November 01, 2012 03:47 AM UTC

More National Ink for Michael Johnston

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• by: Colorado Pols

State Senator Michael Johnston just keeps adding to his profile as something of a legislative wunderkind, yesterday earning the loftiest of encomiums from Forbes magazine.

From a piece entitled (we kid you not) “The Best Speech About Education — Ever:”

Mike Johnston (Mississippi Delta ’97) – State Senator, Colorado from Teach For America Events on Vimeo.

Every now and then a speech comes along that reminds me why public speaking is still essential and why I said back in 2003 that the only reason to give a speech is to change the world.

I had tears in my eyes by the end of the speech, and you will too. Johnston’s dedication to education and the real progress he has been able to make deserve to be celebrated.  Watch the speech and reaffirm your faith in teaching and teachers – and most of all students.

[T]his speech will have you standing up and cheering for education by the end.  It’s 21 minutes that are worth spending on the future of our children.  Watch it, and tell everyone you know about it.  And thanks, Mike, for your service to education.

It would, of course, be more surprising if Johnston didn’t give a good speech. After years as a state senator, high school principal, and three Ivy League degrees, he should know exactly what to say and how to say it.

Still, this particular Forbes write-up, alongside a 2010 column by Waiting for Superman director Davis Guggenheim proclaiming him one of the “world’s most powerful educators,” only underscores the fact that Johnston’s political star is rising faster than almost anyone else in Colorado state government.

Where it shoots to next is anybody’s guess. His close ties in the Obama administration offer Johnston the opportunity to shape national education policy if the president scores a second term, but Johnston may just opt to stay in office here in Colorado.

Doing so puts him on the short list for CD-1 — although incumbent Diana DeGette probably has at least a decade left on the hill — and gives him the chance to keep pushing for reforms in Colorado.

Which, while exceedingly controversial at home, should earn him plenty more national press — not to mention keynote addresses.