OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2015
Empire strikes back at Clinton
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Testing the time
tests take
S
By capping time spent on assessment
exams, students can focus on school
pending about 20 hours a year taking high school assessment
tests will strike some Oregonians as high, some as low and
some about right. The fact is, however, that few of us will have
given much thought to the question.
Last week, after much internal
and external debate, the Obama
administration urged curtailing the
time devoted to testing — partic-
ularly the standardized statewide
tests that have become so much
the singular focus of school dis-
tricts and education departments.
The recommendation is to cap
test-taking to 2 percent of class-
room instruction time, about one
hour out of every 50.
Oregon and other states tin-
ker with their requirements for
classroom time — a factor that
impacts everything from budgets
for teacher salaries and classroom
construction. This January the
Oregon Board of Education ap-
proved 990 instructional hours per
year for high school students and
900 hours for younger kids. Two
percent of 990 hours is 19.8 hours
and 2 percent of 900 is 18 hours.
Arguments over testing are
closely bound up with other long-
standing disputes: how best to
assess teacher performance and
ensure U.S. young people are pre-
pared to compete for an ample
slice of the globe’s economic pie.
But there is concern across the
political spectrum about testing
becoming a singular focus, rather
than merely a way to ensure stu-
dents are essentially on track. A
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evidence that spending more time
on tests improves academic per-
formance.
Most citizens will agree with the
recipe for academic success spelled
out by a New York Times reader
commenting on the “2% solution”:
“Teachers who can teach.
Teachers who care about kids.
Involved parents. Expectations
and accountability (both teachers
and students). School buildings in
good repair. Neighborhoods and
families that protect and inspire
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Standardized tests play a minor
role (and are a boondoggle for the
test companies).”
Setting an upper time budget for
testing is a start in the right direc-
tion toward making standardized
tests just one tool to make sure stu-
dents, teachers and districts are on
the right track. They should never
have become such an obsession.
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devoted to preparing for them also
should be capped.
Schooling has a complex mix
of appropriate goals, of which
doing well on standardized tests
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primary target in its own right.
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times News Service
W
ASHINGTON — Nobody
plays the victim like
Hillary.
She can wield that label like a
wrecking ball.
If her husband humiliates her with
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turns around and uses the sympathy
engendered to launch a political ca-
reer. If her Republican opponent gets
in her space in
an overbearing
way during a
debate, she turns
around and uses
the sympathy
engendered to
win a Senate
seat. If conser-
vatives hold a
Salem witch trial
under the guise
Maureen
of a House se-
Dowd
lect committee
hearing, she turns around and uses the
sympathy engendered to slip into the
HOV lane of a superhighway to the
presidency.
Hillary Clinton is never more allur-
ing than when a bunch of pasty-faced,
nasty-tongued white men bully her.
And she was plenty alluring during
her marathon session on Thursday with
Republican Lilliputians, who were
completely oblivious to the fact that
Hillary is always at her most potent
when some Teanderthal is trying to put
her in her place.
Trey Gowdy and his blithering band
RIWHDSDUWLHUVZHQWRQD¿VKLQJH[SHGL-
tion, but they forgot to bring their rods
— or any fresh facts.
It was a revealing display of hard-
core conservatives in their parallel
universe, where all their biases are
validated by conservative media. They
crawled out of the ooze into the sea of
cameras, blinking and obtuse. Ohio’s
Jim Jordan, bellowing. South Caro-
lina’s Gowdy, sweating. Alabama’s
Martha Roby, not getting the joke. And
Indiana’s Susan Brooks, allowing that
“most of us really don’t know much
about Libya.”
Hillary acted bemused, barely
masking her contempt at their conde-
scension. She was no doubt amazed at
what an amateur job they were doing at
character assassination.
The Republicans came across as
even more conspiratorial than their oth-
er target, Sidney Blumenthal, and his
nickname is “G.K.,” for grassy knoll.
One conservative on the panel, trying to
paint Clinton as an addled 68-year-old,
as of Monday, kept snidely offering to
pause while she read the notes her posse
was passing her.
They must have been mistaking
her for W., who always looked as if he
wouldn’t know what to say if his notes
blew away in the wind.
It is not the terrain of Gowdy’s lame
committee, but it is legitimate to exam-
Jacquelyn Marti/AP Photo
Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hil-
lary Rodham Clinton, laughs out loud after Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala.,
asked Clinton if she was home alone during night of the 2012 Beng-
hazi attacks during testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday,
before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. After laughing, Clin-
ton said it was a bit of levity at 7:15 p.m., more than nine hours since
the hearing began. She described conversations with other officials
and said, “I did not sleep all night.”
ine Clinton’s record in the Middle East. from Stevens’ team to upgrade security
As a senator, she made a political in Benghazi in 2012 and 20 attacks on
vote to let W. invade Iraq. As much the mission compound in the months
homework as she did to get ready for before the Sept. 11 siege.
In a rare moment of lucidity, Rep.
the Libya committee, she chose not to
do her homework on Iraq in 2002 — Mike Pompeo of Kansas said to Clin-
neglecting to read the sketchy National ton: “You described Mr. Stevens as
Intelligence Estimate. She didn’t want having the best knowledge of Libya
WRVHHPOLNHDKLSSLHÀRZHUJLUOÀDVKLQJ of anyone,” but “when he asked for
a peace sign after 9/11.
increased security, he
Then she urged Pres-
didn’t get it.”
Clinton
ident Barack Obama to
As Hillary kept ex-
help topple Moammar
plaining, that job was
didn’t
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the province of the “se-
ing the painful lesson of
curity professionals,”
want to
Iraq — that if America
four of whom were later
went into another nebu-
seem like criticized for providing
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“grossly inadequate”
a hippie
there would have to be a
security at the Beng-
good plan to prevent the
compound and re-
flower girl hazi
vacuum of power being
moved from their posts.
¿OOHGE\PLOLWDQW,VODP-
The 11-hour hearing
flashing a
ic terrorists.
showcased the good
Since she was, as her peace sign
Hillary, but there were
aide Jake Sullivan put it,
RFFDVLRQDOÀDVKHVRIWKH
“the public face of the after 9/11.
bad. She still doesn’t be-
U.S. effort in Libya” —
lieve that setting up her
one of the Furies, along with Samantha own server was so wrong. Even though
Power and Susan Rice, who had pushed the inspector general of government in-
for a military intervention on humani- telligence said that there was top secret
tarian grounds — Hillary needed to stay information in her emails, she sticks
on top of it.
with her parsing. “There was nothing
6KHKDGWREHWHQDFLRXVLQ¿JXULQJ PDUNHGFODVVL¿HGRQP\HPDLOVHLWKHU
out when Libya had deteriorated into sent or received,” she told Jordan.
such a caldron of jihadis that our am-
She seemed oddly detached about
bassador should either be pulled out or Stevens, testifying that he didn’t have
backed up. In June 2012, the British her personal email or cell number, “but
closed their consulate in Benghazi after he had the 24-hour number of the State
their ambassador’s convoy was hit by a Operations in the State Department that
grenade. A memo she received that Au- can reach me 24/7.”
gust described the security situation in
There were no call logs of talks
Libya as “a mess.”
between Stevens and Clinton, and
When you are the Valkyrie who en- she said she could not remember if
gineers the intervention, you can’t then she ever spoke to him again after she
say it is beneath you to pay attention to swore him in, in May. “I was the boss
the ludicrously negligent security for of ambassadors in 270 countries,” she
your hand-picked choice for ambassa- explained.
dor in a lawless country full of assassi-
But Libya was the country where
nations and jihadi training camps.
she was the midwife to chaos. And she
According to Republicans on the should have watched that baby like the
committee, there were 600 requests Lady Hawk she is.
House GOP makes Free Mitt Romney from the chains
Clinton look good
ployment growth since the
remarkable success, especial-
“job-killing” law went into
ly considering the scorched-
effect has been faster than
earth opposition it has faced.
at any time since the 1990s.
First of all, a lot of peo-
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Employers have not, in fact,
ple
—
around
16
million,
sorry for Mitt Romney.
eliminated full-time jobs to
the administration estimates,
No, seriously.
avoid the act’s provisions.
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$QGWKHEXGJHWGH¿FLWNHHSV
In another time and place, he might pendent sources — do indeed
t is easier to follow the complex- is a faction that is content for the have been respected as an effective tech- have health insurance who
falling.
In short, President Barack
nocrat — a smart guy valued (although otherwise wouldn’t. Millions
ities of Major League Baseball’s House not to make decisions.
probably not loved) for his ability to get more would be insured if
Obama,
Nancy Pelosi and
Paul
league playoffs than to know
The most dangerous pending things done. In fact, that’s kind of how it Republican-controlled states
Harry
Reid,
who pushed the
Krugman
ZKR¶VRQ¿UVWEDVHLQWKHVWUXJJOH GHFLVLRQWKLVJURXSÀLUWVZLWKLVWR worked when he was governor of Mas- weren’t refusing to expand
Affordable Care Act through
Medicaid (even though the federal gov- despite total opposition from the GOP,
for Republican governance of the play chicken over raising the debt sachusetts, a decade ago.
ernment would pay the costs) and gener- have a lot to be proud of. And so does
But
now
it’s
2015
in
America,
and
U.S. House of Representatives.
limit. Some of these members of
Romney’s party doesn’t want people ally trying to obstruct the program.
Romney, who helped lay the foundation.
As we presently understand it, Congress have even convinced who get things done. On the contrary,
How good is the insurance thus Instead, however, he’s trashing the best
House Speaker John Boehner will themselves that it doesn’t matter.
it actively hates government programs obtained? Not perfect: Despite subsi- thing he’s ever done.
You have to wonder: Does Rom-
attempt to pass a government fund-
But it does matter enormously. that improve American lives, especial- dies, policies are still hard for some to
afford,
and
deductibles
and
copays
can
ly
if
they
help
Those
People.
And
this
ney
really think that his party would
ing bill prior to executing his res- If these men and women get their
means that Romney can’t celebrate his be onerous. But most people enrolled look more favorably on Obamacare if it
ignation from the House. We also way, count on major economic ca- signature achievement
under Obamacare re- worked even better than it has, if it cost
know that Rep. Paul Ryan is poised lamity.
port high satisfaction no money at all? If so, he’s delusional.
in public life, the Mas-
The
with their coverage, After all, the great majority of Republi-
sachusetts
health
reform
to become Boehner’s successor af-
The ultimate joke on the
is hugely better can-controlled states have turned down
that served as a template
ter making some kind of agreement Republicans who enable the for Obamacare.
Affordable which
than simply not being free money, refusing to let the federal
with the Freedom Caucus, which )UHHGRP &DXFXV DQG XQTXDOL¿HG
uninsured. And may I government expand Medicaid (and in
This has to hurt. In-
Care Act
inject a personal note? so doing pump money into their econ-
has paralyzed the Republican ma- presidential candidates such as deed, a few days ago
If truth be told, I live in omies.)
Romney
couldn’t
help
has
been
a
jority’s ability to govern.
Donald Trump and Ben Carson
DSUHWW\UDUH¿HGXSSHU
himself: He boasted to
The point is that from the point of
One of the House’s basic is that they are scaring Americans The Boston Globe that remarkable
middle-class-and-above view of the Republican base, covering
functions is to fund the federal who hang out in the middle of the “Without Romneycare,
milieu — yet even so I the uninsured, or helping the unlucky
success.
know several people for in general, isn’t a feature, it’s a bug. It’s
government and keep it running. political spectrum and value stabil- we wouldn’t have had
whom the Affordable not about how much it costs in taxpayer
Obamacare”
and
that
as
But it’s not clear that’s how the ity.
a result “a lot of people wouldn’t have Care Act has been more or less literally funds or economic impact: the base is
Freedom Caucus sees it. They
Last week’s nine-hour interro- health insurance.” And it’s true!
a lifesaver. This is, as Joe Biden didn’t actually willing to lose money in order
seem to be willing to take down gation of former Secretary of State
But such truths aren’t welcome in the quite say, a really big deal.
to perpetuate suffering.
Oh, and have you noticed how those
And a movement with those values
the government in order to make Hillary Clinton was another plank GOP. Ben Carson, who is leading the
latest polls of Iowa Republicans, has de- ads featuring people supposedly hurt by has no use for technocrats. Ask Ben Ber-
a point about Planned Parenthood, in the Republicans’ we-can’t- clared that Obamacare is the worst thing Obamacare have disappeared? That’s nanke, who has given up on a party in
Obamacare or an assortment of be-trusted marketing campaign. to happen to America since slavery; 81 because none of their stories held up.
thrall to the “know-nothingism of the far
What’s more, the big Biden deal has right.”
other grievances.
The House Select Committee on percent of likely Republican caucus-go-
Maybe Romney still imagines that
The genius of our congressional Benghazi managed to give Clinton ers say that this statement makes him come in below budget. Insurance pre-
PLXPV LQ 2EDPDFDUH¶V ¿UVW WZR \HDUV a desperate party will call on him to
more attractive as a candidate.
system is its capacity at any given new life — to make her look good.
Not surprisingly, then, Romney were well below predictions. It looks as save it from Donald Trump. Or maybe
moment to contain countervail-
In the run-up to the World quickly tried to walk his comments back, if there will be a partial rebound in 2016, he just can’t bring himself to admit that
ing points of view and eventually Series, it’s all about capitalizing on claiming that Obamacare is very differ- but it’s still cheaper than expected. And he picked the wrong group of people to
make a decision. The dangerous your opponent’s mistakes. At this ent from Romneycare, which it isn’t, and overall, health care spending has slowed hang out with. Either way, one hopes for
dramatically.
that it has failed.
his sake that he eventually gives up his
thing about what we observe on point, Republicans are throwing
Meanwhile, none of the bad things illusions. Trust me, Mitt: It will be a lib-
But you know, it hasn’t. On the con-
the Republican side of the House the game.
trary, the Affordable Care Act has been a that were supposed to happen have. Em- erating experience.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times News Service
I
Freedom Caucus scares the
voter who prizes stability
S