In a recent Huffington Post article (here), comedian and political dynamo Bill Maher’s oozing sarcasm and biting wit took aim at President Obama’s defense of the firing of all teachers in a struggling Rhode Island school. We’ve  grown accustomed to Maher’s rants on religion and Linda Blair-esque attacks on anyone remotely contemplating the existence of a higher power.

Maher clearly has the answers when it comes to religion, but his brain, like a scratched record, must have skipped a couple of grooves in his casual lambasting of Obama for defending the firings.  He sorely missed the point and again is out to push the cynical agenda which so rampantly drains dreams, poisons hope and viciously exorcises his deeply seated religious demons.

The irony in his rant is that he missed some critical pieces of the underlying story. Factually, Central Falls High School was one of the worst performing schools in the state. The school board recommended that additional measures be taken to rectify the unacceptable academic situation. These additional measures included extra hours, additional tutoring, teacher training and additional planning time. The teacher’s union refused the measures without additional pay at which point the board threatened firing the teachers. They saw the train coming a mile away.

Not sure about you, but when the entire school under performs, seems like there is a problem with the institution. Maher would like to label all of the inhabitants of the district as terrible parents and accuse them of looking for a “boogeyman” instead of putting on their poor parenting dunce caps. But, the fact remains, Maher’s ability to critically assess the results of a properly functioning school seems to be a bit off.

Maher, who revels in his bachelorhood alludes in his article to  no connection whatsoever to the plight of parents across the country who have become nighttime teachers to supplement the poor education routinely delivered in the American public school system. Historically, the US has a tremendous credibility problem when it comes to delivering quality education in impoverished neighborhoods. The struggle for quality education in middle class neighborhoods is becoming increasingly difficult as well. The inability of our educational leaders to reward excellence in the class room and discourage mediocrity sentences legions of children to a substandard life as education is one of the primary determinants in the quality of life.

His argument, although sarcastically topped and bitingly written, lacks the heart and the conviction of someone truly engaged in the argument. It appears the topic is just another blog post to dash off between trips to the Playboy mansion. But any parent who has waited outside a lunch room to get a word in edgewise with a teacher who doesn’t return calls feels a little different. Any parent who has pulled their hair out trying to get a copy of their child’s lesson plan so they can spend extra time with their child knows the deal. They know the dilemma. The educational system is broken and “bogeymen” don’t exist.

What really gets me is that in the land of political correctness which Maher assails so fluently, the courtesy of a dislike or unDigg button is painfully absent from his post’s technical landscape!!!

Say what you will, but Obama’s job is going to be a lot easier than the incoming Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai. In a power sharing agreement that was negotiated after elections which were held nearly one year ago, Tsvangirai has large obstacles to overcome to get his country back on track. He was sworn in as Prime Minister today.

In addition to walking a fine line in sharing power with long time dictator and some time thug, Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai will have to combat an economy with an unemployment rate of 90%, a cholera outbreak as well as the shutdown of schools in the wake of a humanitarian and political crisis.

Say what you will about Obama’s problems, but it seems that Tsvangiria’s got it worse. Could you imagine Bush still hanging over Obama’s shoulder?

I like so many others have been a huge fan of the new President, Barack Obama. Unlike many though, my wary eyes are beginning to twitch. Is Obama quietly moving to consolidate an unprecedented amount of political power and vest it in his personage vis-a-vis the Presidency?

The idea follows that Obama has inherited extraordinary difficulties. His challenges come dressed in Jihadist mantra’s, main street prayers, fat Wall Street mattresses and the “the worst financial crisis since the depression.’ If Bush’s legacy re-educated us on anything, it should have been that extraordinary circumstances which generate anxiety and stress is the play ground of power moves. The use of scare tactics allowed Bush and the Republicans to ram The Patriot Act, The War on Terrorism and the first round of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) down our wallets.

If this holds true, Obama will have a banner year.