(Guest post by Greg Forster)
First it was Mike Petrilli, now the Wall Street Journal joins the Obama/Duncan dance on charter schools.
Kids, simply having a charter law does not mean you actually have charter schools worthy of the name.
It can’t be! The Journal!
Jim, we knew this was a possibility when we first confirmed the presence of the kabuki phenomenon.
But . . . the Journal!
The Wall Street Journal is a newspaper, subject to the same political imperatives as any other. To expect it to be immune to kabuki would be illogical.
Oh, come of it! This is the Journal we’re talking about, you green-blooded hobgoblin! Can’t you think about anything but logic at a time like this!
Shouting will not remedy the situation, doctor. I recommend we ask Mr. Checkov to arm the photon torpedoes.
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
There is charter law in forty states so despite the varying quality of the law there’s obviously some force impelling the passage of those laws and it’s a force that crosses state bounderies. If that force weren’t fairly potent the laws simply wouldn’t have passed, or even been introduced, so the Washington kabuki theater is occurring against a backdrop quite real events.
Since for wonks Washington D.C. is the big leagues it’s understandable, even forgivable, that wonks who’ve made the climb to the pinnacle assume that all issues of importance are settled in D.C. But like I wrote in another post even if the Duncan/Obama actions on education are largely window dressing they still get a lot of notice and that public notice doesn’t help the educational status quo.