"IT WAS NOT A BIG DEAL, BUT IT BECAME A BIG DEAL." That's what former New York City School Chancellor Joseph Fernandez told the Los Angeles Times about Rudy Giuliani's attempt as mayor to shift the focus away from education reform and better resources for schools and toward the "Children of the Rainbow" diversity curriculum. That program, though focused on ethnic and racial multiculturalism, also taught elementary school kids about homosexuality through the now-infamous picture book Heather Has Two Mommies. The whole piece about Giuliani's education record is worth a read, as it hammers home beautifully the trademarks of Giuliani leadership: big promises of reform followed by defunding of crucial programs, shifting the focus toward decisive cultural battles, and brash alienation of key players in the bureacracy. I can't imagine a more disastrous follow-up to the Bush administration. --Dana Goldstein
