Less is more

The best thing about federal efforts in education is that they fail | Joel Belz

It was bad enough to hear the proposals from the Barack Obama campaign. His wife Michelle was in southern Indiana, holding forth at a daycare center there, and promising voters that a President Obama will do everything he can to make sure the federal government significantly increases its role in preschool education.

According to the local TV station, Mrs. Obama had organized the casual discussion so she could "listen carefully" to prospective voters—especially women—talk about their needs. And now she was hearing tale after tale "about balancing work, kids, and keeping food on the table and gas in the tank." They say it's harder to do these days and Mrs. Obama says she and her husband understand all that.