I have decided to support Obama. I hope this will be read by supporters of all candidates.

[calteacherguy]

I have been leaning towards Obama for awhile. And then few days ago, I heard that he was supporting merit pay for teachers. Merit pay is a politically loaded term, and my immediate response was to cross Obama off my list. I still don't dislike any politician focusing the blame on teachers, and I'm still not completely O.K. with what Obama said. On a more positive note, however, he did say:

that he would not use "arbitrary tests" to link pay to performance. "I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it too you, I'm going to do it with you."

He promised more pay "across the board" for teachers and extra incentives for those willing to work in lower-performing schools in urban and rural areas, though he noted that he would release the details of those goals and other education policies at a later date.

Obama was firm in his denunciation of the No Child Left Behind law, saying he would not support its reauthorization, an issue now pending before Congress, unless the reliance on standardized test scores was softened and more federal funding was poured into compliance.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/8335627.html

All of those are good things, but he needs to do away with the term "merit pay," because it suggests that teachers who do not get "merit pay" have no merit. Incentive pay would be a far better term, and I'm going to suggest it to his campaign.

Obama was against the war from the beginning. That's important to me. He has a broad world view, a degree in international relations and has taught constitutional law. He's done community organizing in the inner city. Those are the kinds of experiences, education, and values we need in our next President.


And now, let me tell you about the walk I took today, because it's the most important reason. (You'll see how it relates in a moment, and thank you for reading this far).

I went on a walk this afternoon in the eastbay hills of the San Francisco bay. I was soon walking along a trail I had been on before I like because it has a great, panoramic view from the South bay all the way to the Bay Bridge, the golden gate, and the San Francisco and Oakland skylines. I walked a little farther down the trail than I had before, and soon came to a grove of trees that had obviously been planted recently along the trail. I wondered about this...was this private property, some sort of an orchard? I did not think so. The trees were all carefully planted, and did not appear to be fruit or nut trees. Perhaps, I thought, the trees were put there by the regional parks service, but why? Where did the tree lined trail go? It must go somewhere special I thought. Perhaps an even better view? So, I followed the trail.

Eventually, I was walking up knoll towards a large, circular cement object about 30 feet across and three feet high. A gigantic well of some sort, I thought? When I got to the top of the knoll I saw there was an opening and plaques around the circumference. Ah, it must be plaques pointing out various landmarks, surely. I walked inside. It wasn't.

There was a series of plaques, each with a year and the names of children in the county who had died as a result of violent crime. I stayed there awhile reading the names on the plaques. Most were from Oakland, a few were from the suburbs. Their ages were all listed. Some were babies, some were teenagers, some somewhere in between. There were lots of names. I started to wonder if a tree had been planted for each one. I don't know, but I thought about that as I walked through the trees.

Then late this evening (no it's morning now) I came across this video clip. Please watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HQTtEXiGuE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkonthesethings%2Ewordpress%2Ecom%2F

What he said. That's the most important reason. Obama is our most prepared candidate, and he's the only one who can truly help begin to heal this nation's soul. With his election, it truly would be a new America for all the world to see.

An America that values eveyone, equally.

He will be a great President.