Fact Check: McCain Ad: ‘Education’
Announcer: Education Week says Obama “hasn’t made a significant mark on education.” That he’s “elusive” on accountability. A “staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly.” Obama’s one accomplishment? Legislation to teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergartners. Learning about sex before learning to read? Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.
The ad’s opening line that Sen. Barack Obama “hasn’t made a significant mark on education” does indeed come from an Education Week story published March 7, 2007 . The story made that assessment about Mr. Obama’s eight years in the Illinois Senate and then-two years in the U.S. Senate. But the story’s broader context was that Mr. Obama had gained experience on education issues, particularly teacher quality and leadership development, while leading Chicago’s portion of the Annenberg Challenge School Reform Initiative for three years beginning in 1995.
Meanwhile, Education Week has written other stories saying that Sen. McCain has generally sidestepped education in favor of other issues he’s been more closely identified with in his Senate career, such as campaign...
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