Now that the “man bites dog” headline has attracted your attention, you should know that Joe Klein’s latest column includes some of his usual silliness.

But look beyond the attacks on the “superwealthy,” and you’ll find a valid point:

Conservatives, like liberals, routinely take advantage of a structural flaw in the modern welfare state: there is no creative destruction when it comes to government programs. Both “liberal” and “conservative” subsidies linger in perpetuity, sometimes metastasizing into embarrassing giveaways. Even the best-intentioned programs are allowed to languish in waste and incompetence. Take, for example, the famed early-education program called Head Start.

Started in the 1960s, there’s plenty of evidence of Head Start’s impact:

It is now 45 years later. We spend more than $7 billion providing Head Start to nearly 1 million children each year. And finally there is indisputable evidence about the program’s effectiveness, provided by the Department of Health and Human Services: Head Start simply does not work.

Wouldn’t it be nice if more left-of-center commentators would be willing to offer honest appraisals of programs that sound good but accomplish little?