Our First Meathead President?

David Weigel | May 22, 2007

This will come as a shock, so grab onto something and steady your nerves: Hillary Clinton has a rotten idea.

Hillary Clinton proposed expanding pre-kindergarten classes to serve all of America's 4-year-olds in a policy address today at North Beach Elementary School in Miami Beach, Florida, providing them with a high-quality early education that studies show leads to higher achievement and graduation rates and higher-earning careers. More than 80 percent of 4-year-olds are currently not enrolled in state pre-kindergarten programs.

"Every child - not just children whose parents can afford it - should have the same chance to succeed and to fulfill his or her God-given potential," Clinton said. "As President, I will establish universal pre-kindergarten education through a federal-state partnership, based on state flexibility, that ensures every four-year-old child in America has access to a high-quality pre-kindergarten program."

Hillary's plan would expand access to the more than 3 million 4-year-olds who are not enrolled in state pre-kindergarten programs, providing states with matching funds to devise their own programs and requiring that classes be taught by highly-trained teachers.

In other words a national version of Rob Reiner's Proposition 82, the boondoggle defeated by 20 points in the rock-ribbed conservative empire of California.