Post # 209, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
It is not just the economy...it's schools too.
There is an old political truth that men are driven by the economy while women are driven by schools. Sometimes the roles are reversed, buy my experience is that the truth pretty much holds, even today.
Perhaps that is why the earth quake like political tremor hit San Francisco last week--with the electorate recalling three liberal school board members by a huge vote. Apparently the unexpected recall occurred because they prioritized naming schools, rather than opening them. Apparently race was at the center on one school, the highly competitive Lowell School, with half the students being of Asian descent. The Asian parents wanted their children in school learning.
One of the ousted school board members accused the objecting Asian parents "using white supremacist thinking." Apparently other parents have similar feelings, with over 3,500 students withdrawn from public schools since the start of the pandemic.
For serious students of national politics, it should have been easy to see this backlash to closing schools coming with the upset election of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin in Virginia on the same issue. The closing of public schools in the beginning was probably in the students' and public's health interest, and aligned with the political demands of the school unions. But as the vaccines, masking, and distancing started taking effect, some Democrats are failing to read the public mood correctly. For liberal San Francisco to misread the will of the largely Democratic base is either arrogance or ignorance, or both. There are now about 6 months to go until the mid term elections and both parties better do a better job of understanding their constituents.
Otherwise "The Woke may wake up to a far bigger shock in November."