Kids Missing From State of the Union

“Last week — the morning after President Obama’s State of the Union Speech — I spoke to 450 National Head Start Association teachers, managers, and leaders on the topic of “sustaining excellence.” This group probably has a more direct, personal and intimate understanding of the special challenges facing low-income children than anyone else in the country. Many have devoted their entire careers to early childhood development and while their commitment was unshaken, there was a weariness borne of repeated and distracting budget battles and the failure of policymakers to truly appreciate the critical importance of what they do.

In introducing me, their president, Yasmina Vinci, noted with some disappointment that in the president’s speech the night before he had not mentioned either Head Start or early childhood development. At first I thought it was just the classic disappointment shared by countless activists inside the beltway — ranging from environmentalists to labor unions to defense contractors who lobby for weeks and months for even a passing reference in the State of the Union address to some item on their organization’s agenda. The glow of the presidential spotlight yields a coveted warmth in which to bask.

But as I thought about it I realized that Yasmina’s disappointment was less personal, more profound, and more warranted. For President Obama had missed an opportunity to do what a president can do best, and perhaps what only a president can do, which is to tell the nation not only what it wants to know, but what it needs to know — by making the connections we may not see ourselves, but of which the experts are acutely aware. “

Click here to read the entire article on The Huffington Post.