Just when the Indiana Legislature gives Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) a gift allowing him to sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood it looked like the truce was over.
Well, not quite. He made some incredibly absurd remarks in Washington about education. I have said that this is one primary issue we can see some daylight between the candidates. Not all “conservative candidates” are created equal when it comes to the issue of a federal role in education.
Dana Milbank of The Washington Post recapped Daniels remarks on Education Policy at the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday:
“Most of what I’ve talked about so far, and much of what I will, is strongly supported by the Obama administration,” the Republican governor of Indiana told the standing-room-only crowd at the American Enterprise Institute. “I salute the president, Secretary [Arne] Duncan. They are right about these things.”
Off-message alert! One of the right-minded thinkers in the room rose to give Daniels a second chance to criticize Obama. The governor declined. “I really do want to salute and commend — and I’ve done it over and over — the president, Secretary Duncan, for a lot of leadership in this area,” he affirmed. “There is a federal role” in education, he argued. “I believe in national standards.”
I’d love for Governor Daniels to say where in the Constitution it authorizes a federal role in education. I’d also love to see the data that tells him national standards written by educrats are better than what local school districts, community stakeholders and parents can come up with? Perhaps he doesn’t like the democratic nature of keeping such decisions local. It’s great that he signed a bill increasing school vouchers for Indiana students, but he is anything but consistent on this issue. He just lost any traction that he could have possibly gained from recent legislation.
Update: Getting an Instalanche