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Pres. Cand. Barack Obama Seems to Adopt "It Takes A Village" View When Asked If He'll Send His Kids to Washington DC Public Schools If Elected President
For Immediate Release
August 23, 2007
Columbia SC...When asked by South Carolina ETV host Andrew Gobeil Thursday if he will send his children to public schools in Washington DC, if he is elected, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama seemed to be channeling the philosophy of another well-known Democratic Presidential candidate, and Obama's top competition for the nomination, when he responded.
Said Obama, "Well, I'll be honest with you, if you're a U.S. Senator or you're president, you can always find a public school that works because there are terrific public schools out there. The question is, can you find a public school that works if you're not well connected?
"And that's the issue that I think really has to be debated here, and one of the things that is going to be important is that all of us start recognizing that each child out there we have some responsibility for-that they are not those kids, but they're our kids. And until we get a transformation in those attitudes, then we're probably not going to be putting in the kind of resources we need."
In another portion of the interview, Obama, who was touring one of the South Carolina schools infamously depicted in the documentary, "Corridor of Shame," tackled a question about the federal government's role in helping to renovate, or replace, rural schools in dire physical condition.
Said Obama, "I think the feds have to be involved in this process. And one of the things I'm going to be putting forward is a school-construction program nationwide that's going to require states to pitch in, and local communities to pitch in, but also says that this is too important an issue for the federal government not to be involved with.
"The fact is that if our children can't compete, that's going to impact our national economy. If we don't do a better job of training our young people in math and science and foreign languages, then our whole economy is going to suffer. And more importantly, one of the central premises of this country has been that any child with the right education can transcend racial and class and other barriers that may be put before them. And right now we're not being true to that promise, true to that ideal. As president of the United States, I want to make sure that we are making that more of a reality."
Obama's interview will on "The Big Picture" SC ETV on Thursday, Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Catherine Christman (803) 240-5863 or christman@scetv.org.
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