We seem to be more concerned today with the physical treatment of terrorists than the health and welfare of our most impoverished children. While the president works hard to compensate to our international friends for what he perceives as American arrogance, he is missing the biggest opportunity to show this nation really cares by permitting a small but successful lifeline for 2,000 Washington, DC poor children to die a slow death.

That lifeline is a scholarship program providing children from low-income homes a ticket to attend a private school of their choice, with the cost being borne by the government, in lieu of attending a neighborhood school near drug dens, pollution and barbed wire fences.

We have been talking to real people in Washington, DC about this program. We have gone to the same neighborhoods that produce the appalling statistics paraded daily in the news. Most residents do not know about this program. Those that do, do not understand why Congress — or anyone — would oppose it. There must be something else to it, they say? Why is it only 2,000 kids?

The reality is that they expect their leadership to know what’s good for kids. And most loyal DC citizens believe that, indeed, they have a friend in the White House. That may be the case on some issues, but not with respect to real education reform.

In the last few days alone, Mr. Obama has taken a pretty bad beating from friends and pundits in the news media. NPR/Fox News contributor Juan Williams has taken him to task. Staunch supporter and advisor, Kevin Chavous in partnership with Anthony Williams, former City Councilman and Mayor, respectively, challenged him to accept the program, and the notion of choice, for all needy children. Perhaps a little farther from home but just as sane was George Will’s column pointing out the one-two punch to the program thrown by Duncan. “Not content with seeing the program set to die after the 2009-10 school year, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (former head of Chicago’s school system, which never enrolled an Obama child) gratuitously dashed even the limited hopes of another 200 children and their parents.”

Bloggers are working overtime on this issue, and parents are out day by day in the city rallying and talking about how best to get Congress’ attention.

Wouldn’t it be great if they could be focused more appropriately on the needs of their families, their jobs or the next big community issue of concern? These people don’t have the hundreds of paid staff that the opponents of this program employ at various education groups, unions, and government offices. The time they spend on this is entirely their own – and on their own dime –  as they are so enormously frustrated and upset that this program is, for all intents and purposes, gone.

Their only hope is that Congress will take it up again in May, and maybe in the fall they will see the fruits of their labor. We will see.