In general, I think Ruben Navarrette from the San Diego Union-Tribune gets it right when it comes to education issues. There are lots of other places where we disagree, but on education, I think he does a great job. This column from Sunday is a great example. Ruben discusses how the bright start by President Obama on education reform issues has been dimmed by some recent comments by him and his minions.

Give Obama credit for what he got right. Somewhere along the line, perhaps during his stint as a community organizer, he figured out the three great truths about our mediocre public schools: They’re plagued by low expectations; they exist for the benefit of the adults who work there, not the students; and many teachers will resist, with every fiber of their being, taking responsibility for what students are learning because they know it wouldn’t reflect well on them.

Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative, which would evaluate teachers based on student performance and reward those states and school districts that practice innovative approaches to educating students, is a major step in the right direction.

Yet, unfortunately – in light of some of his recent public statements and his administration’s plans to water down the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind education reform law – it’s clear that Obama still has a lot to learn about what’s broken in our public schools and how to fix it.

Real reformers should know better than to pursue incompatible agendas.

You can’t serve the interests of students and parents by demanding accountability from public schools and then turn around and pander to teachers unions by dismantling NCLB, which holds them accountable.

Real reformers should not be so quick to fault previous attempts to improve the schools just because they came from the other side of the aisle – i.e., NCLB, a law considered President George W. Bush’s top domestic accomplishment – especially when they’re proposing a reform plan that bears some resemblance to what they are criticizing.

Real reformers should not lament educators who “teach to the test” – as Obama did in response to a question about NCLB during a town-hall meeting in Nashua, N.H. – while pursuing an agenda that would rely heavily on testing to see what students know and who taught it to them.

Real reformers should not sound the alarm about the urgency of the educational crisis and then quietly push back the date by which students are supposed to be performing at grade level in math and reading. The Obama administration wants to do away with the target date of 2014 for bringing every American child to academic proficiency.

This isn’t just wrongheaded, it’s dangerous. For one thing, there goes the accountability, even if critics insist the goal was never realistic to begin with. Well, obviously not if Obama is willing to throw in the towel four years before the deadline. Look at how Fortune 500 companies do things. They often set goals that are – by design – unrealistic. Then they run as fast as they can toward them. The idea is to never give up.

The same principle should apply to anyone who is truly committed to education reform. For a while, it looked as though Obama was solidly in this camp. But now, because of his double-talk, we can’t be sure.

As I've mentioned before, my Barack Obama loving sister had me read the education chapter from his book before the election to see if we could find common ground. I didn't really find much to complain about that chapter. I was similarly happy to see the President and Secretary Duncan saying all the right things about education reform. I agree with Ruben that some of the recent comments seem to reflect a softening of his resolve on education reform. Perhaps the trouble he's had with some of his other priorities such as health insurance reform and the economy have left him a little less confident and more open to negotiations with opposing views as he tries to get something passed that he can call an accomplishment.

Hopefully what comes out the sausage-making process in Washington DC will help more than it hurts the effort to improve student achievement and close achievement gaps. Yes, the phrase "fat chance" comes to mind. I'm just hoping for the change he promised in public education.