Only time I recall a left-winger saying this, but hey, it's a start.
Here's Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter, author of "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," talking about the economy and education on Ed Schultz's radio show yesterday with guest host Jeff Santos of WWZN 1510 AM in Boston --
ALTER: What (Obama) really needs to do is he has to outline a real vision for the country and for making us competitive again. And that is going to be a combination of traditional liberal ideas, like investment in infrastructure, and also some things that have been more associated with conservatives over the years, but that liberals I think are starting to get with the program on, like accountability in education. You know, the problem has not been that we haven't spent enough on education. The trend lines on that are straight up over the last 25 years. But we're not getting our money's worth because it's not structured in the right way, with the right sort of accountability. And the president made a great start on that in 2009, 2010 with his Race to the Top education program and you're going to hear him talking more about it in the State of the Union address.
Speaking of education, Santos might want to brush up on his Soviet history before making comments like this, as he did while interviewing Alter --
SANTOS: I wanted to tell you, though, that I think a lot of progressives and liberals that we talk to, Ed and I, on this show and on my morning show, it's less about making a black eye of Boehner or McConnell. It's about, I think, leading with some force, meaning, look, we'll take the black eyes and the abuses but we're moving an agenda and this is what the agenda is and this is how different it is from the Republicans. And it's not about just tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. It's about investing in America and it's about a five-year plan and it's about rebuilding America, and I think that that to me has to be the mantra and, you know, where they can compromise, great.
Five-year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains ...
