(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Michelle Rhee kept it diplomatic during her appearance on Meet the Press yesterday morning. But President Barack Obama wasn’t so shy in his sit-down on NBC television this morning, in which he took a very firm position on the current status of D.C.’s public schools. Stating that the school system is “struggling,” Obama also said that there isn’t a DCPS school at the moment that’s of sufficient quality to educate his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, who currently attend Sidwell Friends School:

“I’ll be blunt with you. The answer is ‘no’ right now,” Obama said. “The D.C. Public School systems are struggling. They have made some important strides over the past several years to move in the direction of reform. There are some terrific individual schools in the D.C. system. …

“I’ll be very honest with you. Given my position, if I wanted to find a great public school for them to be in, we could probably maneuver to do it. The broader problem is that for a mom or dad who are working hard and who don’t have a bunch of connections, don’t have a lot of choice in where they live, they should be getting the same quality education for their kids as anybody else.”

Hardly reassuring words there from the President. Presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray will embark on a citywide town hall tour this week in which education reform will be a main topic of discussion — I’m sure Gray will be hearing more about the President’s remarks during his tour.