By Omar Lopez, DFER Policy Analyst
At last night’s presidential debate in Denver, Romney shook the Etch A Sketch in an attempt to erase his previously stated policy positions and restart his campaign. The strategy was particularly evident when the candidates discussed education. Voters should keep in mind that what Romney says one day bears little relationship to what he says the next. Your odds are probably better at winning the lottery than guessing correctly what Romney would do as President.
Romney on Funding:
“I’m not going to cut education funding. I don’t have any plan to cut education funding and — and grants that go to people going to college…I’m not planning on making changes there.”
Well, that’s news to me. This is a radical departure from his previous position of following the plan of his running mate, Paul Ryan. The plan would cut domestic discretionary spending, including education, by 20%. It was one of the “tough choices” Romney would make to lower the deficit. It’s obvious the only tough choice for him is deciding what finger to stick out to see which way the political wind is blowing.
Romney on the Federal Role in Education:
Last night, Romney said, “Well, the primary responsibility for education is — is of course at the state and local level. But the federal government also can play a very important role. And I — and I agree with Secretary Arne Duncan.”
Compare this to his performance at the Fox/Google GOP Debate in September 2011, where Romney said, “We need to get the federal government out of education.” He’s sure shaking that Etch A Sketch pretty hard.
Romney on Race to the Top:
At that same Fox/Google debate, Romney distanced himself from President Obama’s Race to the Top program in this exchange:
Governor Rick Perry: And I think that [there] is an important difference between the rest of the people on this stage and one person that wants to run for the presidency. Being in favor of the Obama Race to the Top and that is not conservative.
Bret Baier: Governor Romney?
Governor Mitt Romney: Nice try.
Yet last night he drew a few lines toward it saying, “He’s — there’s some ideas he’s put forward on Race to the Top — not all of them but some of them I agree with, and congratulate him for pursuing that.”
How can Romney be trusted when he can never stick to a position? Obama doesn’t just say that he wants to hire more teachers, his 2009 economic-stimulus package and the subsequent Education Jobs Fund did just that.
Obama is running a campaign based on results. Romney is just running his mouth.
Omar Lopez has been in the struggle to reform the public education system since being part of the first graduating class of Beginning with Children Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. Before joining DFER his background was in teaching English Language Arts in New York City Public Schools at the 5th, 9th and 11th grade level.