MIAMI — Joining forces with the Bush family, President Barack Obama on Friday tried to lift up his education agenda in politically vital Florida, saying his government is determined to help the nation’s worst-performing schools rebound. Obama said: “I am not willing to give up on any school in America.”
Obama’s stop at an improving high school offered the bipartisan imagery he intended: the president on stage and in step with Jeb Bush, the popular former governor of Florida.
Bush is the brother of former President George W. Bush — the man Obama succeeded in the White House after long assailing his record on the campaign trail.
“I do not accept failure here in America,” Obama said, with Jeb Bush right over his shoulder, during a speech at Miami Central Senior High School.
“I believe the status quo is unacceptable. It is time to change it,” Obama said. “And it’s time to come together, just like Jeb and I are doing today, coming from different parties. But we come together not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans, to lift up all of our schools.”
Obama’s bipartisan overture comes as the president and Democrats are in the midst of a partisan standoff with Republicans over budget cuts. Obama said he will need at least some Republican support if he is to resolve that divide and pass any substantial legislation, including education reform, in the second half of his term.
Obama’s education agenda is built around themes of empowering teachers, demanding accountability, enticing states to raise their academic standards and trying to get schools to have cultures of high expectations.
Obama’s trip, though, had partisan intentions too. He was headlining two fundraisers to raise an estimated total of $1 million for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
