The Progressive has an insightful commentary on how President Obama’s invests in children. The following is an excellent commentary/analysis:

If Obama seemed to echo some the bipartisan “Third Way” rhetoric progressives grew allergic to during the Clinton Administration in last week’s address to a joint session of Congress, his budget proposal is a welcome relief: bold, progressive, and an ideological brush-back to the Republicans.

Nowhere is this more evident than in how the government treats children. Among the most important investments the President makes in his budget is in the area of early childhood education.

During debate on the stimulus package that finally passed both houses of Congress, it looked as though the President’s proposed increase for Head Start funding would be cut from over $2 billion to about $1 billion. Instead, the President has restored $1.2 billion in Head Start funding for Early Head Start. Likewise, between the stimulus bill and the budget plan, the Administration increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant by $2 billion, and came up with a $600 million increases in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which helps children with disabilities and their families.

The Obama budget plan also makes permanent at $2,500 tax credit to help pay for college, increases food aid and affordable housing for families who are hit hardest in the down economy, and expands children’s health care.

“The sun is rising and we feel its warmth,” says Sheila Skiffington of the Center for Children & Families in Boston, Massachusetts. “On the federal level, the staff we interface with are excited. They want to see these programs succeed.” Citing the Administration’s commitment to quality early childhood education, and particularly the significant increases for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head Start, Skiffington says she is very encouraged. Obama gets it that quality early childhood education is crucial, “and that is reflected in his budget,” she says.

The investment in child care couldn’t come at a more important time, as many states have cut back subsidies for quality child care, even as parents are feeling more squeezed and centers are closing down as families withdraw when they lose jobs and can’t afford preschool.

Along with renouncing torture and reopening diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, Obama has scored another moral victory for our country by striving to improve the treatment of our struggling families, and particularly children.