As I write this, the Chicago teachers strike continues with Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel threatening to take the striking teachers to court to force them back to work.
What I’m wondering is which side of the Chicago teachers strike President Barack Obama is on – the side of Emanuel, his former Chief of Staff, or the side of the teachers. After all, despite his 2007 promise to “put on a comfortable pair of shoes” and walk a picket line with striking union members, President Obama has made no efforts to stand with Chicago’s teachers, which would certainly seem to make it abundantly clear he most definitely does not support Chicago’s teachers.
Impeach Rahm!
I guess I would argue that it doesn’t benefit Obama politically to publicly side with the teachers. No matter what your personal feelings are on the issue, I think it is hard for a lot of Americans to swallow that a group of people with an average salary of $76,000 (I know some disagree with that number but its the number I see repeated in nearly every article I read so I’m going with it) deserve more. The Republicans would probably use the issue as a springboard to try and revitalize their campaign, plus it would distract everyone from all the heat they are taking on their response to the recent protests in the Arab world.
I would also argue that it doesn’t benefit him to side against the teachers. I think much of his base is disappointed with him to some degree and he wants to avoid increasing voter apathy on the left.
Obama is winning right now. All he has to do is maintain the political status quo and he will very likely coast to victory in November. Poking at hornets nests is probably the last thing his campaign wants to see him do.
Obama has never been on the side of unions when they need his to stand with them, but when it comes to campaign donations then he loves and respects unions and he can’t show up to their events fast enough, and what do the unions do, go right along with it. Always amazes me.
“… lot of Americans to swallow that a group of people with an average salary of $76,000 (I know some disagree with that number but its the number I see repeated in nearly every article I read so I’m going with it) deserve more.”
If they think $76,000 is a grand annual salary, why the resistance to allowing the Bush tax cuts expire for those with annual incomes over $250,000. If they think teachers are ‘rich’, why do they then turn around and support the rich?
Paul Soglin made an interesting point at Fighting Bobfest on Saturday – that if the democrats want the votes of the working class, ignoring their struggles isn’t good policy.
It should also be noted, for the salary arguers above, that the biggest holdout issue with the union is the teacher evaluation methods, not the salaries. And I agree. I have been in more than one class, where, despite the excellence of the teacher, the recalcitrance of the students made the teacher’s job next to impossible. Placing the highest evaluation issues for the teacher based solely on student performance is inaccurate and unfair.
Ed – I think that resistance to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for those with 250K+ salaries is largely perpetuated by the politicians, specifically the right wingers. Pew Research had a poll out (I think in July) that had 44% for and 22% against letting the cuts expire for that group, with the remainder being indifferent. Anyways my point was more of a prediction about how Romney would attempt to spin it if Obama threw his support behind the teachers.
Susan – Yes I know the biggest issue is the evaluation process, but like I noted above, I was just trying to describe why I thought Obama would be politically astute to stay out of this.
Romney’s campaign is starting to shape up like Bob Dole’s did in 96, and I think Obama’s easiest path to reelection is to let him continue to trip over his own feet as he stumbles toward November.
16% over 4 years is a pretty big deal for me. i get the teacher evaluation issue as well because lots of things, outside of class time, contribute to low scores and graduation rates. however with 12 years in the private sector, i have not recieved anything over 2.5% per year and that was 2 years ago.