Look No Further Than Obama's Disastrous Education Policies

to know why he is becoming a complete failure as president.

Just look at Michelle Rhee's experience in D.C. as an example of the failure of these destructive "reforms":

At the heart of interest in last month’s departure of District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is a far more serious set of questions about President Barack Obama and his all-too-similar prescriptions for improving public education. Can Obama learn the lesson of Rhee’s failure?

As the take-no-prisoners sheriff of urban education, Rhee demanded results, irrespective of circumstances and differences. Huge classes? Wretched facilities? Poor preparation? Substance abuse? Poverty, crime, and domestic misery? Salary too low to recruit consistent competence? Rhee always had the same blunt answer: No excuses. She challenged teachers, students, parents and principals to overcome any and all obstacles. “Go hard or go home,” she liked to say, and she meant it.

Qualified education analysts usually questioned whether Rhee’s cowboy-slash-coach “challenge education” approach made for good teaching and learning. But it sure made great television. In the noonday glare projected by film crews, Chancellor Rhee painted black hats on the teachers, knocked back a sasparilla, and strode out to the O.K. corral. She fired, demoted, and penalized a thousand faculty and administrators who, she said, failed to “get results.” No excuses, bang! Stop whining, bang! bang!