Jay Greene just made our day. In his post on the best of 2008, he points to the growing cadre of reformers within the Democratic Party--as well as some defection on the right.
The Democratic supporters of reform largely (but not exclusively) consist of urban minority leaders, including Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Adrian Fenty, Cory Booker, Kevin Chavous, Al Sharpton, and Marion Barry.?? Go ahead and make all the Sharpton and Barry jokes you like, but this (mostly) minority defection of urban Democrats from union orthodoxy is like a political earthquake that will have important implications for future reform politics.It's true that some conservatives have begun backtracking on reform ideas, including Sol Stern, Diane Ravitch, and depending on the day of the week, Checker Finn and Mike Petrilli.?? But if the reform movement has traded some conservatives for the new generation of minority Democratic leadership, I think we've come out ahead.
Hey, I'm thrilled that Democrats are increasingly on board the school reform bus. But I'm just as glad to be seen as part of a forum of free thinkers. When reform ideas turn out not to work, "backtracking" is surest route to ideas that will.
