“In Break With Precedent, Obama Envoys Are Denied Extensions Past Inauguration Day” (nytimes) is kind of funny. The reason that politically-appointed ambassadors want to keep their jobs during the reign of the Trumpenfuhrer is that they don’t want their kids subjected to the world’s most lavishly funded schools:
In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.
The directive has nonetheless upended the personal lives of many ambassadors, who are scrambling to secure living arrangements and acquire visas allowing them to remain in their countries so their children can remain in school, the diplomats said.
One family might be okay with returning, as long as the kids can attend a private school:
In the Czech Republic, they said, Ambassador Andrew H. Schapiro is seeking housing in Prague as well as lobbying his children’s Chicago-based school to break with policy and accept them back midyear.
(I’m going to assume that a public school in the Chicago area has to accept kids no matter when they show up.)
All of this raises another question… we now have nationwide “Common Core” standards for public schools, right? Yet from talking with K-12 students it seems that different school districts, even ones within the same state, teach things in different orders. Why isn’t there a nationwide standard syllabus so that a student who moves from one Common Core school to a different one is not out of sync by more than a week or two (the two schools might have different calendars)? If there is some advantage to a specific order of material, why can’t the school that has developed that export it to everyone else?
Related:
- Smartest Kids in the World Review
- How did the folks covered by this cruel policy get their jobs? “Obama hands out plum ambassador posts to big campaign donors” explains.
Foreigners working on visas in the US have to leave immediately after the visa and/or employment ends. My family and friends have left the country at great inconvenience, financial costs and lost opportunity costs.
Of course, that can be avoided if one is willing to be “undocumented”. There seems to be lot of support for that nowadays. Maybe the ambassadors could use that option? Or other countries are not that supportive of undocumented-ness?
Phil, please stop referring to president-elect Trump as the Trumpenfuhrer. It is disrespectful and sort of compares Trump to a Nazi. His own daughter is a Jew for god sakes. I think you are better than that!
It should also be noted that military families pick up and move during the school year all the time. Welcome to the real world snowflakes.
@toucan sam: It’s a parody of the hysteria and wild exaggeration associated with Trump. But I guess that’s Poe’s Law for you.
On topic, I suspect Phil is using the same rhetorical technique when he suggests all schools should be in week-by-week lockstep. Based on what he has written early about project-based education I think he would favour more flexibility, not less.
The Trumpenfuhrer angle is essential to this. Folks who supported Obama and Hillary constantly reminded us that Donald Trump would be a dangerous dictator. It was not simply that Hillary was a better choice. Donald Trump was unacceptable and immoral. Spending 15 seconds voting for him made you stupid, racist, and sexist.
It seems safe to assume that Obama’s political appointees are supporters of Obama and, likely, Hillary. They didn’t want us to spend 15 seconds voting for Dictator Donald, but they want to actually work for him for about 150 days.
I guess the only thing scarier than a dictator who would bring American democracy to an end is the idea that one’s child would spend half a year in an American government-run school.
IIRC there were a whole bunch of lib’rels who threatened to move to another country if Trump was elected. These folks seem to be among the few willing to follow up on the threats or at least to stay in the foreign country they are already in.
I don’t understand Phil, are you saying “Trumpenfuhrer” sarcastically? I voted for Donald Trump and I am not sexist and not racist. I might be a little stupid but there is nothing wrong with that is there?
toucan sam: I wouldn’t say that it is sarcastic. It is the simplest summary of how people opposed to Donald Trump’s election characterized him. (As someone who votes in Massachusetts there was no point in me either supporting or opposing a national candidate; neither Trump not Hillary spent a lot of time addressing the political issues that I think are most important so I didn’t donate money to either, for example.)
So if it’s not sarcastic it is true. “It is the simplest summary of how people opposed to Donald Trump’s election characterized him”. You either agree with the people who opposed him or you don’t. I have always suspected you are a trump supporter but you have not tipped your hat. Unless you admit to your views I will reaffirm my own. It is disrespectful to compare our wonderful president elect to a nazi.
toucan: I don’t know how I can explain it further. The original posting is about people who were appointed by Barack Obama. If their thinking regarding Trump is consistent with what I see on Facebook and in the New York Times then, from their perspective, he is the Trumpenfuhrer. That’s one thing that makes their interest in working for him, at least for five months, interesting.
Philg: I think you’re not quite right about who the ambassadors are. I speak from having been the kid of a 25-year career diplomat. My dad never quite made ambassador, but ended his career on a high note as the head of mission of a major European city.
The diplomatic corps consists mostly of professional state department focus. A typical embassy has a mix of state department analysts, career diplomats, CIA station chiefs masquerading as lowly flunkys, etc. The actual post of ambassador is a mixed bag. Any reasonably desirable place — like Japan, France, the UK, etc — is filled at the top by a political appointee. Many of these appointees are big campaign donors or are politically connected to the President who appointed them. The Deputy Chief of Mission — DCM — actually runs the operation; the Ambassador hosts fancy parties. Other less desirable places (think Yugoslavia or Sierra Leone) have State Department veterans, who are career diplomats.
My two cents: for the political appointees, I’m not especially sympathetic here. You live by the sword of political patronage, you die by it. I can see Trump breaking with tradition here and its not crazy. Why should Obama’s pals get to stay in a cushy spot when his own pals could get that same spot right away? For the career diplomats in the hell-hole locations, yanking them would be dumb and disruptive. They weren’t placed there because of political ideology, they were placed there because of subject country knowledge and general administrative ability.
You might wonder to what extent the State Department is generally infused with a pro-Federal Government worldview, like the rest of the Federal Government / beltway. I don’t know what it’s like these days. My dad was a diplomat from 1975 to 1995 or so, and during that period the cold war dominated foreign relations. He reports that State had a distinct “American Interest First” worldview. I know he has voted Democrat, Republican, and Independent personally.
PN: The career diplomats are not included in what the NY Times calls “Obama envoys” nor in the January 20, 2017 termination policy. It is only those ambassadors who were appointed by Obama from outside the professional diplomats. http://thehill.com/policy/international/311197-donors-get-19-top-jobs-at-embassies explains how these folks got their jobs.
I didn’t mean to suggest that career diplomats would be especially supportive of one candidate or another. (The career diplomats that I’ve met seem to be primarily interested in their paychecks and perks, such as private school tuition.) I tweaked the original posting to clarify.
Having to switch schools during senior year of high school with five months left to go sure would suck. Can the affected kids typically get around visa issues and crash with friends for the rest of the year?
Bobby: I’m sure that it could be a paperwork hassle to get a 6-month non-working visa for a child to finish up high school. But if we assume that people who raised millions of dollars for the Democrats are themselves passionate about the Democratic Party, consider the language used by passionate Democrats about the evils of a Trump Administration. On the one side there is a paperwork and bureaucracy issue (getting a visa and an apartment) while on the other side there is a moral issue (working for an executive whom your party characterizes as a dictator, racist, sexist, etc.).
on the other side there is a moral issue (working for an executive whom your party characterizes as a dictator, racist, sexist, etc.).
That’s just kayfabe for the rubes. The minute the election was over, Hillary, Obama, Biden, etc. made it clear that all that stuff about Trump was just “business” and nothing personal. Before Trump ran for office (and all the years he was a donor to Democrat candidates) none of these people ever questioned his character – the Clintons belonged to his golf club, etc. It’s not their fault that some rubes took the kayfabe seriously and refuse to chill out now that the show is over.
“I don’t know how I can explain it further.” Phil remember I do consider myself stupid. Not racist or sexist however and I am a Trump supporter. You seem frustrated with my lack of comprehension. I do apologize for my stupidity.
You are correct that the CPS has to accept midyear transfers. That’s true of all public school districts.