Hillary Changing Her Tune on 'It Takes a Village'

Apparently now that Hillary Clinton has her eyes set on the presidency, she’s jettisoning the “It Takes a Village” meme for which she is famous and returning to the idea that parents are indeed responsible for their children. 

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “Wednesday was a day off from politics,” as Clinton met with parents of young children to push for the “Too Small to Fail” program, co-sponsored by the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, along with the nonprofit Next Generation organization of San Francisco.

According to Clinton, the “Too Small to Fail” campaign attempts to inform parents that “parents are a child’s first teachers, and the family is the first school.”

Clinton spoke at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. She added that if parents “talk, read, and sing to their babies,” the children would do better in school.

The Chronicle, which called the attendees “squirming kids and harried parents,” said Clinton intoned, “I could not be more enthusiastic about what’s happening here in Oakland. We want to empower parents to close that (achievement) gap” that often shows up as soon as children from low-income families start school.

Jim Steyer, co-founder of Next Generation, echoed, “Research tells us it’s simple — every word counts, and the more parents talk to their young children, the more those children learn.”

Clinton concluded, “We want to know what works. When we prove (the program) can work in Oakland, we want it to go statewide and countrywide.”