William Moloney, Contributing Editor's blog

Very possibly the principal casualty of the tidal wave of red ink now engulfing almost all states will be the legendary political clout of public sector unions, and the most consequential collateral damage may be the greatly weakened re-election prospects of Barack Obama.

William Moloney, former Colorado Commissioner of Education and Contributing Editor to A Line of Sight, offers a solution for the necessary budget cuts in K-12 education – increase class size. In a guest editorial for the Denver Post, Moloney bursts the myth that smaller classes automatically mean higher performing students. They don't. In fact, there is abundant evidence to the contrary. Teacher quality, not class size, he says is the key.

The 18th century English lexicographer Samuel Johnson famously discovered virtue in the prospect of being hanged in the morning because said circumstance “concentrated the mind wonderfully”. Similarly public officials all across Colorado will be having their minds concentrated wonderfully as they commence what one described as the “budget year from Hell”.

The headline blares “Obama endorses deficit commission plan”, but as Politico points out, “the endorsement comes so late that it risks being seen as just a ploy to win over swing Democratic senators whose votes the White House needs to lift the federal debt ceiling.”

When praising his own “accomplishments” Barack Obama has an unusual fondness for the word “unprecedented” though invariably his assertions lack any historical validity. In contrast the voters of Massachusetts can now claim an accomplishment that entirely justifies the use of that word.