut bureaucracy. Some of his ideas lack vigor (to get more college completion, he proposes paying interest on student loans for 5 years after graduation; that does nothing for students who are cash-strapped while enrolled, and little for those in repayment since it’s only the interest). But by and large he seems to be departing from the NCLB overdemanding-underfunding status quo.