I wish I’d been at this debate, too. At almost 1,000 words, perhaps Danny Reiter of PolitickerMD took some pointers from the monoblogue school of debate coverage. More importantly, it was a point/counterpoint exchange that accentuated the differences between the two.
Perhaps the most interesting passage was one that Kratovil made, referring to bipartisanship. Reiter notes:
“I’ve had appointments from both sides of the aisle unlike you,” said Kratovil, who claimed Harris only takes positions with a finger in the wind. “What people wanna do is say what people want to hear. That’s what my opponent consistently does.”
That might be something the DCCC would like to hear, considering their commercial dumps on Harris for being “lonely.” Doesn’t sound like “finger in the wind” to me! Maybe Frank is trying to show his “independence” by not being on the same page here? There’s a little bit of slack in that leash I suppose but it’s not going to get too far.
While I’m at it, did that $800 billion-plus bailout solve our problems or not? When Frank was at Salisbury University Monday, the answer was yes. From Sharahn Boykin’s article in the Daily Times:
Even though Kratovil opposed the initial bailout plan, he said he was happy to see Republicans and Democrats come together on the issue.
“We solved the crisis, but we don’t always do something to solve the issue,” he said.
Notice the article said, “initial bailout plan.” Was it the extra pork slathered on that changed Frank’s mind? We don’t know. Naturally, Andy Harris responded to the lack of clarity too:
“Kratovil is dead wrong. The crisis is far from solved, and the Wall Street bailout was the wrong approach” said Andy Harris. “I will go to Washington to solve the economic issues facing our nation, because there is a lot more that needs to be done.”
Added Harris campaign manager Chris Meekins:
“If you ask the mom who has to pay over $50 to fill up her minivan to take her kids to soccer practice; she won’t say the crisis is solved. If you ask a factory worker who is getting laid off at the end of the month; he won’t say the crisis is solved. If you ask a recent college graduate who is struggling to find his first job; he won’t say the crisis is solved. If you ask a retiree whose pension is shrinking daily, she won’t say it is solved. Kratovil’s statement shows he is not ready to go to Washington.”
Actually, Frank Kratovil is ready to go to Washington – whenever a special interest group or DCCC head Congressman Chris Van Hollen has a fundraiser for him, I’m sure he’ll be there.
In fairness, here’s the actual reason Kratovil showed up at SU: to talk about federal financial aid programs.
“A college education is more important now than it has ever been, if we want to compete globally we need to get rid of the barriers, make loans accessible, and lower the cost of higher education so everyone who has the desire to learn has the opportunity,” said Kratovil. “Access to safe and secure education loans should not be jeopardized by the current economic woes; education is the ultimate investment in the future and it should be treated as such.”
As disclosure, about half of my college education funding came from a loan from a local bank guaranteed by the federal government. The biggest issue I have with Frank’s stance though is a question: what barriers do we have now? Granted, I haven’t been in the education loan business for about 23 years but what are you saying? Are you trying to put even more young people in hock? Wasn’t the first loan problem faced by the federal government students not being able to pay back their loans? With a refinance I made, it took me fifteen years to pay off my student loans and the total amount I owed might pay for a semester now. I can only imagine the hardship placed on young people starting out because college is so expensive.
But perhaps college is expensive because the administrators and beancounters have figured out how to get their own hands into the federal pot, and those funds aren’t always going into the educational side. Much like public schools, administration seems to take a bigger bite of the campus budget.
The federal government also places strings on the money they give to colleges, particularly in who they choose to admit. With some exceptions (Hillsdale College in Michigan is one which comes to mind) schools gladly accept the federal largesse and tend to promote the experience rather than the education.
If you’ll pardon a brief digression, perhaps it’s time to rethink the value of a college education in our society. At the very least, it’s time to demand that they return to those educational values that carried our students for almost two centuries in America.
Returning to topic for one more point, it’s obvious Frank (and Senator Mikulski, who graced our side of the bay with her presence – maybe she reads here too?) was playing to the crowd at SU – remember his words? “What people wanna do is say what people want to hear.” Sounds like politics-as-usual to me.
