Inside Opinion » George W. Bush

Lawmakers finally take a step toward education reform

TNT Editorial Board — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:17:35 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

It rarely pays to get too hopeful about education reform in this state. But the Legislature – the Senate at least – has actually taken a major step toward accountability in Washington’s public schools.

Senate Bill 5895, which cleared that chamber Tuesday, requires the use of objective student-performance measures in the evaluation of teachers. It also requires that feedback from teachers be used in the evaluation of principals.

Teachers and principals can lose their jobs if they keep flunking the new tests. This turns Washington tradition on its head. In this state, …

For U.S. troops in Iraq, mission accomplished

TNT Editorial Board — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:05:03 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

So that’s that. As of the end of the year, the Obama administration will have withdrawn all U.S. troops from Iraq, with the exception of a small contingent of presumably nervous embassy guards.

Obama’s recent announcement that the war was over was mere formality. For America, the serious fighting in Iraq ended a couple years ago, when Iraqi security forces took full responsibility for Iraqi security.

What’s driving the final withdrawal – a legal dispute – seems ridiculously anticlimactic. Some Iraqi leaders would as soon have U.S. forces on hand to keep …

NCLB waivers should inspire Congress to action

TNT Editorial Board — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:19:28 +0000

This editorial will appear in Monday’s print edition.

Ten years after it was enacted, the No Child Left Behind Act needs overhauling. On that there is little disagreement.

But on how to do it? A lot of disagreement.

A polarized Congress hasn’t done anything to address the flaws in the education legislation that was a centerpiece of President George W. Bush’s presidency. The Obama administration’s unilateral decision to grant states waivers from the law should prod Congress to make substantive changes in NCLB.

The waivers – which are allowed under NCLB – would let states bypass 10 provisions of the …

Revolutions: Lessons learned

Judy Hauser — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:58:32 +0000

Revolutions come from a place far from your think tanks and your doctrines and your manicured nails.

Mission accomplished?

Judy Hauser — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:03:07 +0000

Now that U.S. combat troops have left Iraq, this might be the perfect moment for our favorite Texas Air National Guard alumnus to dig out that flight suit and get his Top Gun groove back on.

President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech aboard an aircraft carrier on May 1, 2003, may have been seven years too soon, but how was he to know that the arms of Iraqis wouldn’t be welcoming? And what part of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” didn’t those ungrateful people understand? Did they really …