Obama gave $350 million Common Core contract to publisher, got $65-million book deal in return?

[NightHawkeye]

From the "Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours", files: Obama gave Common Core contract to publisher, got $65-million book deal in return?

As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let's turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once penniless President Obama, who left public office a very, very rich man.

Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create Commoncore text and Pearson gave Obama a $65 million dollar book deal in return.
...
That sounds like a classic bribe. You give me this big contract, and I'll kick back some to you at a later date. Chicago Way. The book cash flowed to Obama in 2017. Pearson, incidentally, seemed to lose money anyway, given the public distaste for Obama's federal takeover of education via Common Core, which extended to states cutting the program.

President Trump complained about the apparent quid pro quo last summer.

It's not the first time Obama has done things like this, either. IWB notes that Obama's net neutrality stance benefited Netflix, and surprise, surprise, he got a lucrative deal with Netflix, too.

One hand washes the other.​

 

[Tanj]

American Thinker quoting Investmentwatchblog.

What, no Federalist?

Hilarious.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Pretty good deal maker, that Obama.

 

[tulc]

uhmmm...I don't know which Chicago the author of the OP was talking about when she said:

You give me this big contract, and I'll kick back some to you at a later date. Chicago Way.

But in real world Chicago? If you're getting money to do something? That money is given before anything gets done, not years afterwards. The Chicago Way isn't some Godfather movie scene, where a bribe recipient puts his arm around someone and says "Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.".
tulc(wonders who would think this is how it's done?)

 

[Hank77]

Pearson Publishing is deeply rooted in the North American education system. They've been a main, if not the main, publisher of educational material in the US since at least 2005.
No profit left behind
Pearson Education - Wikipedia

 

[iluvatar5150]

There was a bidding war for the next Obama book:
Bidding hits $60M on Obamas’ book deal: report

If Pearson won the bid, they won the bid.

But hey, don't let that get in the way of a good smear campaign. I know you guys gotta figure out some way to make it look like Trump isn't the only crooked president of this decade.

 

[usexpat97]

Oh. Well, this changes everything. I thought we should impeach Trump and convict him for treason, but.... Obama got a book deal.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Sounds like a slander piece by American Thinker. Obama didn't just "give" the contract to Pearson.


Pearson Wins Major Contract From Common-Core Testing Consortium - Market Brief

The global education company Pearson has landed a major contract to administer tests aligned to the common-core standards, a project described as being of “unprecedented scale” in the U.S. testing arena by one official who helped negotiate it.

The decision to award the contract, announced Friday, was made by a group of states developing tests linked to the common core for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two main consortia of states creating exams to match the standards.
​

The 2001 No Child Left Behind led to a Pearson contract as well. That was in the Bush administration.
The Common Core contract hasn't been a cash cow. The WSJ and WaPO both published articles about that.

The Obama book will be published by Penquin Randson House, the majority owner of which is Bertelsmann. Penquin published books for both Clintons as well. Pearson sold their 22% ownership in Penquin in 2017 for $1 billion, which they did because they needed the cash and reinvest in their own business which was having issues.


Trump seems to really want to point fingers at others, instead of himself.

 

[FreeinChrist]

There was a bidding war for the next Obama book:
Bidding hits $60M on Obamas’ book deal: report

If Pearson won the bid, they won the bid.

But hey, don't let that get in the way of a good smear campaign. I know you guys gotta figure out some way to make it look like Trump isn't the only crooked president of this decade.

Yep, companies competed for their book.

 

[iluvatar5150]

nm

 

[Skreeper]

From the "Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours", files: Obama gave Common Core contract to publisher, got $65-million book deal in return?

As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let's turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once penniless President Obama, who left public office a very, very rich man.

Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create Commoncore text and Pearson gave Obama a $65 million dollar book deal in return.
...
That sounds like a classic bribe. You give me this big contract, and I'll kick back some to you at a later date. Chicago Way. The book cash flowed to Obama in 2017. Pearson, incidentally, seemed to lose money anyway, given the public distaste for Obama's federal takeover of education via Common Core, which extended to states cutting the program.

President Trump complained about the apparent quid pro quo last summer.

It's not the first time Obama has done things like this, either. IWB notes that Obama's net neutrality stance benefited Netflix, and surprise, surprise, he got a lucrative deal with Netflix, too.

One hand washes the other.​

Is the Trump campaign paying you extra for your effort to deflect from Trump to Obama?

 

[NightHawkeye]

Sounds like a slander piece by American Thinker.

What FACTS did American Thinker get wrong?

 

[Hank77]

What FACTS did American Thinker get wrong?

Did someone say that they got any facts wrong?

 

[whatbogsends]

Sounds like a slander piece by American Thinker. Obama didn't just "give" the contract to Pearson.


Pearson Wins Major Contract From Common-Core Testing Consortium - Market Brief

The global education company Pearson has landed a major contract to administer tests aligned to the common-core standards, a project described as being of “unprecedented scale” in the U.S. testing arena by one official who helped negotiate it.

The decision to award the contract, announced Friday, was made by a group of states developing tests linked to the common core for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two main consortia of states creating exams to match the standards.
​

The 2001 No Child Left Behind led to a Pearson contract as well. That was in the Bush administration.
The Common Core contract hasn't been a cash cow. The WSJ and WaPO both published articles about that.

The Obama book will be published by Penquin Randson House, the majority owner of which is Bertelsmann. Penquin published books for both Clintons as well. Pearson sold their 22% ownership in Penquin in 2017 for $1 billion, which they did because they needed the cash and reinvest in their own business which was having issues.


Trump seems to really want to point fingers at others, instead of himself.

It's definitely a slander piece from the American Thinker, which didn't do any basic fact checking (or, if they did, intentionally omitted them), which was then put forth in these forums without any objective evaluation of the merit of the article.

Obama was going to be paid big money because he's an extremely popular figure and people want to consume his product. That the organization who won the bid are someone who has previously received government money (both while Obama was in office and before he was in office) isn't any sort of indication of corruption, despite the slanderous claims in the OP.

 

[whatbogsends]

What FACTS did American Thinker get wrong?

Pearson Publishing didn't "give Obama a $65 million book deal", they outbid other publishers to get the book deal. They don't even mention that other publishers bid on the book contract, making it either a lie of omission (if they knew) or failure to do due diligence (if they didn't). Either way, the article is a slanderous piece of garbage.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Pearson Publishing didn't "give Obama a $65 million book deal", they outbid other publishers to get the book deal.

... in other words, they gave him more money than the deal was worth.

 

[whatbogsends]

... in other words, they gave him more money than the deal was worth.

Your response is a false statement. That's not what "winning a bid" means.

You don't address the facts or admit the clear omissions in your OP, yet continue to try to misrepresent the facts to slander a political enemy.

 

[DaisyDay]

Furthermore, Obama didn't "give" Pearson the contract - they went through proper channels. Obama didn't interfere in the awarding of the contract the way Donald personally interfered in the Ukrainian military aid after it was vetted and awarded to coerce a personal favor to a country under Russian siege.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Your response is a false statement. That's not what "winning a bid" means.

You don't address the facts or admit the clear omissions in your OP, yet continue to try to misrepresent the facts to slander a political enemy.

Was the winning bid in line with the other bids? Or was the winning bid an outlier?

 

[Arcangl86]

What FACTS did American Thinker get wrong?

Obama giving the contract to Pearson for one.