Dems gave up on good schools, Tim Walz’s dangerous wokeism and other commentary

From the left: Dems Gave Up on Good Schools

“Better schools are no longer part of the basic litany of promises Democratic candidates make,” laments New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait. E.g., on Kamala Harris’ issues page, “almost nothing addresses K-12 education.” Bill Clinton in his day identified “schools as one of the four pillars of government” cementing “public loyalty to the Democratic Party,” and Barack Obama made “a promise to reform and improve public schools.” But Democrats have abandoned “education reform” for a “more union-friendly stance,” as “the moral ambition of providing a quality public school for every child has proven too controversial to pursue.” Instead, they’re “trying to maintain the status quo, even one in which many low-income children have no option other than failing schools.” Dems are “forfeiting what had once been a major advantage.”

Education desk: Tim Walz’s Dangerous Wokeism

“One factor that pushed Walz to the top” of Kamala Harris’ veep list over Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) “stands out,” observes RealClearEducation’s Nathan Harden: Walz has been “more progressive on education issues.” Shapiro flirted with a private-school voucher program; Walz, as Minnesota governor, “strongly opposed” school choice. He’s also backed critical race theory, supported pro-Palestinian protesters, blocked libraries from removing sexually explicit books from children’s shelves and mandated boys’ bathrooms stock tampons. “If Pennsylvania goes red,” Democrats may wonder: Was the “uncompromising brand of progressivism that helped Walz secure the VP nod over Shapiro” the “very thing that gives Trump a second term?”

Energy beat: Making America Drill Again

“To tackle inflation, former President Donald Trump’s No. 1 policy goal, if reelected, would be to ‘drill, baby, drill,’ ” notes the Washington Times Editorial Board. When he “was president, the United States claimed the title of world’s No. 1 oil and natural gas producer.” He also “withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines” and “opened Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing.” Then “the Biden-Harris administration reversed nearly all these policies,” and the result “has been a nearly 30% increase in energy costs.” Harris’ “campaign largely looks to maintain President Biden’s “clean energy” agenda.” Trump’s vow to “drill, baby, drill” promise to reduce pressure on Americans’ pocketbooks. “Voters will decide next week whether they prefer a top-down mandated approach to energy or allowing the free market and American ingenuity to light our future.”

Hate watch: Cali’s Antisemitic Curriculum

Why on earth would Los Angeles teachers scheme to “transport busloads of kids to an anti-Israel rally, during the school day, without arousing suspicion”? wonders Abigail Shrier at The Free Press. It’s part of the same phenomenon that saw “university students, particularly at our most elite schools, vandalized buildings, set up illegal encampments” for Hamas. Fact is, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom “signed into law a requirement that schools make completion of ethnic studies” — a form of Critical Race Theory — “a condition of graduation, he effectively made antisemitism a formal feature of California schooling.” “At schools where anti-Israel propaganda is promulgated, schoolchildren are turning against their Jewish classmates.” As one substitute teacher put it, “We’re raising a generation of antisemites.”

From the right: Joe’s ‘Garbage’ Disaster

President “Biden thought he’d ‘help’ Harris by hopping on a call with a progressive Latino group,” marvels USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques, but then he said of Trump, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” “The White House and Democrats’ surrogates in the media immediately tried to do damage control,” failing to convince “everyone who watched Biden saying these words.” Worse, this “falls into a broader pattern of Democrats insulting political opponents and their supporters, especially ahead of elections.” At best, it’s a reminder “that Biden — who will be president for nearly three more months — is not up to the job,” and so “reminds the American people of how Harris and other Democrats purposefully misled the country as to Biden’s true condition.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board