Leadership of the House of Representatives is tendered to the Republicans, and Capitol Hill soothsayers foretell gridlock galore. But Nick Anderson, a staff writer for the Washington Post, believes that the president could find in education a policy-area where he and Republicans can work together. ?If President Obama is seeking common ground with Republicans in the next Congress,? Anderson writes, ?one major domestic issue seems ripe for deal-making: education.? (Is Anderson's opinion on the matter perhaps influenced by his job as an education reporter?) The White House, too, sees education, according Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, as an issue that ?transcends ideology?; and the president and his schools secretary?in their tepid relationship with the teachers' unions, in their enthusiasm for charter schools, in their embrace of merit pay for educators, etc.?have undoubtedly jettisoned many of their political party's traditional education-related positions and strategies. And yet, one wonders if GOP lawmakers will want to work with their Democratic colleagues on anything, or if they will simply work to undo that which over the past two years was done.
?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow